Description
The only English translation of "a masterpiece" (The Nation)--a stunning trilogy of novellas about the soul-crushing cost of life under a violent Haitian dictatorship, featuring an introduction by Edwidge Danticat
Originally published in 1968, Love, Anger, Madness virtually disappeared from circulation until its republication in France in 2005. Set in the barely fictionalized Haiti of "Papa Doc" Duvalier's repressive rule, Marie Vieux-Chauvet's writing was so powerful and so incendiary that she was forced to flee to the United States. Yet Love, Anger, Madness endures. Claire, the narrator of Love, is the eldest of three daughters who surrenders her dreams of marriage to run the household after her parents die. Insecure about her dark skin, she fantasizes about her middle sister's French husband, while he has an affair with the youngest sister, setting in motion a complicated family dynamic that echoes the growing chaos outside their home. In Anger, the police terrorize a middle-class family by threatening to seize their land. The father insinuates that their only hope of salvation lies with an unspeakable act--his daughter Rose must prostitute herself--which leads to all-consuming guilt, shame, and rage. And finally, Madness paints a terrifying portrait of a Haitian village that has been ravaged by militants. Ren , a young poet, is trapped in his family's house for days with no food and becomes obsessed with the souls of the dead that surround him.
Author: Marie Vieux-Chauvet
Publisher: Modern Library
Published: 03/30/2010
Pages: 432
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.20w x 0.90d
ISBN13: 9780812976922
ISBN10: 0812976924
BISAC Categories:
- Fiction | Literary
- Fiction | Political
- Fiction | Short Stories (single author)
Originally published in 1968, Love, Anger, Madness virtually disappeared from circulation until its republication in France in 2005. Set in the barely fictionalized Haiti of "Papa Doc" Duvalier's repressive rule, Marie Vieux-Chauvet's writing was so powerful and so incendiary that she was forced to flee to the United States. Yet Love, Anger, Madness endures. Claire, the narrator of Love, is the eldest of three daughters who surrenders her dreams of marriage to run the household after her parents die. Insecure about her dark skin, she fantasizes about her middle sister's French husband, while he has an affair with the youngest sister, setting in motion a complicated family dynamic that echoes the growing chaos outside their home. In Anger, the police terrorize a middle-class family by threatening to seize their land. The father insinuates that their only hope of salvation lies with an unspeakable act--his daughter Rose must prostitute herself--which leads to all-consuming guilt, shame, and rage. And finally, Madness paints a terrifying portrait of a Haitian village that has been ravaged by militants. Ren , a young poet, is trapped in his family's house for days with no food and becomes obsessed with the souls of the dead that surround him.
Author: Marie Vieux-Chauvet
Publisher: Modern Library
Published: 03/30/2010
Pages: 432
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.20w x 0.90d
ISBN13: 9780812976922
ISBN10: 0812976924
BISAC Categories:
- Fiction | Literary
- Fiction | Political
- Fiction | Short Stories (single author)
About the Author
Marie Vieux-Chauvet, a seminal writer of postoccupation Haiti, was born in Port-au-Prince in 1916 and died in New York in 1973. She is the author of five novels, including Dance on the Volcano, Fonds des Nègres, Fille d'Haiti, and Les Rapaces.