Chapter 20 - For a History of the Novel of Haitian Tradition

Summary

Building on the hypothesis of the Proclamation by Dessalines in Gonaïves on January 1, 1804, as the primary textual source of the Haitian tragedy with its two main features, warning or caution and explanation or clarification, which largely defines the novels of the Haitian tradition, this chapter makes a detailed analysis of this corpus published both in Haiti and abroad between 1901 and 1961. Showing the coherence of this body of tragic stories reported in a Haitian French language by narrators claiming to be Haitian depicting Haiti and its inhabitants, it also demonstrates its historical diversity. Exposing the main stages of its evolution, it highlights the genesis of these works over four main periods: the 1900s, its emergence as national novel with the publication in 1901 of Thémistocle-Épaminondas Labasterre by Frédéric Marcelin followed in 1905 by Justin Lhérisson’s La Famille des Pitite-Caille and Fernand Hibbert’s Séna; the 1910s–20s, its decline after the US occupation of Haiti; 1931–50, its Golden Age with writers who get international recognition; and the 1950s, the rise of Jacques Stephen Alexis and the beginning of the definite fall of the genre.