Hacking Classical Forms in Haitian Literature

This is the first book to study how Haitian authors from independence to the present have adapted Greco-Roman material and harnessed it to Haiti's anti-colonial legacy. This fascinating study appeals to anyone interested in Haiti, Haitian literature and history, anti-colonial literature, or classical reception studies.

Introduction; Historical Segue 1: 1804-1822: Saturn's Children; 1. 'We are all Greeks': President Boyer's Letter to Greek Revolutionaries (1822); 2. The 'Lake of Lies': É meric Bergeaud's Stella (1859); 3. On Haiti and Black Egypt: Anté nor Firmin's De l'É galité des Races Humaines (1885); Historical Segue 2: From 19th c. Nationalism to 20th c. Populism; 4. A jumble of names: Fernand Hibbert's Romulus (1908); 5. Cleopatras and Sapphos of the Haitian Countryside: Jean Price-Mars, Ansi Parla l'Oncle (1928); 6. Sophocles becomes a Haitian Writer: Fé lix Morisseau-Leroy, Antigò n en Creole (1953); Historical Segue 3: Duvalierism and the Haitian Diaspora; 7. Antigò n in West Africa: Morisseau-Leroy's Wa Kreyon; 8. 'As though Picasso were Tagging with Spraypaint': Dany Laferriè re's Le cri des oiseaux fous; 9. Edwidge Danticat and the Revolt against Silence - with Julia Nelson Hawkins; Coda.