Books have always had a special place here at Tande. A couple of years ago, we even had a debate about translation, about making works available to Haitian Americans and others who might not be able to read them in the original. So, I thought I'd draw up a quick list. I hope that you'll find the same joy and excitement reading them that I did with Adichie's latest.
Classics:
Jacques Roumain's Masters of the Dew.
For Jacques Stéphen Alexis, both General Sun, My Brother and In the Flicker of an Eyelid are available.
Love, Anger, Madness by Marie Vieux-Chauvet and René Philoctète's Massacre River are both favorites of mine. Although I don't know if the Philoctète, first published in 1989 qualifies as a classic yet. What's the timeframe on that? Oh, and let's add René Depestre's The Festival of the Greasy Pole.
Contemporary works:
There are actually too many available to name them all. I'll just list a few of my favorites. I actually haven't read any of these translations -- just the originals, so I hope the translations are as good!
An Aroma of Coffee by Dany Laferrière
Children of Heroes by Lyonel Trouillot
Reflections of Loko Miwa by Lilas Desquiron
Two English translations of contemporary novels will be available in the coming weeks -- one set in colonial St. Domingue: Evelyne Trouillot's The Infamous Rosalie, and one set during the tumultuous demonstrations that rocked Port-au-Prince in early 2004: Yanick Lahens' The Colour of Dawn.
Please feel free to add any books I've forgotten. For those who do read French and Creole, are there any works you'd love to see translated into English?
Happy Reading!
NM
