by Toni Pressley-Sanon

The Haitian peasant has always been the backbone of the Haitian economy and a source of inspiration for writers. Their vital oral tradition informs the literature of and about Haiti, and the peasantry and folk traditions are valorized in the classic and contemporary works discussed in this text. 

The Haitian Peasantry through Oral and Written Literature explores oral and written literatures from and about Haiti’s peasant population in relation to its historical and contemporary reality. The book is an ideal introduction to Haitian literature and an excellent companion to the reading and study of Roumain’s Gouverneurs de la rosée, Alexis’s Compère Général Soleil, Endore’s Babouk, Carpentier’s The Kingdom of This World, and Fountain’s contemporary story, “Bouki and the Cocaine.”

Toni Pressley-Sanon’s work gives us a much needed, necessary critical analysis as she “joins” Haiti’s rich oral literature to its lengthy written tradition. The country’s best writers have anchored their work in Afro- Haitian traditions, much as historians will need to mark the origin of Haitian history in West and Central Africa, transcending the Caribbean context. Pressley-Sanon furthers our understanding of Haiti and Haitians in wondrous ways. She goes to the roots.
—Patrick Bellegarde-Smith, Professor Emeritus, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

160 pp. softcover. 6 x 9 inches. 

Cat. #: CSP4480
ISBN #: 9781626324480