Beyond the Slave Narrative

Abstract

The Haitian Revolution has generated responses from commentators in fields ranging from philosophy to historiography to twentieth-century literary and artistic studies. But what about the written work produced at the time, by Haitians? This book is the first to present an account of a specifically Haitian literary tradition in the Revolutionary era. Beyond the Slave Narrative shows the emergence of two strands of textual innovation, both evolving from the new revolutionary consciousness: the remarkable political texts produced by Haitian revolutionary leaders Toussaint Louverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines, and popular Creole poetry from anonymous courtesans in Saint-Domingue's libertine culture. These textual forms, though they differ from each other, both demonstrate the increasing cultural autonomy and literary voice of non-white populations in the colony at the time of revolution. Unschooled generals and courtesans, long presented as voiceless, are at last revealed to be legitimate speakers and authors. These Haitian French and Creole texts have been neglected as a foundation of Afro-diasporic literature by former slaves in the Atlantic world for two reasons: because they do not fit the generic criteria of the slave narrative (which is rooted in the autobiographical experience of enslavement); and because they are mediated texts, relayed to the print-cultural Atlantic domain not by the speakers themselves, but by secretaries or refugee colonists. These texts challenge how we think about authorial voice, writing, print culture, and cultural autonomy in the context of the formerly enslaved, and demand that we reassess our historical understanding of the Haitian Independence and its relationship to an international world of contemporary readers.

Navigating Haiti's History: Saint‐Domingue and the Haitian Revolution

“…60 The discussion of the revolution's radicalism has bifurcated in recent years between examinations of the Haitian Revolution as a symbol or moment in larger discussions of race, slavery, and colonialism and analyses of the revolutionaries' politics, with the former falling largely within the domain of literary studies rather than history. 61 Pluchon built on earlier work by Debien, Menier, and Fouchard on Louverture's pre-revolutionary freedom to argue in two biographies that Louverture's roots in the colonial era explain his authoritarianism, including his approval of corporal punishment to keep liberated slaves on the plantations. 62 Most of the Haitian Revolution fails to fit easy narratives of racial solidarity or universal liberation, a fact underlined by Geggus's various examinations, many of which are collected in his Haitian Revolutionary Studies, a go-to reference for its historical examinations and historiographic commentary.…”

‘Internal Harmony, Peace to the Outside World’: Imagining Community in Nineteenth-Century Haiti

“…She stresses the legitimacy of these national cultural artefacts as a post-revolutionary response to the slave culture of the Americas at the time. 16 The language in the prologue to the Haitian Declaration of Independence and in speeches by Dessalines demonstrates the importance of a shared identity based on freedoms won and common loyalty in the face of oppression. This is expressed in stirring nationalist addresses to the citizens of the newly-created country and in printed documents, used by the elite of both North and South to attempt to create national community in the eyes of the world.…”