About this episode

The episode discusses the significance of Jean-Claude Charles in Haitian literature and the insights provided in the collection 'Jean-Claude Charles: A Reader's Guide'.

Despite being a major figure of Haitian literature, Jean-Claude Charles (1949-2008) has received relatively little scholarly attention to date. Jean-Claude Charles: A Reader's Guide (Liverpool UP, 2022) seeks to serve as an introduction to the work and universe of this unique and capital writer to an English-language readership. The essays in the collection are organized along three major axes: contextual articles, placing Charles' work within the larger Haitian literary landscape, punctual articles, addressing specific themes in a selection of Charles' books, and author testimonials, attesting to Charles' work's importance both to his contemporaries and to a new generation of writers. With the ongoing republication of Charles' work by Mémoire d'encrier in Montreal, and the increasing interest in the author, the proposed volume is timely and necessary, and is in large part a critical accompaniment to the republishing programme. Described by Dany Laferrière as "most brilliant Haitian author of his generation," Charles has until recently remained largely unread and little understood. As the various chapters in the volume show, Charles is an author for now, and the collection will…

People in this episode

Host: Marshall Poe

Guest: Eliana Văgălău

Topics covered

• Haitian literature
• Jean-Claude Charles
• literary criticism
• race
• migration
• exile

Keywords

• Haitian literature
• Jean-Claude Charles
• literary criticism
• race
• migration
• exile
• Dany Laferrière
• Eliana Văgălău
• Liverpool UP
• Mémoire d'encrier

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Liverpool UP, Mémoire d'encrier

Books & works: Jean-Claude Charles: A Reader's Guide

Places: Haiti, Montreal

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