Book contents
- A History of Haitian Literature
- Additional material
- A History of Haitian Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Chapter 1 Editors’ Introduction
- Chapter 2 Literature as Loot
- Chapter 3 Theater in Early Independent Haiti
- Chapter 4 “So all the world may know it”
- Chapter 5 Civil War, Guerre de Plume, and the Emergence of Early Haitian Periodical Culture
- Chapter 6 History, Politics, and Revolutionary Romanticism in Charles Hérard-Dumesle’s Voyage dans le nord d’Hayti (1824) and the Anonymously Published L’Haïtiade (ca. 1826)
- Chapter 7 The Cénacle and the Sacred
- Chapter 8 Émeric Bergeaud’s Stella
- Chapter 9 The Predicament of Civilization
- Chapter 10 The Politics of Disenchantment
- Chapter 11 Haitian Poetry in Creole
- Chapter 12 Some Causes of the Underdevelopment of Haiti’s Creole-Language Literature
- Chapter 13 Performing Rebellion and Re-membering Haiti’s Past and Present in Twentieth-Century and Contemporary Theater
- Chapter 14 Haitian Writers and the Forging of a National Voice through Periodicals in the Twentieth Century
- Chapter 15 “Arrêtez le monde! Je veux rêver”
- Chapter 16 Occupation-Era Literature in Haiti
- Chapter 17 Haitian Literature and the Dominican Republic
- Chapter 18 Marxism and the Moun Andeyo
- Chapter 19 Jacques Roumain, from Indigenism to Nationalism
- Chapter 20 For a History of the Novel of Haitian Tradition
- Chapter 21 Exile and Twentieth-Century Haitian Writing
- Chapter 22 The Zonbi as Episteme in Haitian Prose Fiction
- Chapter 23 Living Vodou
- Chapter 24 Papa Loko’s Dire Poétique in Twenty-First-Century Port-au-Prince-Based Haitian Poetry
- Chapter 25 Partisan Politics and Twentieth-Century Fictions of the Haitian Revolution
- Chapter 26 Haitian Women’s Fiction
- Chapter 27 Haitian Uses of the Erotic
- Chapter 28 Archiving Narratives of Maternal Loss and Queer Life in Haitian Fiction in the Wake of the 2010 Earthquake
- Index
Chapter 12 - Some Causes of the Underdevelopment of Haiti’s Creole-Language Literature
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 November 2024
- A History of Haitian Literature
- Additional material
- A History of Haitian Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Chapter 1 Editors’ Introduction
- Chapter 2 Literature as Loot
- Chapter 3 Theater in Early Independent Haiti
- Chapter 4 “So all the world may know it”
- Chapter 5 Civil War, Guerre de Plume, and the Emergence of Early Haitian Periodical Culture
- Chapter 6 History, Politics, and Revolutionary Romanticism in Charles Hérard-Dumesle’s Voyage dans le nord d’Hayti (1824) and the Anonymously Published L’Haïtiade (ca. 1826)
- Chapter 7 The Cénacle and the Sacred
- Chapter 8 Émeric Bergeaud’s Stella
- Chapter 9 The Predicament of Civilization
- Chapter 10 The Politics of Disenchantment
- Chapter 11 Haitian Poetry in Creole
- Chapter 12 Some Causes of the Underdevelopment of Haiti’s Creole-Language Literature
- Chapter 13 Performing Rebellion and Re-membering Haiti’s Past and Present in Twentieth-Century and Contemporary Theater
- Chapter 14 Haitian Writers and the Forging of a National Voice through Periodicals in the Twentieth Century
- Chapter 15 “Arrêtez le monde! Je veux rêver”
- Chapter 16 Occupation-Era Literature in Haiti
- Chapter 17 Haitian Literature and the Dominican Republic
- Chapter 18 Marxism and the Moun Andeyo
- Chapter 19 Jacques Roumain, from Indigenism to Nationalism
- Chapter 20 For a History of the Novel of Haitian Tradition
- Chapter 21 Exile and Twentieth-Century Haitian Writing
- Chapter 22 The Zonbi as Episteme in Haitian Prose Fiction
- Chapter 23 Living Vodou
- Chapter 24 Papa Loko’s Dire Poétique in Twenty-First-Century Port-au-Prince-Based Haitian Poetry
- Chapter 25 Partisan Politics and Twentieth-Century Fictions of the Haitian Revolution
- Chapter 26 Haitian Women’s Fiction
- Chapter 27 Haitian Uses of the Erotic
- Chapter 28 Archiving Narratives of Maternal Loss and Queer Life in Haitian Fiction in the Wake of the 2010 Earthquake
- Index
Summary
As a result of French colonization, Haiti is a nation-state with a predominantly French-speaking written tradition. However, there is also a smaller body of Haitian texts written in Creole, dating back to the eighteenth century. Based on their linguistic and aesthetic characteristics, we can divide the corpus of Haitian Creole letters into two main chronological stages: the great period of emergence that stretches from colonial times to the middle of the twentieth century, and the period of emulation. The first period was dominated by texts of a mainly religious, administrative, and political nature. Written for the most part by high-ranking white settlers, these texts, using the local language, were intended for Creole-speaking slaves with a poor command of French. The second period, that of the autonomy of Creole letters or the beginnings of an authentic Creole literary tradition, began in the mid-twentieth century, in parallel with linguistic work to standardize the written code of the national language. This advance in the standardization of Creole led to a significant development of the language’s written code, particularly in the field of literature.
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- A History of Haitian Literature , pp. 214 - 229Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024