Haiti: Best Nightmare on EarthRoutledge, 5 juil. 2017 - 321 pages Five decades ago, award-winning author Herbert Gold traveled to Haiti on a Caribbean version of the Fulbright Scholarship. The journey proved to be a turning point in his life. Fifty years later, his attachment to the tiny Caribbean nation-his second home-remains as passionate and powerful as ever. Now, in Best Nightmare on Earth, he explores the secret life of this vibrant, volatile, violent land. -Beautiful...bizarre...dangerous...exotic, a Garden of Eden fallen into despair, a tiny nation of unimaginable misery and unpredictable grace, an island where life is a kind of literature, a world of -unlimited impossibility.- This is Herbert Gold's Haiti, a country of extraordinary paradox and remarkable extremes-of gingerbread dream houses and wretched slums, of brutal repression and explosive creative energy. Where else, he asks, can you run into evil spirits on the back roads, or find the goddess of fertility and orgasm represented by a photo of a tap-dancing Shirley Temple? Where else is there such generosity amid such corruption, such humor in the midst of such desperation? In his many Haitian travels, Gold has dined with Graham Greene and chatted with the hated Duvalier oppressors. He has traded stories with CIA saboteurs, former Nazis, rum-soaked diplomats, and voodoo priests. He has taken in the cockfights and hunted for pirate treasure. He has nearly died of malaria; he has faced machete-wielding gangs of Ton-Ton Macoutes. He followed the traffic in Haitian blood to American hospitals and watched the AIDS epidemic take its toll. He listened to the steady beat of drums rolling down mist-shrouded mountains, and shared in the flirting, drinking, and laughter of the streets. He has captured the essence of this land where tragedy is the music the people dance to. Herbert Gold reflects on the country's history and politics, culture and folklore, but sees much more. He sees Haiti through the eyes of a lover: impassioned, jealous, probing, ever alert, and alive. This book will be of interest to travelers to, and people interested in the problems of, Haiti and the Caribbean; and collectors of Haitian art. |
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Page 3
... asked . " It doesn't have a tin roof , " she said . " My mother's house does . " And then the inexorable winding down of my G.I. Bill and Fulbright sinecures brought me back to my hometown , Cleveland , the Paris of northeastern Ohio ...
... asked . " It doesn't have a tin roof , " she said . " My mother's house does . " And then the inexorable winding down of my G.I. Bill and Fulbright sinecures brought me back to my hometown , Cleveland , the Paris of northeastern Ohio ...
Page 5
... asked for my papers . " Passport , please ! " The startled customs chief looked up , smiling , and waved me through with a welcoming largeness . He was , he declared , an immense and devoted Haitian amateur of my distin- guished ...
... asked for my papers . " Passport , please ! " The startled customs chief looked up , smiling , and waved me through with a welcoming largeness . He was , he declared , an immense and devoted Haitian amateur of my distin- guished ...
Page 8
... asked . " English and French , " I said . He asked them about their cats and their chicken in Creole and they chattered back happily . My wife and I stared at each other . Our daughters had learned a language behind our backs ; from ...
... asked . " English and French , " I said . He asked them about their cats and their chicken in Creole and they chattered back happily . My wife and I stared at each other . Our daughters had learned a language behind our backs ; from ...
Page 9
... asked what the devil he was up to . " Ce mon secreteh , " he said it was his secretary . In office for a year , he had grown to consider shoe - shining beneath him . Out of his own funds he hired one of the boys who patrolled the ...
... asked what the devil he was up to . " Ce mon secreteh , " he said it was his secretary . In office for a year , he had grown to consider shoe - shining beneath him . Out of his own funds he hired one of the boys who patrolled the ...
Page 21
... asked , " Did you just make that up ? " he would answer reproachfully : " Chico , you drink too much lemonade . " He stared through his dark glasses and asked if my wife and I would like to go dancing tonight , or to swim at his caille ...
... asked , " Did you just make that up ? " he would answer reproachfully : " Chico , you drink too much lemonade . " He stared through his dark glasses and asked if my wife and I would like to go dancing tonight , or to swim at his caille ...
Table des matières
| 13 | |
LoupgarousWerewolvesHobgoblins | 37 |
The Renaissance of the Fifties | 51 |
Combat de Coqs | 69 |
Castaways | 75 |
Land Without Jews | 91 |
The Philosophers Circle | 109 |
The Darkest Ages | 123 |
In Haiti They Run From | 181 |
Minglers | 203 |
The Perfect Dear | 219 |
The Uprooting 1986 | 233 |
After the Dawn Came Another Night | 251 |
Wonder of the World | 283 |
Afterword | 305 |
Here Is the Young Leader that I Promised You | 157 |
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African airport American Army asked Aubelin Jolicoeur Aubie Baby Doc Baron Samedi blanc Bogat called Caribbean Carnival chickens coffee colonel Creole dance daughter dechoukaj Dieudonné Lamothe Doc's doctor dream drink drove drums election elite English eyes foreign Francis Group François Duvalier French Grand Hotel Oloffson Haiti Haitian happy head Hotel Oloffson houngan island Jacmel Jean Weiner Jean-Claude Jean-Claude Duvalier jeep Jews journalist Kenscoff killed knew laughing Leopards lived looked loupgarou macoutes Madame Marc Bazin Miami Minister Monsieur mountain mulatto Namphy National Palace night official painting Papa Doc Paris peasant Peter-Paul Pétionville Petit Goâve pigs political Port-au-Prince President President-for-Life regime rich road running seemed smiling sometimes stared streets Taylor & Francis terrace tonton macoutes tourists village visitors voodoo voodoo priest vote wanted watch wife woman women young zombies