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. |
À l'intérieur du livre
Résultats 6-10 sur 70
Page 10
... wife and I were in favor of it. The writer Pierre Marcelin took me to all-night ceremonies and shrugged when I said, “This is more than an entertainment for you, isn't it?” “We need another life,” he said. “This life on earth 10 ...
... wife and I were in favor of it. The writer Pierre Marcelin took me to all-night ceremonies and shrugged when I said, “This is more than an entertainment for you, isn't it?” “We need another life,” he said. “This life on earth 10 ...
Page 11
... magic and love, need, celebration, and suffering, with a goofy thirst for all the experience I could drink down. At an age when other young 11 parents like my wife and me were also navigating the B E S T N I G HT M A R E O N E A R T H.
... magic and love, need, celebration, and suffering, with a goofy thirst for all the experience I could drink down. At an age when other young 11 parents like my wife and me were also navigating the B E S T N I G HT M A R E O N E A R T H.
Page 12
... wife and I went to ecstatic ceremonies instead of the movies. Our children were learning three languages, English, French, and Creole. Our friends were men and women a universe away from our midwestern rearing, our student loafing. I ...
... wife and I went to ecstatic ceremonies instead of the movies. Our children were learning three languages, English, French, and Creole. Our friends were men and women a universe away from our midwestern rearing, our student loafing. I ...
Page 14
... fellow does what he can; the big fellow does what he wants. —Haitian proverb Every creature in the sea eats people; it is the shark which bears the bad name. —Haitian proverb Y WIFE and daughters had come out of the coolness.
... fellow does what he can; the big fellow does what he wants. —Haitian proverb Every creature in the sea eats people; it is the shark which bears the bad name. —Haitian proverb Y WIFE and daughters had come out of the coolness.
Page 15
Herbert Gold. Y WIFE and daughters had come out of the coolness of an airplane onto a road where donkeys plodded and peasant women, market-bound, were carrying their loads of vegetables or coffee on their heads. My wife noted that this ...
Herbert Gold. Y WIFE and daughters had come out of the coolness of an airplane onto a road where donkeys plodded and peasant women, market-bound, were carrying their loads of vegetables or coffee on their heads. My wife noted that this ...
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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Expressions et termes fréquents
African airport American Army asked Aubelin Jolicoeur Aubie Baby Doc Baron Samedi blanc Bogat C H A P T E R called Caribbean Carnival chickens coffee colonel Creole dance daughter dechoukaj Dieudonné Lamothe Doc's doctor dream drink drove drums election elite 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 Marc Bazin 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 road running seemed smiling sometimes stared streets Taylor & Francis terrace tonton macoutes tourist village visitors voodoo voodoo priest wanted watch wife women young zombies