Schwarz-Bart, Simone

New York. 1981. November 1981. Harper & Row. 1st American Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket. 0060390026. Translated from the French by Barbara Bray. 270 pages. hardcover. Jacket illustration by Deborah Root Brague. keywords: Literature Caribbean Women Black Translated. FROM THE PUBLISHER - Simone Schwarz-Bart's new novel is set in her native Guadaloupe. Although that little island is the center of her story, her universe is a much larger one: her real subject is slavery and what comes with it. Ti Jean, the hero of this mythic tale, is a young black man who will explore his past by returning to Africa to find where he came from. In the tiny hamlet of Fond-Zombi a monstrous beast has blocked out the sunlight, throwing the island into eternal darkness, The beast symbolizes the white man, and the eternal suffering of slavery, from which no black can escape. Like a young Ulysses, Ti Jean sets out on a voyage of discovery: to find the beast which has determined his fate, to visit the dead, and to explore the past world of suffering in order to conquer the present one. Simone Schwarz-Bart's tale intertwines the real and the magical, the history of her own people and the myths of the island, It shimmers with allusions, with stories that are in the memory of every black person in all parts of the world, There are resonances of the African past and even an occasional murmur of tomorrow. Her writing is as subtle as a poem. as exhilarating as the beat of a drum. inventory #6473 ISBN: 0060390026.