Babouk (Voices of Resistance)

By Guy Endore

Book Overview

Loosely based on the Haitian slave insurrection of 1791, Babouk is a biting account of colonialism at its peak. By using the imagination of the novelist to fill in the gaps in the historical record, Endore is able to show us how slavery felt to the slaves who experienced it. His novel is rare for its depiction of the shared history of the slaves and its attention to the variety of the slave experience. It provides the reader with a vivid history of Haiti and a compelling account of slavery and rebellion.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 085345745X
• ISBN13: 9780853457459
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: Monthly Review Press
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 14 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 9 to 12

Customer Reviews

A Cold Indictment of Slavery

In BABOUK, Guy Endore continues along the same artistic heights he hit the previous year with THE WEREWOLF OF PARIS, this time turning his attention to the Haitian slave trade and the brutality of Western civilization. In reading this, it's no surprise that it was a commercial catastrophe for Vanguard Press in 1934, especially since the original jacket contained the paratextual blurb "From The Author Of THE WEREWOLF OF PARIS", obviously desperate at marketing the controversial content by associating it with the former success. The story is told from the perspective of a young slave, Babouk, and, as always, Endore does an extensive amount of research on his subject matter. This new Voices of Resistance edition (the first since '34) is excellent, with an outstanding preface and postface that place both the text and the revolution into a historical context for the reader unfamiliar with Haiti's struggle for freedom. The typeface has improved (Endore consented to having the original plates melted down to aid the war effort) and the overall design is far superior. The material is disturbing and for good reason. I highly recommend this work, not only because Endore is a brilliant storyteller, but because he relentlessly attacks Western patterns of domination and oppression at a time in history when it was incredibly unpopular to do so. The author, in a 1963 inscription, once wrote accurately: "BABOUK is my unknown masterpiece. At any rate, unknown."