The Kingdom of This World: Alejo Carpentier (FSG Classics) - Softcover

Carpentier, Alejo

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0374537380 ISBN 13: 9780374537388

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017

Synopsis

A masterful new translation of a haunting novel of nineteenth-century Haiti

A few years after its liberation from harsh French colonial rule in 1803, Haiti endured a period of great brutality under the reign of King Henri Christophe, who was born a slave but rose to become the first black king in the Western Hemisphere. In this unnerving novel from one of Cuba's most celebrated authors, Henri Christophe's oppressive rule is observed through the eyes of the elderly slave Ti Noël, who suffers abuse from masters both white and black. As he ranges across the country searching for true liberation, Ti Noël navigates bloody revolutions, maniacal rulers with false visions of grandeur, and the mysterious power of voodoo magic.

First published in English translation in 1957, The Kingdom of This World is now widely recognized as a masterpiece of Cuban and Caribbean literature. Pablo Medina's remarkable new translation renders the dreamlike prose of Alejo Carpentier with nuance and felicity while delivering anew a powerful novel about the birth of modern Haiti. Visionary and singularly twisted, The Kingdom of This World emerges from the depths of the struggle for a country into a tale of race, erotomania, magic, and madness.

About this title

Review:

"Carpentier's writing has the power and range of a cathedral organ on the eve of the Resurrection."--"The New Yorker"

"Carpentier's energy is gigantic and pell-mell, sweeping colossi on top of each other with ruthless, contemptuous daring."--"The Yale Review"

"Carpentier creates a brilliant, improbable world which has the stylized reality of the great myths."--"The Atlantic Monthly"

""The Kingdom of This World" packs literary dynamite. There can be no disputing the fact, Carpentier is equipped with an elegant perception and a distinctive style which make him a writer to be classed with Thomas Mann and W.H. Hudson."--"San Francisco Chronicle"

Carpentier's writing has the power and range of a cathedral organ on the eve of the Resurrection. "The New Yorker"

Carpentier's energy is gigantic and pell-mell, sweeping colossi on top of each other with ruthless, contemptuous daring. "The Yale Review"

Carpentier creates a brilliant, improbable world which has the stylized reality of the great myths. "The Atlantic Monthly"

"The Kingdom of This World" packs literary dynamite. There can be no disputing the fact, Carpentier is equipped with an elegant perception and a distinctive style which make him a writer to be classed with Thomas Mann and W.H. Hudson. "San Francisco Chronicle""

Carpentier's writing has the power and range of a cathedral organ on the eve of the Resurrection. The New Yorker

Carpentier's energy is gigantic and pell-mell, sweeping colossi on top of each other with ruthless, contemptuous daring. The Yale Review

Carpentier creates a brilliant, improbable world which has the stylized reality of the great myths. The Atlantic Monthly

The Kingdom of This World packs literary dynamite. There can be no disputing the fact, Carpentier is equipped with an elegant perception and a distinctive style which make him a writer to be classed with Thomas Mann and W.H. Hudson. San Francisco Chronicle

"

"Carpentier's writing has the power and range of a cathedral organ on the eve of the Resurrection." --The New Yorker

"Carpentier's energy is gigantic and pell-mell, sweeping colossi on top of each other with ruthless, contemptuous daring." --The Yale Review

"Carpentier creates a brilliant, improbable world which has the stylized reality of the great myths." --The Atlantic Monthly

"The Kingdom of This World packs literary dynamite. There can be no disputing the fact, Carpentier is equipped with an elegant perception and a distinctive style which make him a writer to be classed with Thomas Mann and W.H. Hudson." --San Francisco Chronicle

About the Author:

Alejo Carpentier was born in Cuba and, after living in Europe, returned to Havana after the revolution. The author of three other novels, including The Lost Steps, he died in 1980.

Pablo Medina is a Cuban-born writer and translator. He has written sixteen books of poetry, fiction, and memoir, including Cubop City Blues, The Cigar Roller, and Exiled Memories: A Cuban Childhood. He has translated the work of Virgilio Piñera and Federico García Lorca and has been awarded grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Cintas Foundation, and others. He is a professor of fiction, poetry, and translation at Emerson College in Boston.

About this edition

• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0374537380
• ISBN 13: 9780374537388
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160