The unleashing of racial hatred in the United States in recent times has made it more important than ever to revisit the past, and to remind ourselves where this painful path leads. A new English version of Haitian author Marie Vieux-Chauvet’s 1957 masterpiece Dance on the Volcano — translated from French by Barnard College professor Kaiama L. Glover — does just that. The vivid, heartbreaking epic brings the horror of racial oppression into focus. Set in the late 18th Century when Haiti was a French colony and based on real figures from historical documents, the story follows a mixed-race singer, Minette. But it also shows humanity’s struggle to emerge from the ashes of this hatred, and find love and beauty again.

Source: thestar January 29, 2017 05:08 UTC