Overview

A tragicomic novel that explores deep-seated tensions and social violence in Haiti. After committing an irreparable crime, the narrator of The Emperor waits in his bedroom for the police to arrest him. His past reverberates inside of him like a drum: his youth spent in captivity as a zonbi, under the control of a charlatan Vodou leader, and many an alienating dawn delivering the daily newspaper through the cutthroat neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He now has blood on his hands because of the woman on the bus—the only woman he had ever loved. Part crime fiction, part fable gone awry, The Emperor invites readers to follow the narrator's life as he moves from the Haitian countryside to the sprawling city, learning about the corruptible nature of power in his quest for freedom. Along the way, Makenzy Orcel blends the marvelous with the real by introducing readers to an unforgettable cast of characters including the Very Old Sheep, a deceitful Emperor, and the narrator's so-called Enlightened Colleague. Written with Orcel's distinctive verve, this novel offers readers a story set in contemporary Haiti that is rich in poetry and full of narrative intrigue.

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9781803093666

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Reviews

"""In The Emperor, Orcel paints a scathing picture of those who use religion as a tool of exploitation. The novel recalls the work of Haitian literary greats such as Jacques Stephen Alexis and Gary Victor, through Vodou imagery that simultaneously conjures up the work of celebrated Primitive artists like Wilson Bigaud and Hector Hyppolite, weaving these references all in a wholly original story. Dize’s deft translation invites anglophone readers into the space of the ounfò, the temple, while respecting the mystery and cultural complexity of Haitian Vodou practices."" * Lucy Swanson, University of Arizona *"

"""In The Emperor, Orcel paints a scathing picture of those who use religion as a tool of exploitation. The novel recalls the work of Haitian literary greats such as Jacques Stephen Alexis and Gary Victor, through Vodou imagery that simultaneously conjures up the work of celebrated Primitive artists like Wilson Bigaud and Hector Hyppolite, weaving these references all in a wholly original story. Dize’s deft translation invites anglophone readers into the space of the ounfò, the temple, while respecting the mystery and cultural complexity of Haitian Vodou practices."" * Lucy Swanson, University of Arizona * ""Orcel's oeuvre instinctively looks at life from the standpoint of the most marginal."" * Asymptote *"

Author Information

Makenzy Orcel is an award-winning novelist and poet and a Chevalier des arts et des lettres of the French Republic. He is the author of The Immortals and A Human Burden. Nathan H. Dize is a translator, assistant professor of French at Washington University in Saint Louis, and a scholar of French Caribbean literature.

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