Haiti and the United States: National Stereotypes and the Literary Imagination - Softcover

Dash, J. Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312164904 ISBN 13: 9780312164904

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 1996

Synopsis

Imaginative literature, argues Michael Dash, does not merely reflect, but actively influences historical events. He demonstrates this by a close examination of the relations between Haiti and the United States through the imaginative literature of both countries. The West's mythification of Haiti is a strategy used to justify either ostracism or domination, a process traced here from the nineteenth-century until it emerges with a voyeuristic fierceness in the 1960s. In an effort to resist these stereotypes, Haitian literature becomes a subversive manoeuvre permitting Haitians to 'rewrite' themselves. The Unites States 'invented' Haiti as a land of savagery and mystery, a source of evil and shame. Weaving together text and historical context, Dash discusses the durability of these images, which continue to shape official policy and popular attitudes today.

About this title

From the Back Cover

Imaginative literature, argues Michael Dash, does not merely reflect, but actively influences historical events. He demonstrates this by a close examination of the relations between Haiti and the United States through the imaginative literature of both countries. The West's mythification of Haiti is a strategy used to justify either ostracism or domination, a process traced here from the nineteenth-century until it emerges with a voyeuristic fierceness in the 1960s.

Review

'Dash's book is a sophisticated and fascinating critical study of the clash of cultures illuminating many of the political positions taken by each country at crucial stages of history.' - David Nicholls, Times Higher Education Supplement

About this edition

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0312164904
• ISBN 13: 9780312164904
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 199