Wikipedia

Hadriana in All My Dreams

Hadriana in All My Dreams (French: Hadriana dans Tous mes Rêves) is a 1988 novel by Haitian author René Depestre. It is his second novel. Set in Jacmel, Haiti, and spanning a period of 40 years, the book tells the story of a young French woman, Hadriana Siloé, who is turned into a zombie on her wedding day. The novel deals with themes of colonialism, deterritorialization, and sexuality.

Hadriana in All My Dreams
AuthorRené Depestre
Original titleHadriana dans Tous mes Rêves
TranslatorKaiama L. Glover
LanguageFrench
Genremagical realism[1]
PublisherGallimard (French edition)
Akashic Books (English edition)
Publication date
1988
Published in English
2017
AwardsPrix Renaudot
ISBN978-2-07-071255-7 (original French, 1988)
ISBN 978-1-617-75533-0 (English, 2017)

Upon its publication, the novel was met with acclaim from the French literary establishment. It won the 1988 Prix Renaudot, becoming the first novel by a Haitian writer to do so, won multiple other literary awards, and sold close to 200,000 copies within 5 years. It is considered a major work of 20th century Haitian literature.

Background edit

Depestre was born in Jacmel, Haiti, in 1926. He began his creative career in 1945, with his publication of his poetry collection Étincelles. Using the money from the sales, he established and began editing a Marxist newspaper, La Ruche, alongside Jacques Stephen Alexis, Théodore Baker, and Gérald Bloncourt. Their activities led to their arrest by then-president Elie Lescot; their arrest led to what would become a nationwide strike that removed Lescot from power. Subsequently, Depestre was exiled from Haïti in 1946. He would go on to live for brief periods in France, Czechoslovakia, Brazil, Argentina, Cuba, China, Russia, and Vietnam, before ultimately leaving for France in 1978 and settling there. There he wrote his second novel, Hadriana in All My Dreams.[2]

Depestre drew on his childhood memories of vodoun to write the novel. Originally, Hadriana's name was spelled Adriana, and she was meant to be a black Haitian woman; Depestre found this narrative too traditional, and he made Hadriana into a white French woman, to subvert the myth of zombification.[3] Depestre struggled with writing the novel due to its connections with death; he desired to write a book where death was not associated with sorrow or despair, but rather with gaiety.[4] Critics have marked the novel as the beginning of Depestre's rejection of his former revolutionary politics.[2]

Synopsis edit

Part 1 edit

 
Jacmel, Depestre's birth city, and the setting for the novel.

Jacmel, Haiti, January 1938. The story opens with the appearance of a dead woman being driven to her funeral; the locals call this apparition an "auto-zombie".[5] The dead woman is Germaine Villaret-Joyeuse, the godmother of the narrator Patrick Altamont. Germaine requests a butterfly mask to be put on her face at her death. According to local legend, this butterfly mask is actually a man, Balthazar Granchiré, cursed by a witch doctor. Granchiré promised Germaine that they would go to heaven together. Granchiré instead turns his interests to Hadriana Siloé, a young French woman to be married soon to a young Haitian man.

On her wedding day, Hadriana drops dead. The manbo Brévica Losange claims that Hadriana did not die of natural causes, but rather died at the hands of Balthazar Granchiré. The local Catholic priests wish to cancel the carnival that is meant to take place on the same day, but they fail to do so, especially after Patrick's mother declares that Hadriana had told her that she wanted her funeral to be celebrated with a carnival. After many strange and supernatural happenings at the carnival, including a ceremony by Madame Losange intended to protect Hadriana from Granchiré, Hadriana is buried.

A few days afterward, it is discovered that Hadriana's grave is empty, leading everyone to the realization that Hadriana has been zombified.

Part 2 edit

30 years have passed. Jacmel is mostly abandoned after the death of Hadriana Siloé. Patrick Altamont has traveled the world, but still he cannot forget Jacmel or Hadriana. In his mind, he conducts an imaginary interview with a journalist, where he tells her about the legend of Hadriana and how she knocked at the doors of Jacmel, including his door, but out of fear nobody would help her. He plans to write an essay on the Siloé affair, in which he offers several explanations on the origins of zombies, and wonders if zombies are a metaphor for the life of African slaves, and the Haitian people who cannot fight against their fate.

In May 1977, while Patrick is in Jamaica, he notices a woman and recognizes her as Hadriana. They spend the night together, and she tells him her story.

Part 3 edit

Hadriana recounts her life up to the fateful day of her wedding. She consumes a mysterious drink, likely poisoned by Balthazar Granchiré, which causes her to fall into a death-like stupor, but still retain her mental capacity and senses of hearing and touch. A witch doctor, Papa Rosanfer, wakes her up from her stupor and attempts to make her his sex slave, but she is able to escape from him. She knocks on the doors of her friends and neighbors in Jacmel, but no one is willing to help her; ultimately she makes her way to Jamaica in February 1938 and begins a new life. Patrick concludes with telling the reader that it has been 10 years since they reunited and here their story ends.

Characters edit

  • Hadriana Siloé, the title character. Hadriana was born to white French parents but raised in Haiti, and has a deep love for Haiti. On the day of her wedding, she is poisoned and turned into a zombie.
  • Patrick Altamont, the narrator of the novel. He is Hadriana's godbrother. As an adult, he becomes a professor. By the end of the novel, he and Hadriana have found each other and live happily together.
  • Madame Brévica Losange, a well-respected manbo in Jacmel.
  • Balthazar Granchiré, a satyriasic man-turned-butterfly who rapes any young woman he can. The word "chiré" in Haitian Creole can be used to mean "fucked", meaning Granchiré's name can be translated as "Bigfuck".[6]
  • Germaine Villaret-Joyeuse, the godmother of both Patrick and Hadriana, who is rumoured to be gifted with 7 sets of loins.
  • Papa Rosanfer, a witch doctor who attempts to make a zombie out of Hadriana. His given name, Rosalvo, connects him to Rosalvo Bobo, a Haitian politician and revolutionary active prior to the United States occupation of Haiti.[7]

Analysis edit

Colonialism edit

The novel is a response to the Westernized depiction of zombies. Haitian novelist Edwidge Danticat writes of Hadriana: "“The fact that we continue to be bombarded with the same old pedestrian zombie narratives written by foreigners and featuring Haitians makes this novel even more crucial.”[8] Zombies are a syncretization of European and African beliefs and often considered a symbol of slavery. In Haitian tradition, zombies are victims of their circumstances and the horror lies in their circumstances, not in their very being. In Western tradition, zombies have been stripped of their original associations, and are not more than monsters.[9][10] In the novel, Hadriana is an object of sympathy: despite her privileged status as a wealthy, white French woman, she is still abandoned by the people of Jacmel because of her zombification.[9]

The relation of Haitians to the French and to their own culture is a chief theme explored in the novel. The people of Jacmel idealize and objectify Hadriana due to her white French status, and later abandon Hadriana when she undergoes zombification, as this has in a way "creolized" her.[9] The theme of Western Catholicism versus indigenous Vodou practices is also a theme that manifests in Hadriana: when Hadriana dies, the Catholic priest demands that a French woman be given a Christian funeral, however, the Haitians desire to celebrate Hadriana with a carnival, and ultimately the Haitians win.[11]

Hadriana has also been described as an exoticist novel, and a product of Depestre's attempt to compensate for his own loss of his native nation and a response to the deterritorialization of Haiti.[11]

The role of Hadriana edit

Some critics believe that Depestre intended to make an allegory of Haiti through the character of Hadriana. Salien writes "It is certain that one of the intentions of the author was to create a character who would embody the resistance and survival of Haiti in spite of the mistreatment to which she was subjected."[12] Additionally, some have pointed out that both Haiti and Hadriana begin with "ha". Depestre stated that Hadriana was not meant to represent anything, and he had not had Haiti in mind when choosing Hadriana's name - above all, his intention had been to write a love story. By making the victim of zombification a white French woman rather than a black Haitian, Depestre breaks the trope that victims of zombification must be black.[3][13] Dayan takes the opposite view, writing that the zombification of Hadriana tells "a story that promotes the comfortable illusion that a white can take on the burden of blacks, symbolically redeeming those who are finally iredeemable."[6] Writer Corinne Blanchaud connects Hadriana to a tradition in Depestre's oeuvre of heros that lead them to harmony with themselves and the world around them.[14]

Although Hadriana is French, she is inextricable from the Caribbean;[15] the text connects her to several lwas, including Nana Buluku, Simbi-La-Source, and Gede.[16]

Hadriana's sexuality is also given significant focus in the book. She recounts several sexual encounters she had, including a same-sex encounter with one of her best friends, before her wedding night. This is put in juxtaposition with how the city of Jacmel idealizes Hadriana as a virgin saint. Hadriana, however, rejects this perception of her and after escaping from zombification, decides to live her life according to her own desires. Glover writes that Hadriana is Depestre's rejection of the sacrifice of individual liberty. Rather than have Hadriana be at the mercy of those that need or want something from her, such as the people of Jacmel or Papa Rosanfer, she chooses her own individual fate.[9]

Reception edit

The novel was received enthusiastically by the French literary establishment. Hadriana in All My Dreams won the Prix Renaudot in 1988. It was the first time a Haitian writer ever won the Prix Renaudot,[17] and the first time a Haitian writer ever won one of France's four major literary awards for a novel (the others being Prix Goncourt, Prix Femina, and Prix Médicis).[18] Depestre remained as of 2013 the only Haitian winner of the Prix Renaudot, and one of only 2 Haitian writers to ever receive one of the major French literary awards for a novel.[19] Hadriana also won the 1988 prize for "Best Novel" from Société des gens de lettres and several other awards.[20][6] By 1993, it had sold nearly 200,000 copies.[6] French filmmaker Jean Rouch wanted to turn Hadriana into a film, but this idea was rejected by Depestre and Gallimard.[6]

Hadriana in All My Dreams received praise for its poetic style of writing and atmosphere. The March 2017 issue of Kirkus Reviews wrote: "By the time you've wandered these spooky, sultry corridors of Haiti's collective subconscious, you're persuaded that the true sorcery being practiced here is that of a mature artist coming to terms—and making peace—with 'the natural, the comical, the playful, the sensual, and the magical aspects of Jacmel's painful past.'."[21] A review from the journal Booklist called it a "ribald and colorful yet strangely haunting novel" and stated: "Depestre presents a rich and nuanced exploration of large and significant themes expertly couched in one fantastical, expertly translated tale."[22] It has been described as a major work of 20th-century Haitian literature.[8]

Bogi Takács in an article for tor.com praised the novel, writing "It can be read both as a vividly depicted story of magic and zombies, and as compelling social commentary. It's a book that's bursting at the seams with detail."[8] Novelist Ben Fountain named the novel as one of his top 10 books about Haiti.[23]

The novel has been criticized by literary critics for its depiction of Haiti and sexualization of the central character.[2] Former Yale professor Joan Dayan wrote that Hadriana was an idealization that "contributes as much to false generalizations about Haiti as any denigration by Spenser St. John or those other accounts of the "Magic Island" or "Black Baghdad"...Depestre abandons the inhabitants of Haiti to their fate, apparently forgetting their continued struggles against dictatorship, repression, and poverty. All that remains of his Haiti is a portrait of black, poor, apathetic husks of humanity, who can never awake into freedom." Dayan also criticizes Depestre for participating in the perpetration of rape culture.[6]

References edit

  1. ^ Balderston, Daniel; Gonzalez, Mike, eds. (2004). "Depestre, Rene". Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Latin American and Caribbean Literature, 1900-2003. Routledge. Hadriana dans tous mes rêves (Hadriana in My Every Dream) is written in the tradition of lo real maravilloso (marvellous realism) and was awarded the Prix Renaudot in 1988.
  2. ^ a b c Glover, Kaiama L. (2021). "Self-Possession: Hadriana". A Regarded Self: Caribbean Womanhood and the Ethics of Disorderly Being. New York: Duke University Press. pp. 68–110. doi:10.1515/9781478012757-005. ISBN 9781478012757. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
  3. ^ a b Dayan, Joan (1993). "France Reads Haiti: An Interview With René Depestre". Yale French Studies (83): 139. doi:10.2307/2930091. ISSN 0044-0078. JSTOR 2930091. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
  4. ^ Taleb-Khyar, Mohamed B. (1992). "Rene Depestre". Callaloo. 15 (2): 553–554. doi:10.2307/2931279. ISSN 0161-2492. JSTOR 2931279. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
  5. ^ Fučíková, Milena (11 January 2024). "The Creolization of Patrick Chamoiseau (Martinique) and René Depestre (Haiti): Language and Center-Periphery Relationship". Centers and Peripheries in Romance Language Literatures in the Americas and Africa. Brill. pp. 447–463. ISBN 9789004691131. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Dayan, Joan (1993). "France Reads Haiti: René Depestre's Hadriana dans tous mes rêves". Yale French Studies (83): 154–175. doi:10.2307/2930092. JSTOR 2930092. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  7. ^ Swanson, Lucy (2023). The Zombie in Contemporary French Caribbean Fiction. Liverpool University Press. p. 85. ISBN 9781802077995. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
  8. ^ a b c Takács, Bogi (14 February 2019). "QUILTBAG+ Speculative Classics: Hadriana in All My Dreams by René Depestre". tor.com. Archived from the original on 17 August 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
  9. ^ a b c d Glover, Kaiama L. (2005). "Exploiting the Undead: the Usefulness of the Zombie in Haitian Literature". Journal of Haitian Studies. 11 (2): 105–121. ISSN 1090-3488. JSTOR 41715316. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  10. ^ Wilentz, Amy (30 October 2012). "Opinion | A Zombie Is a Slave Forever". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  11. ^ a b Munro, Martin (2003). "Exile, Deterritorialization, and Exoticism in René Depestre's "Hadriana dans tous mes rêves"". Journal of Haitian Studies. 9 (1): 23–38. ISSN 1090-3488. JSTOR 41715203.
  12. ^ Salien, Jean-Marie (2000). "Croyances populaires haïtiennes dans Hadriana dans tous mes rêves de René Depestre" [Haitian Popular Belief in Hadriana in All My Dreams]. The French Review. 74 (1): 82–93. ISSN 0016-111X. JSTOR 399293. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
  13. ^ Constant, Isabelle (2008). "Le lieu onirique dans Hadriana dans tous mes rêves de René Depestre" [The Oneiric Realm in Hadriana in All My Dreams by René Depestre]. Le rêve dans le roman africain et antillais [Dream in African and Antillean novels]. Lettres du Sud (in French). Éditions Karthala. pp. 107–124. ISBN 9782845869707.
  14. ^ Blanchaud, Corinne (2013). "René Depestre, l'homme-banian ou les tribulations du « Tout en un »". In Brodziak, Sylvie (ed.). Haïti: Enjeux d'écriture. Littérature Hors Frontière (in French). Presses universitaires de Vincennes. pp. 53–73. doi:10.3917/puv.brod.2013.01.0053. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  15. ^ Benedicty-Kokken, Alessandra (2014). Spirit Possession in French, Haitian, and Vodou Thought. An Intellectual History. Lexington Books. p. 235. Retrieved 13 April 2024. "Hadriana exists as a member of many pairs: Haiti/Jamaica; Haiti/Dominican Republic (through the lwa Fréda-Toucan-Dahomin, who it seems originates in the Dominican Republic); Haiti/France; white/black; female/male; veritable/false. Yet, in all of these doubles, she is of the Caribbean.
  16. ^ Strongman, Roberto (2008). "Transcorporeality in Vodou". Journal of Haitian Studies. 14 (2): 4–29. ISSN 1090-3488. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  17. ^ Poinsot, Jérôme (2016). René Depestre, Hadriana dans tous mes rêves. Paris: Honoré Champion. p. 7. ISBN 9782745331007. Retrieved 19 June 2022. Lorsque René Depestre reçu en 1988 le prix Théophraste Renaudot pour son roman Hadriana dans tous mes rêves, ce prix récompensait pour la première fois un écrivain haïtien depuis sa création, en 1926. [When René Depestre received in 1988 the Prix Théophraste-Renaudot for his novel Hadriana in All My Dreams, it marked the first time a Haitian writer was awarded this award since its creation in 1926.]
  18. ^ St-Fort, Hugues (27 November 2009). "Les écrivains haïtiens et les grands prix littéraires français". Le Nouvelliste. Retrieved 11 April 2024. C'est la deuxième fois qu'un écrivain haïtien reçoit l'un des quatre grands prix littéraires français, c'est-à-dire le Goncourt, le Renaudot, le Médicis et le Femina. Le premier écrivain haïtien à avoir obtenu l'un de ces quatre prix a été René Depestre en 1988 avec le roman Hadriana dans tous mes rêves. [It is the second time that a Haitian writer receives on of the four major French literary prizes, that is to say the Goncourt, the Renaudot, the Médicis, and the Femina. The first Haitian writer to have obtained one of these four prizes was René Depestre in 1988 with the novel Hadriana in All My Dreams.]
  19. ^ Chaulet Achour, Christiane (2013). "Prix littéraires et réception de la littérature haïtienne" [Literary prizes and reception of Haitian literature]. In Brodziak, Sylvie (ed.). Haïti. Enjeux d’écriture (in French). Saint-Denis: Presses universitaires de Vincennes. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  20. ^ "Grand Prix SDGL". Official Site of SDGL. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  21. ^ "Hadriana in All My Dreams. Kirkus Reviews". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  22. ^ Apte, Poornima (15 April 2017). "Hadriana in All My Dreams". Booklist. 113 (16): 30–21. ISSN 0006-7385. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  23. ^ Fountain, Ben (15 May 2013). "Ben Fountain's top 10 books about Haiti". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 19 June 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
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