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C. L. R. James's The Black Jacobins remains one of the great works of the twentieth century and the cornerstone of Haitian revolutionary studies. In Making The Black Jacobins, Rachel Douglas traces the genesis, transformation, and afterlives of James's landmark work across the decades from the 1930s on. Examining the 1938 and 1963 editions of The Black Jacobins, the 1967 play of the same name, and James's 1936 play, Toussaint Louverture-as well as manuscripts, notes, interviews, and other texts-Douglas shows how James continuously rewrote and revised his history of the Haitian Revolution as his politics and engagement with Marxism evolved. She also points to the vital significance theater played in James's work and how it influenced his views of history. Douglas shows The Black Jacobins to be a palimpsest, its successive layers of rewriting renewing its call to new generations.
List of contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1. Toussaint Louverture Takes Center Stage: The 1930s 29
2. Making History: The Black Jacobins (1938) 69
3. Rewriting History: The Black Jacobins (1963) 102
4. Reshaping the Past as Drama (1967) 133
5. Afterlives of The Black Jacobins 178
Notes 215
Bibliography 265
Index 295
About the author
Rachel Douglas is Lecturer in French and Comparative Literature at the University of Glasgow and author of
Frankétienne and Rewriting: A Work in Progress.
Summary
Rachel Douglas traces the genesis, transformation, and afterlives of the different versions of C. L. R. James's landmark The Black Jacobins across the decades from the 1930s onwards, showing how James revised it in light of his evolving politics.
