Fr. 30.50

Cargo Hold of Stars: Coolitude

English · Hardback

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Description

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Cargo Hold of Stars is an ode to the forgotten voyage of a forgotten people. Khal Torabully gives voice to the millions of indentured men and women, mostly from India and China, who were brought to Mauritius between 1849 and 1923. Many were transported overseas to other European colonies. Kept in close quarters in the ship's cargo hold, many died. Most never returned home.

With Cargo Hold of Stars, Torabully introduces the concept of 'Coolitude' in a way that echoes Aimé Césaire's term 'Negritude, ' imbuing the term with dignity and pride, as well as a strong and resilient cultural identity and language. Stating that ordinary language was not equipped to bring to life the diverse voices of indenture, Torabully has developed a 'poetics of Coolitude' a new French, peppered with Mauritian Creole, wordplay, and neologisms--and always musical. The humor in these linguistic acrobatics serves to underscore the violence in which his poems are steeped.

Deftly translated from the French by Nancy Naomi Carlson, Cargo Hold of Stars is the song of an uprooting, of the destruction and the reconstruction of the indentured laborer's identity. But it also celebrates setting down roots, as it conjures an ideal homeland of fraternity and reconciliation in which bodies, memories, stories, and languages mingle--a compelling odyssey that ultimately defines the essence of humankind.

About the author










Khal Torabully is a poet, essayist, film director, and semiologist who has published over twenty-five books. Nancy Naomi Carlson is a poet, translator, and editor based in Maryland. A recipient of a literature translation fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, she is also a senior translation editor for Tupelo Quarterly.


Product details

Authors Khal Torabully
Assisted by Nancy Naomi Carlson (Translation)
Publisher Sea Boating
 
Languages English
Product format Hardback
Released 28.02.2021
 
EAN 9780857427854
ISBN 978-0-85742-785-4
No. of pages 200
Dimensions 163 mm x 234 mm x 18 mm
Weight 392 g
Series The French List
The French List - (Seagull titles CHUP)
Subjects Fiction > Poetry, drama
Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies

POETRY / General, Poetry

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