Antoine des Gommiers

Publication Date:

January 2021

Pages:

208

Original language and publisher

French | Actes Sud

Territories Handled

Netherlands, North America, Scandinavia

Territories Sold

World English (Schaffner Press)
Germany (Litradukt)

Genre

Literary Fiction

Antoine des Gommiers

Synopsis

“With Antoine of Gommiers, Trouillot proposes a dialectic that explains the crisis not only in Haiti but also in the modern world…and asks us to learn to merge our dreams in order to live harmoniously….” — Los Angeles Review of Books

“A book about the quest for the Haitian identity, both a magic tale and a painful everyday life account, between prosaicness and lyricism. ” — France Culture

“A humanist tale” “A fascinating reflection on the power of writing” — La Croix

“A little masterpiece able to seize what is the least translatable in the Haitian spirit and make it universal” — Le Temps

Ti Tony lives in a small room in Port-au-Prince with his brother Franky and their mother Antoinette. A lover of words and stories, Franky begins writing a book on Antoine des Gommiers, that peerless soothsayer held in such awe by Haitians. But the popularity of this shaman is not the only reason why he embarks on this literary project – Antoine des Gommiers is apparently the great-uncle of Antoinette. This family connection changes everything, even though Ti Tony himself will find that fiction is not necessarily a route to lucidity.

One of Lyonel Trouillot’s greatest novels in which filial love transcends poverty and literature wards off truth since, as he says, there is always a place for mystery in the real world.

Marketing Information

  • English translation available