The Kingdom of This World

"For this reason, bowed down by suffering and duties, beautiful in the midst of his misery, capable of loving in the face of afflictions and trials, man finds his greatness, his fullest measure, only in the Kingdom of This World."

Alejo Carpentier's The Kingdom of This World, translated into English by Harriet de Onis, is an interesting literary interpretation of the Haitian Revolution. Focusing on an old, ex-slave, Ti Noel, Carpentier uses historical figures and plays with the dates to show how the worldview of black slaves shaped the Haitian Revolution. Indeed, Carpentier influenced the 'magic realism' of later Latin American writes with his theory of lo real maravilloso, or marvelous realism, which emphasized the natural, extant systems of thought found within Latin America and the Caribbean rather than artificial, contrived notions of the supernatural one finds in surrealist artists and writers from Europe. Thus, Macandal, the one-armed slave believed by French whites to have died, burned to death, escapes by transforming into an insect and flying away according to the black slaves.

The opposing perspectives on the death of Macandal, however, are not diametrically opposed, since Vodou incorporates Christian/Catholic influences of Spanish and French colonial structures in the Caribbean. In addition to Macandal transforming into animals during and after his widespread poisoning of white planters in the Plaine du Nord, but Ti Noel himself also gains the ability to transform into animals. Other supernatural phenomena also occur, such as black slave rebels becoming impervious to bullets in while battling white troops. Moreover, the 'marvelous' reality these ex-slaves experience includes a world in which the lwa of Africa are omnipresent and necessary for the liberation of slaves. Indeed, it is through Vodou that liberation is achieved in the text, since Boukman leading the Bois Caiman ceremony was a Vodou ritual that included invoking the lwa. Despite the huge ethnic differences between Mandingos, Congos, and others, Vodou unites them in opposition to the material conditions of slavery because of it's syncretistic nature that incorporates aspects of each ethnic group and creolized black person's 'marvelous reality.'

On another level, the novel depicts the Haitian Revolution as similar to Animal Farm. After the success of overthrowing French colonialism and slavery, the people of northern Haiti continue to suffer under the black monarchy of Henri Christophe, whose Europhile regime exploits the ex-slaves through another system of forced labor. Until Christophe is then overthrown, and mulattoes from the South take power and endeavor to establish another state of slavery-like conditions, black ex-slaves continue reactionary rather than revolutionary changes. In each case, the French, Christophe's black monarchy, and the mulattoes, the black peasants respond with reactionary. For Carpentier, each individual must recognize the importance of striving for one's best in The Kingdom of This World, or the material world in which we live, rather than putting faith entirely in the gods of Africa for sustenance. Without dismissing the importance of Vodou and the supernatural worldview of Haitian blacks, the people must take control of their own destiny and transcend the exploitative conditions under which blacks are exposed due to French slavery, or black and mulatto attempts to restore plantation agriculture. Once this is achieved, The Kingdom of This World can surpass the Kingdom of Heaven.

On a historical level, however, one must question the ahistorical assumptions and generalizations made by Carpentier. There is an assumption that all the current lwa of Haiti (20th century, I suppose) were present in 18th century Saint Domingue. Furthermore, Carpentier's description of violence in Saint Domingue during the Revolution emphasizes black rape of white women like white narratives from the period. This implies that black men were/are rapists and extra-violent, rather than rational actors in the historical process of the Revolution. One must also mention that historically, despite their neglect and continued repression by various Haitian states, the Haitian peasant did succeed in largely unseating the plantation system of labor.  Overall, this novel is somewhat interesting since the white Cuban author writes about a black revolution. However, the novel's incomplete coverage of the Revolution, historical anachronisms, and weak plot do weaken its overall narrative structure. The concept of 'marvelous realism' and its influence on the magic realism of later Latin American writers is also highly significant for urging the adoption of local folklore and beliefs to construct an authentic perspective from those the writer wishes to represent. Rather than mimicking European styles and literary forms, writers from non-Western regions have gained a powerful tool for representing their own regions.