Thursday, August 20, 2015

Luis Pie


Enjoy "Luis Pie," a cuento that won Dominican intellectual and future president, Juan Bosch, a prestigious literary award in 1943. The short story is fascinating for its sympathetic portrait of Haitian braceros, focusing on Luis Pie (Louis Pierre), who is blamed for a fire that breaks out in the canefield and killed. The short story uses some Creole, offers a powerful critique of the abuses Haitians faced in the sugarcane fields, and is noteworthy for not following the typical anti-Haitianism of Dominican intellectuals associated with Trujillo. 

Bosch would have, to put it frankly, a troubled relationship with Haiti during his bumpy presidential term. Yet this short story clearly provides a nice break from typical narratives of Haiti and the DR always being in a state of conflict, akin to a cockfight. 

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