The Bordeaux Narrative

Albuquerque, New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press, 1990. A Fine unmarked copy in red cloth boards with near Fine dustjacket. Harold Courlander 1908-1996 was an American novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist, an expert in the study of Haitian life. The author of 35 books and plays and numerous scholarly articles, Courlander specialized in the study of African, Caribbean, Afro-American (U.S.), and American Indian cultures. He took a special interest in oral literature, cults, and Afro-American cultural connections with Africa. In the Bordeaux Narrative he brings to life in fictional form the frequently terrifying (and sometimes reassuring) supernatural world of the back country peasants of Haiti. The story is set in the 19th century and tells of Dosu Bordeaux's quest to find his brother, who has been captured , reduced to a zombie state, and put to work as a slave on a remote mountain plantation. The narrative brings into play the vodouns (deities or spirits of traditional Afro-Haitian religious belief), the need for constant placation of the vodouns, trances in which the deities enter the heads of their devotees, and the transference of human souls or spirits from one person to another. A1E. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Near Fine. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.