......and the Dogs Were Silent/......Et Les Chiens Se Taisaient

AimÉ CÉsaire (1913–2008) was a Martinican poet, critic, essayist, playwright, and statesman; a founder of the Negritude movement; and one of the most influential Francophone Caribbean intellectuals of the twentieth century. He is the author of Journal of a Homecoming / Cahier d’un retour au pays natal, also published by Duke University Press.  Alex Gil is Senior Lecturer II and Associate Research Faculty of Digital Humanities in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Yale University.  Brent Hayes Edwards is Peng Family Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University

“A distinguished poet and playwright, essayist, and historian, AimÉ CÉsaire is a legend in anticolonial literary and intellectual history. The story Alex Gil weaves in his elegant introduction to .....And the Dogs Were Silent-of how a dispute between surrealists AndrÉ Breton and Yvan Goll almost resulted in CÉsaire’s earliest known theatrical representation of the Haitian Revolution never seeing the light of day-is as fascinating as it is invaluable. This bilingual edition is a precious gift to readers, offering new biographical information about one of the Caribbean’s most beloved authors alongside Gil’s brilliant translation of what turns out to be one of CÉsaire’s most remarkable literary feats.” - Marlene L. Daut, author of (Awakening the Ashes: An Intellectual History of the Haitian Revolution) “This vital and beautifully translated text gives us new insight into AimÉ CÉsaire and his intellectual journey. An exciting and useful work for teaching the Haitian Revolution, it enables us to think about the power and symbolism of literary representations of Haiti in new ways.” - Laurent Dubois, coeditor of (The Haiti Reader: History, Culture, Politics) "When combined with CÉsaire’s leftist politics, ...... And the Dogs Were Silent is by definition a revolutionary and subversive work. . . . Simultaneously beautiful, brutal, inspirational and frightening, ......And the Dogs Were Silent is a drama to be reckoned with." - Ron Jacobs (Counterpunch) "Gil’s superb translation adds a formidable new work to CÉsaire’s corpus." - Musab Younis (London Review of Books) "…… And the Dogs Were Silent makes use of repetition to emphasize and undermine, and offers a sympathetic portrait of Louverture. . . . [P]rinting the original alongside its English version will draw new readers, establishing …… And the Dogs, after decades in which it lay undiscovered, as a powerful text for today." - Franklin Nelson (Times Literary Supplement)

• Foreword / Brent Hayes Edwards  viiAcknowledgments  xxiIntroduction: The Making and Remaking of . . . . . . Et les chiens se taisaient / Alex Gil  1. . . . . . And the Dogs Were Silent  43. . . . . . Et les chiens se taisaient  169Bibliography  291