Makenzy Orcel is an award-winning novelist and poet and a Chevalier des arts et des lettres of the French Republic. He is the author of The Immortals and A Human Burden. Nathan H. Dize is a translator, assistant professor of French at Washington University in Saint Louis, and a scholar of French Caribbean literature.

"In The Emperor, Orcel paints a scathing picture of those who use religion as a tool of exploitation. The novel recalls the work of Haitian literary greats such as Jacques Stephen Alexis and Gary Victor, through Vodou imagery that simultaneously conjures up the work of celebrated Primitive artists like Wilson Bigaud and Hector Hyppolite, weaving these references all in a wholly original story. Dize’s deft translation invites anglophone readers into the space of the ounfò, the temple, while respecting the mystery and cultural complexity of Haitian Vodou practices."

• The Totality of AbsenceThe Emperor

Makenzy Orcel is an award-winning novelist and poet and a Chevalier des arts et des lettres of the French Republic. He is the author of The Immortals and A Human Burden. Nathan H. Dize is a translator, assistant professor of French at Washington University in Saint Louis, and a scholar of French Caribbean literature.

"In The Emperor, Orcel paints a scathing picture of those who use religion as a tool of exploitation. The novel recalls the work of Haitian literary greats such as Jacques Stephen Alexis and Gary Victor, through Vodou imagery that simultaneously conjures up the work of celebrated Primitive artists like Wilson Bigaud and Hector Hyppolite, weaving these references all in a wholly original story. Dize’s deft translation invites anglophone readers into the space of the ounfò, the temple, while respecting the mystery and cultural complexity of Haitian Vodou practices."

• The Totality of AbsenceThe Emperor

Makenzy Orcel is an award-winning novelist and poet and a Chevalier des arts et des lettres of the French Republic. He is the author of The Immortals and A Human Burden. Nathan H. Dize is a translator, assistant professor of French at Washington University in Saint Louis, and a scholar of French Caribbean literature.

"In The Emperor, Orcel paints a scathing picture of those who use religion as a tool of exploitation. The novel recalls the work of Haitian literary greats such as Jacques Stephen Alexis and Gary Victor, through Vodou imagery that simultaneously conjures up the work of celebrated Primitive artists like Wilson Bigaud and Hector Hyppolite, weaving these references all in a wholly original story. Dize’s deft translation invites anglophone readers into the space of the ounfò, the temple, while respecting the mystery and cultural complexity of Haitian Vodou practices."

• The Totality of AbsenceThe Emperor