Babouk
| Author | Guy Endore |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Political novel |
| Published | 1934 Vanguard Press |
| Pages | 182 |
| Preceded by | The Werewolf of Paris |
| Followed by | Methinks the Lady |
Babouk is a political-themed novel by Guy Endore, a fictionalized account of the Haitian Revolution told through the eyes of its titular slave. Though virtually unknown today, Babouk has gained some notoriety in academic circles through its attempted linking of the slave trade with capitalism, and one professor has suggested that it would make a valuable addition to post-colonial literary discourse. A committed leftist and opponent of racism, Endore spent many months in Haiti researching the story that would become Babouk, and much of his findings make their way into the text, either in the form of epigraphs or explicitly noted in the text itself. Babouk is also notable for the digressions the narrator makes from the main narrative, to expound his political sympathies.
Endore, a popular writer and staunch socialist, had in 1933 published his book The Werewolf of Paris, which became a financial success. Hoping to profit on his newfound bankability, he was contracted by Simon & Schuster to write another novel that would be in the same mystery vein. Endore, who spoke French, decided to write a romance set against the backdrop of the Haitian Revolution, and went to Haiti to conduct research on the slave trade. Horrified by what he learned, he became particularly interested in the story of a rebellious slave named Dutty Boukman, who many consider to be the catalyst behind the Haitian slave rebellion. Endore created a fictionalized version named Babouk, but he also used his story to try to tell an anti-capitalist parable that borrowed much of its philosophy from Karl Marx. The resulting manuscript was dubbed by the publishing house of Simon and Schuster to be, "a powerful, moving piece of work. It won't sell because it's just too horrible." The book was not successful, and it languished in obscurity until it was chosen by the leftist journal Monthly Review to be published as part of its "Voices of Resistance" series. The republished novel included a foreword by writer Jamaica Kincaid and an afterword by historians David Barry Gaspar and Michel-Rolph Trouillot. It was published in 1991 by Monthly Review Press.
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