The Kingdom of This World [Mass Market Paperback]

Alejo Carpentier (Author), Harriet De Onis (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1970

A few years after its liberation from French colonialist rule, Haiti experienced a period of unsurpassed brutality, horror, and superstition under the reign of the black King Henri-Christophe. Through the eyes of the ancient slave Ti-Noel, The Kingdom of This World records the destruction of the black regime--built on the same corruption and contempt for human life that brought down the French--in an orgy of voodoo, race hatred, erotomania, and fantastic grandeurs of false elegance.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Carpentier's writing has the power and range of a cathedral organ on the eve of the Resurrection."--The New Yorker

"Carpetier's energy is gigantic and pell-mell, sweeping colossi on top of each other with ruthless, contemptuous daring."--The Yale Review

"Carpentier creates a brilliant, improbable world which has the stylized reality of the great myths."--The Atlantic Monthly

"The Kingdom of This World packs literary dynamite. There can be no disputing the fact, Carpentier is equipped with an elegant perception and a distinctive style which make him a writer to be classed with Thomas Mann and W.H. Hudson."--San Francisco Chronicle

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Spanish --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 186 pages
• Publisher: Collier Books (1970)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0007DF4UG
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,017,324 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Kingdom of this World, June 7, 2000

By 

"hannah1350n" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Kingdom of This World: A Novel (Paperback)

Not long after Haiti's liberation from French colonial rule, King Henri-Christophe reigned through an era of chaos, violence, superstition and socio-political upheaval.

Carpentier details the story of this era, and the eventual overthrowing of Henri-Christophe's black regime, through the narrative of slave Ti-Noel.

For me, the interesting thing about this book was the way in which Carpentier shows how the black regime failed on the same sort of grounds that caused the French regime to become corrupt, outwardly oppulent and inwardly self-destructive. I find it very reminiscent of the sort of dialogue popularized by Freire's "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" where he explains how, in an effort to overthrow an oppressive system of education (but this has to work, to some extent, for politics, culture, etc) the rebels end up instituting essentially the same sort of system---only with themselves at the top instead of bottom.

The novel also deals convincingly with issues of cultural patrimony, the occult, and obviously with historical and political scenario. As with many of his books, Carpentier combines a strong dedication to the factual or realistic history with allegory, metaphor and allusion.

The writing style is fairly dense and I did find it difficult to read the novel straight through. However, I found the read very rewarding and also enlightening.

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful and haunting, January 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Kingdom of This World: A Novel (Paperback)

This is Magical Realism at it's best. As in Alende's The House of Spirits, magic and unearthly powers are commonplace in the world of this novel.
Dead men rise from the ashes and the reader believes this is so.

Carpentier paints a vivid portrait of colonial Haiti, depicting the racial strife and class wars that are par for the course in such a world.
The protagonist, Ti Noel, is a product of this colonial system: no longer African, but not exactly French. Where, Carpentier seems to ask, does Ti Noel beling? And to whom?

Carpentier's prose is beautiful, his images are vivid and stiking: one can picture the vast plantation, so far from the city....the row of powdered wigs on their stands...the look on Ti Noel's face when he realizes revolution does not add up to personal freedom.

A near perfect novel, Ti Noel and his story will stay with you long after you've read it.

34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best Latin-American novel of them all, November 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Kingdom of This World: A Novel (Paperback)

The Kingdom of the World is truly extraordinary, exquisitely crafted and overwhelming in its human implications. In it historical fiction and magical realism come together to produce a masterful work of art and an unforgettable story about the triumph of human dignity in the midst of destruction and senseless horror. Using as a setting one of the most bizarre episodes in history (the Haitian independence and its aftermath), Carpentier tells a mesmerizing story that reveals human beings in all their complexity, contradictions and pervesity, but also in their extraordinary power of survival and redemption. A literary masterpiece of the highest order.