PATRICK CHAMOISEAU - SLAVE OLD MAN

Image: author photo

What I have in my hands is Slave Old Man, a brief and radiant novel with an introduction, translator’s note, and glossary. The supplemental materials seem to want to tell me that it was a huge pain in the ass to translate the novel from the French and Creole of Chamoiseau’s original text. The translation won many awards. The novel deserves more awards than it won. It’s not a poem, but it reminds me of epic poetry. It’s not just lyrical: its lyricism successfully captures the feeling of oral storytelling — no small feat. Slave Old Man also reminds me of epic poetry because its plot is elemental. Runaway slave vs. killer mastiff: this story contains multitudes. Hero and monster. It seems rigorously simple. It isn’t. Read, February 2020.