The Fourth Century FROM THE PUBLISHER
The Fourth Century tells of the quest by young Mathieu Béluse to discover the lost history of his country, Martinique. Aware that the officially recorded version he learned in school omits and distorts, he turns to a quimboiseur named Papa Longoué. This old man of the forest, a healer, seer, and storyteller, knows the oral tradition and its relation to the powers of the land and the forces of nature. He tells of the love-hate relationship between the Longoué and Béluse families, whose ancestors were brought as slaves to Martinique. Upon arrival, Longoué immediately escaped and went to live in the hills as a maroon. Béluse remained in slavery. The intense relationship that had formed between the two men in Africa continued and came to encompass the relations between their masters, or, in the case of Longoué, his would-be master, and their descendants. The Fourth Century closes the gap between the families as Papa Longoué, last of his line, conveys the history to Mathieu Béluse, who becomes his heir.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
West Indian writer douard Glissant addresses the turbulent, often tragic history of Martinique in The Fourth Century (trans. from the French by Betsy Wing). Seer and storyteller Papa Longou relays to young Mathieu B luse the story of their families, whose rival ancestors were brought to the island as slaves. From the first pages, describing the atrocities endured aboard the slave ships, this is a fascinating, harrowing historical epic told in rich, unflinching prose. ( Apr. 23) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
The modern history of Martinique is embedded in this colorful chronicle (published in French in 1997) of the interrelationships and rivalries of two families whose founders were brought to the island as slaves in 1788. In a tangled narrative spoken by storyteller-healer ("quimboiseur") Papa Longoué to young Mathieu Béluse, the older man (a wily Scheharazade) tells how his family, who escaped to the hills and lived as outcasts, and the Béluses, whose generations toiled and suffered on various plantations, intermingled, intermarried, fought (often to the death), and were eventually joined together. It's a heady brew, sometimes sensuously dramatic, as often rhetorically forced and borderline-obscure. Many brilliant moments, though—along with slave rebellions and hurricanes, omnipresent zombies and spirits, and a powerful impression of the human cost of racial oppression, miscegenation, and madness. In its best moments, this turbulent tale becomes something very like a Caribbean Absalom, Absalom!
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