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Between Two Worlds
English, French (translation)
- GenresFiction
Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
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About the author
Simone Schwarz-Bart
18 books49 followersSimone Schwarz-Bart (née Brumant) is a French novelist and playwright of Gouadeloupean origin.
Simone Brumant was born on January 8, 1938 at Saintes in the Charente-Maritime province of France. Her place of birth is not clear, however, as she has also stated that she was born in Pointe-à-Pitre.
Her parents were originally from Guadeloupe. Her father was a soldier while her mother was a teacher. When the Second World War broke out, her father stayed in France to fight, while she and her mother returned to Guadeloupe.
She studied at Pointe-à-Pitre, followed by Paris and Dakar.
At age 18, while studying in Paris, she met her future husband, André Schwarz-Bart, who encouraged her to take up writing as a career. They married in 1960, and lived at various times in Senegal, Switzerland, Paris, and Guadeloupe.
Schwarz-Bart has at one time run a Creole furniture business as well as a restaurant.
Her husband died in 2006. They have two sons, Jacques Schwarz-Bart, a noted jazz saxophonist, and Bernard Schwarz-Bart.
She currently lives in Goyave, a small village in Guadeloupe.
In 1967, together with her husband, André Schwarz-Bart, she wrote Un plat de porc aux bananas vertes, a historical novel exploring the parallels in the exiles of Caribbeans and Jews. In 1972, they published La Mulâtresse Solitude. In 1989, they wrote a six-volume encyclopaedia Hommage à la femme noire (In Praise of Black Women), to honour the black heroines who were missing in the official historiography.
Despite being mentioned as her husband's collaborator in their works, critics have often attributed full authorship to André Schwarz-Bart, and only his name appears in the French edition of La Mulâtresse Solitude. Her authorship is acknowledged, however, in the English translation of the book.
In 1972, Schwarz-Bart wrote Pluie et vent sur Télumée Miracle, which is considered one of the masterpieces of Caribbean literature. In 1979, she published Ti jean l'horizon.
Schwarz-Bart has also written for the theatre: Ton beau capitaine was a well-received play in one act.
(from Wikipedia)
Simone Brumant was born on January 8, 1938 at Saintes in the Charente-Maritime province of France. Her place of birth is not clear, however, as she has also stated that she was born in Pointe-à-Pitre.
Her parents were originally from Guadeloupe. Her father was a soldier while her mother was a teacher. When the Second World War broke out, her father stayed in France to fight, while she and her mother returned to Guadeloupe.
She studied at Pointe-à-Pitre, followed by Paris and Dakar.
At age 18, while studying in Paris, she met her future husband, André Schwarz-Bart, who encouraged her to take up writing as a career. They married in 1960, and lived at various times in Senegal, Switzerland, Paris, and Guadeloupe.
Schwarz-Bart has at one time run a Creole furniture business as well as a restaurant.
Her husband died in 2006. They have two sons, Jacques Schwarz-Bart, a noted jazz saxophonist, and Bernard Schwarz-Bart.
She currently lives in Goyave, a small village in Guadeloupe.
In 1967, together with her husband, André Schwarz-Bart, she wrote Un plat de porc aux bananas vertes, a historical novel exploring the parallels in the exiles of Caribbeans and Jews. In 1972, they published La Mulâtresse Solitude. In 1989, they wrote a six-volume encyclopaedia Hommage à la femme noire (In Praise of Black Women), to honour the black heroines who were missing in the official historiography.
Despite being mentioned as her husband's collaborator in their works, critics have often attributed full authorship to André Schwarz-Bart, and only his name appears in the French edition of La Mulâtresse Solitude. Her authorship is acknowledged, however, in the English translation of the book.
In 1972, Schwarz-Bart wrote Pluie et vent sur Télumée Miracle, which is considered one of the masterpieces of Caribbean literature. In 1979, she published Ti jean l'horizon.
Schwarz-Bart has also written for the theatre: Ton beau capitaine was a well-received play in one act.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
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March 22, 2018A magical-realist high fantasy, some peculiar amalgamation of the Odyssey, Thousand Years of Solitude and The Palm Wine Drunkard, in which our heroic Guadeloupean protagonist, possessed of a courageous heart, a magic rifle, and a golden penis (seriously) quests to defeat a beast which has swallowed the sun and also represents the legacy of slavery, journeying through colonial Africa and the land of the dead en route to his destiny. This description doesn’t really do justice to just how peculiar a book this is, slyly satirical but meant as an authentic epic, in which the tragedy of the African diaspora is redeemed through the suffering of our fairy-tale protagonist. Occasionally I got a little tired of the endless nonsensical descriptions, and I can’t say I liked this quite as much as the last Schwarz-Bart I read, the sublime Bridge of Beyond, but this is a very good, very odd book. Bart is attempting a style that I’m not really mad in love with, but it has to be said she nails it, and when she slips back into something a little less fantastical the excellence of her prose and the profundity of her thinking shines through. It seems very odd to me that Bart isn’t better known/regarded, given both her general ability and the enthusiasm the general public has for this sort of a story. Library, but I’d hold on to it otherwise.
April 16, 2017
This is a longer book than The Bridge of Beyond, but set in the same village of Fond-Zombi in Guadalupe. This story is a hero's quest, that takes the hero, a son of gods and member of the noble race of crows, Ti-Jean, back through time to Africa, to the land of the dead, and back to Fond-Zombi to slay the beast that ate the sun. This metaphorical story is Simone Shwarz-Bart's attempt to understand slavery and to show the pride and strength of her people, who are descendent of the slaves of Guadalupe. I liked it very much, not as much as The Bridge of Beyond, which is in my top ten favorite books
June 16, 2013
A tale that illustrates the struggle with Caribbean identity through symbolism. A great beast has blocked out the sunlight and thrown the island of Guadeloupe into darkness. The beast is white domination, and the story's hero Ti Jean must destroy it by exploring contemporary Guadeloupe as well as the Africa of his ancestors.
I enjoyed the creative take on the subject. Mythological stories bring people together and create depth and a sense of identity within one's culture.
I enjoyed the creative take on the subject. Mythological stories bring people together and create depth and a sense of identity within one's culture.
November 12, 2016
On peut lire Ti jean L' horizon comme une aventure extraordinaire, un conte d'amour, une histoire de sorcellerie, un ouvrage de science-fiction où la Bête jouerait le rôle de machine à remonter le temps : mais c'est aussi une quête de l'identité, un voyage que j'aurais fait au bout de ma nuit antillaise, pour tenter de l'exorciser. Comme mon héros, j'aimerais dire que je ne suis qu'un enfant et le monde un moulin à mystères
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews