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Cargo Hold Of Stars: Coolitude
Cargo Hold of Stars is an ode to the forgotten voyage of a forgotten people. Khal Torabully gives voice to the millions of indentured men and women, mostly from India and China, who were brought to Mauritius between 1849 and 1923. Many were transported overseas to other European colonies. Kept in close quarters in the ship’s cargo hold, many died. Most never returned home.
With Cargo Hold of Stars , Torabully introduces the concept of ‘Coolitude’ in a way that echoes Aimé Césaire’s term ‘Negritude,’ imbuing the term with dignity and pride, as well as a strong and resilient cultural identity and language. Stating that ordinary language was not equipped to bring to life the diverse voices of indenture, Torabully has developed a ‘poetics of Coolitude’: a new French, peppered with Mauritian Creole, wordplay, and neologisms—and always musical. The humor in these linguistic acrobatics serves to underscore the violence in which his poems are steeped.
Deftly translated from the French by Nancy Naomi Carlson, Cargo Hold of Stars is the song of an uprooting, of the destruction and the reconstruction of the indentured laborer’s identity. But it also celebrates setting down roots, as it conjures an ideal homeland of fraternity and reconciliation in which bodies, memories, stories, and languages mingle—a compelling odyssey that ultimately defines the essence of humankind.
With Cargo Hold of Stars , Torabully introduces the concept of ‘Coolitude’ in a way that echoes Aimé Césaire’s term ‘Negritude,’ imbuing the term with dignity and pride, as well as a strong and resilient cultural identity and language. Stating that ordinary language was not equipped to bring to life the diverse voices of indenture, Torabully has developed a ‘poetics of Coolitude’: a new French, peppered with Mauritian Creole, wordplay, and neologisms—and always musical. The humor in these linguistic acrobatics serves to underscore the violence in which his poems are steeped.
Deftly translated from the French by Nancy Naomi Carlson, Cargo Hold of Stars is the song of an uprooting, of the destruction and the reconstruction of the indentured laborer’s identity. But it also celebrates setting down roots, as it conjures an ideal homeland of fraternity and reconciliation in which bodies, memories, stories, and languages mingle—a compelling odyssey that ultimately defines the essence of humankind.
- GenresPoetry
200 pages, Hardcover
Published February 13, 2021
41 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 30, 2022
"Define me please:
what's a Coolie?
One with a noose round his neck
denied the deck's cool lee side?
I am Lascar, Malabar,
Madras tamarind from bazaars,
Telugu with tell-tails for you.
Cruel Marathi mother or Chamar.
Whichever you like, I'm an Indian Black,
guinea pig, from Port Louis to Port-of-Spain
to replace mighty Zanzibar slaves.
For memory, my only langouti, a loincloth,
my language, purloined by the sea.
If you recognize me, please
call me proxy slave,
strawman or stand-in,
kapok from fields or ocean vertebrae.
But know that my sabre of blood
has uprooted me to the core."
// from To a Coolie
Khal Torabully coined the term "coolitude" from the pejorative "coolie", echoing Aimé Césaire's "negritude". "The poetry of coolitude", Carlson says, "is clearly dialogical in spirit, developing an inclusive vision of peoples, memories, and histories of the colonial rim." Torabully writes towards the end of the book, "my cargo hold of stars is my nautical chart, my space, my vision of the ocean all of us crossed, though we didn't see the stars from the same point of view." Later: "My coolitude is my only share of a memory tossed by the waves." It celebrates a "common oceanic song".
The 2022 Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize was awarded to Nancy Naomi Carlson for her translation, a very deserved win. She credits Torabully with "creating a new French, peppered with Mauritian Creole, old Scandinavian, old French, mariners' language, Hindi, Urdu, and neologisms." She brings alive the lyrical playfulness of the original, and the several layers of meaning depending on aurality, in a transcendent, vibrant multi-textured English that is properly equipped to portray experiences of indentured servitude and uprooting. "In our tongues, we're at the fertile frontier of codes".
what's a Coolie?
One with a noose round his neck
denied the deck's cool lee side?
I am Lascar, Malabar,
Madras tamarind from bazaars,
Telugu with tell-tails for you.
Cruel Marathi mother or Chamar.
Whichever you like, I'm an Indian Black,
guinea pig, from Port Louis to Port-of-Spain
to replace mighty Zanzibar slaves.
For memory, my only langouti, a loincloth,
my language, purloined by the sea.
If you recognize me, please
call me proxy slave,
strawman or stand-in,
kapok from fields or ocean vertebrae.
But know that my sabre of blood
has uprooted me to the core."
// from To a Coolie
Khal Torabully coined the term "coolitude" from the pejorative "coolie", echoing Aimé Césaire's "negritude". "The poetry of coolitude", Carlson says, "is clearly dialogical in spirit, developing an inclusive vision of peoples, memories, and histories of the colonial rim." Torabully writes towards the end of the book, "my cargo hold of stars is my nautical chart, my space, my vision of the ocean all of us crossed, though we didn't see the stars from the same point of view." Later: "My coolitude is my only share of a memory tossed by the waves." It celebrates a "common oceanic song".
The 2022 Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize was awarded to Nancy Naomi Carlson for her translation, a very deserved win. She credits Torabully with "creating a new French, peppered with Mauritian Creole, old Scandinavian, old French, mariners' language, Hindi, Urdu, and neologisms." She brings alive the lyrical playfulness of the original, and the several layers of meaning depending on aurality, in a transcendent, vibrant multi-textured English that is properly equipped to portray experiences of indentured servitude and uprooting. "In our tongues, we're at the fertile frontier of codes".
October 14, 2022
This collection of poems is Mauritian poet Khal Torabully's tribute to the millions of men and women, primarily from India and China, who were brought to work as indentured labourers on Mauritius, an island off the coast of Africa, between 1849 and 1923. Some were taken to other European colonies much farther away and many did not survive the voyage. With the term "Coolitude", he aims to reclaim and empower the word "Coolie" and honour these people from whom he is descended, their rich and varied culture. The award winning translation is excellent, capturing the music of the original French (which is itself peppered with word drawn from a range of languages). Ideally read aloud, these poems stand as songs capturing the trials and dreams of these forgotten souls.
A longer review can be found here: https://roughghosts.com/2022/10/13/ab...
A longer review can be found here: https://roughghosts.com/2022/10/13/ab...
February 6, 2023
Cargo Hold of Stars is such a beautiful, rich sequence of poetry you could dip your finger into it anywhere and come up with a marvel of depth and reach to get your mind hooked. And if you've read other translations by Nancy Naomi Carlson you know you're in for a treat. Here is just one of the many (from part I: The Book of Métissage, pg. 20):
Hang on to my cord
drift in my ocean name
umbilical by measure
yourself a baptism of azure.
Hang on to an ocean sky,
my only lifeline after the rift:
o only boat
that adores me in my river-mouth core.
By monsoon admission
my basin is barley millstone.
In my pure bread of mélange
my throat's in a cargo hold of storms.
Hang on to my cord
drift in my ocean name
umbilical by measure
yourself a baptism of azure.
Hang on to an ocean sky,
my only lifeline after the rift:
o only boat
that adores me in my river-mouth core.
By monsoon admission
my basin is barley millstone.
In my pure bread of mélange
my throat's in a cargo hold of storms.
January 11, 2026
As deep as the ocean
September 11, 2024
Excellent book of poems translated from French. A unified ode to millions of indentured people, stolen from India and China to Mauritius off the African coast. A reclamation of mostly forgotten history, a celebration of resilience, cultural diversity, survival. The poems are musical with image motifs of the ocean and stars. Loved this.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews