Beginning in Spring 2022, students in Dr. Elizabeth Emery\u2019s 19th-century French poetry and translation class embarked on a project called Les Phares Haitiens, endeavoring to create a digital repository of translated 19th-century Haitian poetry. The project\u2019s name, which translates to \u201cHaitian lights,\u201d is a nod to the Haitian poets who, as the repository states, served as \u201cliterary luminaries.\u201d The name itself holds a double meaning, as the word \u201cphare\u201d can be used both literally to refer to light sources or metaphorically, to mean a leader or guiding light. \u201cIn French, a \u2018projet phare\u2019 is what we call a flagship program, leading the way for others,\u201d Emery explains.<\/p>\n
The repository is entirely open to public access, and poems are being translated from French to English, Spanish and Creole. The significance of translating the poetry to Creole runs deep in Haitian culture. Before the Haitian revolution against French rule, French was the language of the plantation owners who denied education to those they enslaved. Creole developed as a way for those groups to communicate locally, and today is the one language most Hatians speak and understand. Emery notes that a number of the poets spoke Creole, but composed poems in French to learn the language and communicate internationally. Today, however, not all Hatians understand French or read either language. \u201cHaving Creole and French text as well as recordings provide accessibility to multiple audiences,\u201d Emery explains.<\/p>\n
Emery said the idea of focusing on Haitian poetry came about because of the amount of students with Francophone backgrounds in the class. Students\u2019 backgrounds ranged from West African to Belgian to Haitian, and Emery wished to showcase work from each of their countries. Even though the class has ended, several students continue the translation process and add to the project. Bertange Severe, one of these students, emphasized the hard work that Dr. Emery has done in this project, as she guided the students throughout the \u201cLes Phares\u201d project.<\/p>\n
Severe translated Coriolan Ardouin\u2019s poem \u201cFloranna la Fianc\u00e9e,\u201d or \u201cFloranna the Fianc\u00e9e.\u201d She notes the melancholy passion of this poem. \u201cSadness has been Ardouin\u2019s fate, and he never hesitates to use his pen to express his feelings. In this poem, he takes the reader to his native land Hispaniola, where they can admire the beauty, naivety and gentleness of Anacaona, a long-lost ancestor,\u201d says Severe.<\/p>\n
Laetitia Zicchinella, another student working on the project, specifically mentioned Coriolan Ardouin\u2019s poem, Le D\u00e9part du N\u00e9grier<\/em>. The title translates to \u201cThe Slaver\u2019s Departure,\u201d and is about the African women who were brought to Haiti as slaves. \u201cInnocent women that were taken away from their countries, their culture and their language. There is a lot of sadness and despair in this poem,\u201d Zicchinella says. By translating these poems, Zicchinella had the opportunity to learn more about Haiti and its history, as well as Haitian culture, and hopes that these poems will bring this experience to others. \u201cI am sure that while reading these poems we translated, people will be transported to the beautiful nature of Haiti, and they will feel all the emotions the poets were able to transcribe about the culture of the Haitian people.\u201d<\/p>\n Anastasia Bonney, who also worked to translate these poems, highlighted the new perspective that translation provides. As she translated Le secret d\u2019\u00eatre heureux,<\/em> Bonney found herself empathizing with both the poet and the English audience she was writing for. \u201cIt made me understand how to select the right choice of words and translate in a way that not only keeps the original form and style, but captures the meaning and understanding in its translation.\u201d Bonney also notes that the poems provide prospective French students with a good gateway into a deeper understanding of the language. Another student, Michelle Kiefer, also muses that \u201cart and literature help us connect with the experiences of others, and we as readers are enriched by encountering a variety of voices from different backgrounds, cultures, and eras.\u201d<\/p>\n As for Dr. Emery, she struggles to pick a favorite poem, but she highlighted the simplicity of Ignace Nau\u2019s Pipirites<\/em> and the complexity of Virginie Sampeur\u2019s L\u2019Abandonn\u00e9e<\/em>.<\/p>\n In an interview with the Haitian Times, Danielle Legros Georges, a Haitian-born American academic, essayist and poet, praised\u00a0 Les Phares Haitiens.\u00a0 \u201cThe project brings to Anglophone readers lesser-known but important foundational Haitian voices, and leaves a trail for future scholars and translators.\u201d<\/p>\n Until Les Phares, only Langston Hughes and Edna Underwood have extensively translated this era of Haitian poetry, making this project a landmark in Haitian translation.<\/p>\n You can read poems and find out more about Les Phares at Digital Commons<\/a>. The project is also open to anyone who wishes to translate a Haitian poem in the public domain to English, Spanish or Creole. If you are interested in helping this important endeavor, please contact Dr. Elizabeth Emery<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Written by Faith Monesteri, Fulcomer Intern Beginning in Spring 2022, students in Dr. Elizabeth Emery\u2019s 19th-century French poetry and translation class embarked on a project called Les Phares Haitiens, endeavoring to create a digital repository of translated 19th-century Haitian poetry. The project\u2019s name, which translates to \u201cHaitian lights,\u201d is a nod to the Haitian poets who, as the repository states, served […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":211369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-211367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-7_homepage-news-and-events","category-197_world_languages_and_cultures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211367"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":211534,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211367\/revisions\/211534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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