Le Siècle des Lumières — Révolution française et Caraïbes (1962)

Authors : Alejo Carpentier

Genres : roman

Original language : espagnol

Editions

  • Editorial Cultural (Mexique), 1962 es
  • Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1962 en
    ISBN 9780374256126
  • Gallimard, coll. La Croix du Sud, 1962 fr
  • Gallimard, coll. Folio n°981, 1977 fr
    ISBN 9782070346155

The Age of Enlightenment (El siglo de las luces, 1962)

The Age of Enlightenment (El siglo de las luces) is considered by many to be the masterpiece of Alejo Carpentier. Published in 1962, the novel is set during the French Revolution (late 18th century) and its repercussions in the Caribbean — Guadeloupe, Cuba, and Guyana.

The plot follows four characters: André-Louis Moreau, a former mathematics student who became a French revolutionary officer; Christophe, an African slave freed by André-Louis during a slave revolt in Guadeloupe; Sofía, a young mixed-race woman whose destiny turns; and Victor Hugues, a convention commissioner who will play a major role in Caribbean history. The destinies of these characters cross and intertwine across the oceans, from Paris to the Caribbean islands.

The novel explores the theme of revolutions: how the universalist ideals of the French Revolution clash with the cruel reality of slave colonies. Carpentier demonstrates that the “marvelous real” of Latin America is not a literary invention, but a historical fact: slave revolts that resemble miracles, firestorms that seem supernatural.

Sources