Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Danticat, Edwidge (Vol. 94) - Richard Eder (review date 30 March 1995)

1. Printable Version
2. Download PDF
3. Cite this Page
4. Tweet This

Richard Eder (review date 30 March 1995)

SOURCE: "A Haitian Fantasy and Exile," in Newsday, March 30, 1995, pp. B2, B25.

[In the following favorable review of Krik? Krak!, Eder describes some of Danticat's stories as "pure beguiling transformation."]

"Beyond the mountains there are mountains" goes one of the Haitian proverbs that work their tutelary spirit through Edwidge Danticat's stories. The Creole sayings of that misfortunate island keep it in one particular sense from being utterly bereft. For Haitians to hurl those six laconic words at the harshness that forbids them passage is to acknowledge it and lift it at the same time. Haiti's proverbs, like Chekhov's plays, light up what rises when men and women are borne down.

So do the best of these pieces by a young and beautifully voiced Haitian-American writer. When Guy falls to his death from the balloon he has stolen, or Celiane jumps after the dead baby she has hurled...

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass

1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Criticism
   1. Mary Mackay (review date Fall 1994)
   2. Garry Pierre-Pierre (essay date 26 January 1995)
   3. Richard Eder (review date 30 March 1995)
   4. Joanne Omang (review date 14 May 1995)
   5. Paul Moses (essay date 21 May 1995)
   6. Kimberly Hébert (review date June 1995)
   7. Jordana Hart (review date 19 July 1995)
   8. Edwidge Danticat with Renée H. Shea (interview date Summer 1995)
4. Copyright

1. Edwidge Danticat