The Noose (also known as Pèlin-Tèt) focuses on the lives of two Haitian immigrants living in a grubby basement apartment in New York City in 1978. One, Polydor, is a middle-class intellectual and political refugee. The other, Pyram, is a lower-class laborer. For the sake of saving money, the two have been sharing the apartment for three years. While Pyram is away working, Polydor apparently does nothing but read books on political theory. His source of funds remains a mystery.

With recent productions in Canada and the United States, the publication of this play in English will provide a new generation of audiences access to this important text, accompanied by an introduction by translator Asselin Charles and an afterword by Jean Jonassaint, both preeminent scholars of Frankétienne’s literary output.

Frankétienne (born Frank Étienne on April 12, 1936, in Ravine-Sèche, Haiti) was a writer, poet, playwright, painter, musician, activist, and intellectual. He was recognized as one of Haiti’s leading writers and playwrights of both French and Haitian Creole and has been called “the father of Haitian letters” by the New York Times. As a painter, he was known for his colorful abstract works, often emphasizing the colors blue and red. He was a candidate for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2009 and was made a Commander of the Arts and Letters in 2010.

Asselin Charles is a retired professor of language and literature. He is the literary translator of many works, including Anténor Firmin’s masterwork The Equality of the Human Races and Frankétienne’s great Kreyòl novel Dézafi.

Translator’s Introduction
The Noose: A Play
Afterword by Jean Jonassaint
Notes