The Kingdom of This World, published in Spanish as El reino de este mundo in 1949, is a historical novel by the Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier, with an English translation appearing in 1957. Set during the Haitian Revolution of 1791 to 1804, it follows the enslaved man Ti Noel through the upheaval of the revolution, weaving Haitian history, voodoo belief and myth into a single narrative. The novel introduced Carpentier's concept of lo real maravilloso, the marvelous real, the idea that magical events could be presented as an ordinary part of Latin American and Caribbean life rather than as fantasy set apart from it, and it is considered a foundational text of magical realism in Latin American and Caribbean literature.
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Original Language Composed, From (Year) Connections
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Geography Atlas: Chile, originated there.
- Also in Language Atlas: Spanish, original language there.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: The Kingdom of This World
WikipediaLead paragraphQuote, Lead paragraph
The Kingdom of This World (Spanish: El reino de este mundo) is a novel by Cuban author Alejo Carpentier, published in 1949 in his native Spanish and first translated into English in 1957. A work of historical fiction, it tells the story of Haiti before, during, and after the Haitian Revolution led by Toussaint Louverture, as seen by its central character, Ti Noel, who serves as the novel's connecting thread.
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