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The Noose

A Play
Brief Description
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 labourer. For the sake of... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
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From the “father of Haitian letters,” Frankétienne’s most performed play of Haitians in exile during the Duvalier regime

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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 labourer. 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. It is accompanied by an introduction by translator Asselin Charles and an afterword by Jean Jonassaint, both preeminent scholars of Frankétienne's literary output.

Series: Global Black Writers in Translation

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  • Faith in Disguise
    Faith in Disguise follows Martín Tirado, a white Puerto Rican digital historian and research assistant to Fe Verdejo, an Afro-Venezuelan scholar curating an exhibition in Chicago on enslaved and freed Black women in Latin America. As Martín becomes increasingly enmeshed in Fe's intellectual and erotic orbit, his role as subordinate and interpreter exposes the entanglement of race, power, and desire...
    Paperback
    $4799
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • The Noose
    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 labourer. For the sake of saving money, the two have been sharing the apartment for three years. While Pyram...
    Paperback
    $4799
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780826500045

Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 15 May 2026

Country: United States

Imprint: Vanderbilt University Press

Contributors:

  • Afterword by Jean Jonassaint
  • Translated by Asselin Charles

Audience: General / adult, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 10.0mm

Width: 140.0mm

Height: 216.0mm

Weight: 172g

Pages: 188

About the Author

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.

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