Chronicle of the Seven Sorrows

Chronicle of the Seven Sorrows traces the rise and fall of Pipi Soleil, “king of the wheelbarrow” at the vegetable market of Fort-de-France, in a tale as lively and magical as the marketplace itself. In a Martinique where creatures from folklore walk the land and cultural traditions cling tenuously to life, Patrick Chamoiseau’s characters confront the crippling heritage of colonialism and the overwhelming advance of modernization with touching dignity, hilarious resourcefulness, and truly courageous joie de vivre.

Patrick Chamoiseau’s novel Texaco won the Prix Goncourt in 1992. Linda Coverdale’s many translations include Chamoiseau’s School Days (Nebraska 1997), his Creole Folktales, and Jorge Semprun’s Literature or Life, winner of the 1997 French-American Foundation Translation Prize. Playwright, critic, essayist, and novelist Édouard Glissant is the author of The Fourth Century (Nebraska 2001).