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General Sun, My Brother is a novel by Haitian author Jacques Stephan Alexis published in 1954 and translated into English by Carrol F. Coates in 1999. The novel is set in 1930’s Haiti against a backdrop of a political and class unrest. Written in the elaborate style of marvellous realism, General Sun, My Brother was Alexis’s first published novel. The novel has drawn significant praise in the Francophone world of its time and with modern Haitian authors such as Edwidge Danticat and Magloire Saint-Aude.

 The book details the life and death of protagonist Hilarion Hilarius, a victim of the Parsley Massacre. Hilarion himself struggles with the issues of race, class and violence that are omnipresent at the time. Hilarion is impoverished and falls into a life of crime, after a short stint in jail, he becomes employed and engaged to young beauty Claire-Heureuse. Their relationship is strained through frequent natural disasters and pregnancy, as they try to make a life for themselves. Josephat Hilarion’s brother flees the country after killing a police officer and invites Hilarion to relocate to the Dominican Republic with him. Taking up the invitation, Hilarion and Claire-Heureuse move to the Dominican-Haitian border, where Hilarion starts work as a cane cutter. Soon after getting the job, the cane cutters revolt as working in the fields is labour intensive, and with little reward. The Parsley Massacre soon comes sweeping through the Dominican/Haitian countryside and takes Hilarion along with it. Leaving only his wife Claire-Heureuse and their baby alive.

The novel is arranged in three sections and then further divided into chapters, with a prologue that gives an ominous feeling to the work. The narration is omniscient and is nearly always fixed on the life of Hilarion. When the narrative deviates, there is a switch in the tone which fixates obsessively on the social and economic problems of the world. Coates translation of the novel keeps many key Haitian colloquial expressions, and French metaphors of Alexis, to maintain the Caribbean identity of the work.  

Jacques Stephen Alexis was born in Gonaïves, Haiti, to two native parents, the father Stephen Alexis, an historian and active diplomat for the country. On his father’s side was Jacques’ famous great-grandfather, who led a revolution against president Louis-Étienne-Félicité Salamon. Alexis was raised in Haiti until his father moved the family to Paris, France, for 3 years

When he returned to Paris to graduate medical school, Alexis submitted a draft of Compère Général Soleil, to a French Publisher in 1954 when he was 32 years old. He was already working on his second book, Les Arbres Musiciens (published in 1957). After completing his education, Jacques returned to Haiti. He went on to write two more books, L'Espace d'un Cillement (1959), and Romanceros aux Etoiles (1960).^[1]

Later in life, Jacques Alexis became a popular challenger of Duvalier and formed the left-wing political party the People’s Consensus Party. He was forced to leave Haiti in 1959 by the dictatorship. Upon his final return to Haiti in 1961, he was captured and tortured by a Tonton Macoute paramilitary force and brought to Port-au-Prince, until his death in prison.^[2]

General Sun, My Brother in its original french print was hailed by critics who waxed lyrically about the “vigorous poetry,” “clairvoyance” of the novel. (reviews summarised by Jean-Charles 115-16).^[1] Though this was Alexis’s first novel, Depestre speaks highly of Alexis’s work calling the novel a “complete Haitian phenomenon, through each metaphor and each phosphorescence of emotions and ideas.”^[1] In its day, General Sun played a critical role in inspiring a new generation of Haitian creatives, Jean Métellus, who was a writer and doctor claimed that the novel “was a real bolt of lightning for us young Haitians."^[3] General Sun was popular with French as well as Haitian critics, seen as a bold retelling of the Haitian narrative from a truly revolutionary author.

Fellow Haitian author, Edwidge Danticat (author of The Farming Bones)  also review Alexis’s work as a profound and timeless representation of Haitian life and struggle.When the novel was finally translated in 1999, Danticat says: “How extremely exciting to have Jacques Stephen Alexis' masterpiece Général Compère Soleil finally translated into English for a whole new generation of readers to enjoy, question, and admire. This is another chance for all of us to continue to celebrate this brave and timeless narrative and remember this most committed and enormously talented writer.”^[4] The English-language version of the novel allowed the Haitian narrative composed by Alexis to be accessible to a wider range of audiences.

Protagonist Hilarion is introduced to us in a nightmarish hallucination, brought about by an insatiable hunger. He runs rampant through the streets of Port-au-Prince, and robs the house of a wealthy man. He is caught in the act and jailed, there he meets Pierre Roumel and speaks freely about philosophy, and about Haitian reality. After his release from jail, Hilarion is employed by Madame Roumel, the wife of Pierre. While going for a swim at the beach, he encounters Claire-Heureuse, who he is smitten by and they soon set up housekeeping together.

Claire-Heureuse opens a market store as a source of income, while Hilarion moves from job to job to support the pair. Hilarion begins to take night classes, studying history with comrades of Roumel’s. After some time living together, famine strikes Haiti from as a result of torrential rains and flooding. Life becomes much harder for the pair during this time, though it is nothing short of the hardships to come. Josaphat, the brother of Hilarion, is run out of the country by the police when he kills an officer in defense of his sister, who’s being assaulted by the officer. After arriving in the Dominican Republic, Josaphat finds work as a canecutter, and writes a letter to Hilarion, inviting him to the area should he ever need to find work.

Shortly after Claire-Heureuse realizes she is pregnant, her market store is burnt to the ground by a fire that rages through their neighbourhood. Left with no alternative, the two travel to the Dominican Republic to join Josaphat. During his time working as a cane cutter, Hilarion once again becomes involved with Communist sympathisers, this time amidst a cane worker strike for better pay. The baby, Désiré is born, and the family live happily for a short time.

While Hilarion is working at the cane farm in the Dominican Republic, the Parsley Massacre begins and his family attempts to return to Haiti. Along the way, the family encounters helpful natives that aid them in their travels, and roving bands of soldiers searching for Haitians to execute. Near to the end of their travels, the trio encounters a pack of wild dogs that strike a fatal wound to Désiré, who soon perishes. The two continue on, carrying the body of their son to the border. When attempting to cross the border, the two are fired upon by a group of Dominican soldiers, striking Hilarion, killing him.

Hilarion Hilarius: Hilarion lives in Port-au Prince, a homeless man after abandoning servitude in favor of freedom. Imprisoned for stealing from a rich man, Hilarion meets a popular communist revolutionary, Pierre Roumel, until Hilarion is released a month later. He soon meets his love and they move in together after Hilarion secures income from various jobs he works. Hilarion begins to attend night schools and contacts various members of the communist party in Haiti that were friends with Roumel, finding that he himself was a supporter of the cause.

Hilarion and his lover, Claire-Heureuse, face poverty every day of their lives, which is affected greatly by a large wage gap between the bourgeois and the proletariat of Haiti, worsened by land that was challenging to farm. As a result, many Haitians like Hilarion left Haiti to cross into the Dominican Republic to work on sugarcane farms in search of sustainable wages. As more Haitians settled along the border of the Dominican and further inland, anti-Haitian sentiments within the government and military began to rise, giving way to the events that occurred under Trujillo's rule.

Beginning on October 2nd, of 1937 and ending six days later on the 8th, The Parsley Massacre targeted the Haitian community within the Dominican Republic. Roughly 10,000 Haitians were killed before they could cross the border into Haiti, and among them: Hilarion and his infant son, as they were fleeing soldiers and a pack of wild dogs.

Claire-Heureuse: Lover of Hilarion, Claire-Heureuse is a young woman hailing from Port-au-Prince, also a member of the poor working class within Haiti. After moving in with Hilarion and providing him with a stable emotional anchor, Claire-Heureuse opens a small market to earn a profit. Soon thereafter, she becomes pregnant and begins to assume the role of the mother until the burning of the market, from which they must relocate in the Dominican Republic.

During her time in the Dominican, Claire-Heureuse befriends their neighbor, Concepción, and begins to foster social roots within their new community. Claire-Heureuse takes this time to focus on parenting her newborn child, until his death during the escape to Haiti. Claire-Heureuse leaves her child and husband dead on the shores of the Dajabón River to hopefully begin a new life once more within her home country.

Josaphat: Brother of Hilarion, Josaphat must flee Haiti after killing a police officer in self-defense. He begins working on a sugarcane farm within the Dominican Republic, which he invites Hilarion to join him on should he ever need a source of income. Josaphat is reunited with his brother once more in the Dominican, upon which he became more involved within Hilarion’s day to day life. Josaphat and Hilarion are separated during the massacre and his fate is left unknown to the readers.

Paco Torres: An ex-cane cutter, Paco Torres serves as the leader of the strike against low wages on the farms. Speaking “of their misery, hunger, and pitiful salaries” (Alexis, 235), Paco convinced the Haitian workers to join their Dominican fellows in the strike for the benefit all. During this speech to the sugarcane harvesters, he is shot dead, though his death carries with it protests and near-riots from the strike force.

Pierre Roumel: Modeled after a real communist revolutionary within Haiti in the 1930s, Pierre Roumel met Hilarion while serving time in prison for leading the pro-communist movement. Pierre teaches Hilarion both of communism and to have faith in himself, and provides a friend to him during his month detainment. Shortly before Hilarion’s release, Pierre gives him information to get a job from Pierre’s wife outside the prison. After serving out his time in prison, Roumel departed Haiti in exile.

Godmother (of Claire-Heureuse): At the time of the first meeting between Claire-Heureuse and Hilarion, the former resided with her godmother. When Hilarion first asked for her goddaughter’s hand, Godmother ensures that Claire-Heureuse will be appreciated and adored by her lover, simply by delaying the point at which Hilarion and Claire-Heureuse will be able to move in together with her approval. Later in the story, when the Artibonite River flooded, Godmother, visited her goddaughter and advised her of what she must do to keep her market in business against the impending famine. To provide the market with the money to buy the necessary supplies, she lends her goddaughter a large sum of fifty goud.

Toya: Neighbor to Hilarion Claire-Heureuse in Haiti, Toya alerts the two of the mysterious illness the neighbor contracts, in hope that they will provide aid. Toya also alerts Hilarion to a visit paid by a man unknown to Hilarion who bore a letter addressed to Hilarion, from Josaphat.

Concepción: Neighbor to Hilarion and Claire-Heureuse in the Dominican Republic, Concepción helps Claire-Heureuse fit into the community by having a friendly face around to converse with. At the beginning of the Parsley Massacre, Concepción ushers Claire-Heureuse and her child into her own house to protect her from the bands of soldiers moving through the town executing Haitians.

Jean-Michel: Jean-Michel plays three roles in Hilarion’s life: friend, comrade, and doctor. When Hilarion brought forth an elderly woman of ill health, Jean-Michel did his best to aid her personally and assure that she was taken care of. Shortly thereafter, Jean-Michel was running from police officers with stacks of communist propaganda that he hid in Hilarion’s home. Ultimately, Jean-Michel finishes his treatment of Hilarion’s seizure and declares him free of them forever.

Rafael Trujillo earned the title “Dictator of the Dominican Republic” in 1930 when he seized control of the country. Previously Commander in Chief of the nation’s military, Trujillo quickly established his regime around the nation. While Trujillo did increase the economic stability of the island nation, his fame was earned by his ordering of the Parsley Massacre. October 2nd, 1937, Trujillo ordered the national military to comb the border of the country for Haitians. When found, the people were to name the sprig of parsley, and if they did not roll their “R’s” correctly, in the traditional Spanish pronunciation, they were to be executed where they stood by any means. The killings ended on October 8th, 1937. The number of deaths from the massacre is still unclear, but an estimated 20,000 men, women and children were killed, Haitian and Dominican alike.^[5] His reason for the massacre stemmed from his open fear of the “darkening” of Dominican peoples. Haiti and the Dominican Republic have history had a volitile relationship, the massacre did not aid in diplomacy.^[6]

In 1937, The country of Haiti met the neighbouring Dominican Republic in population, but while the Dominican Republic took up 5/8ths of the island, Haiti was left with the mountainous remaining 3/8ths of land that proved challenging to farm. Starving and malnourished Haitians

Before the time of the massacre, hundreds of Haitians were crossing the border each week to search for employment in the cane fields of the Dominican. The Dominican people nearest to the Haitian border relied on the Haitians for trade, encouraging them to cross the border into the nation to escape the Haitian poverty.

General Sun, My Brother follows the life of a Haitian border crosser, Hilarion Hilarius, from an adolescent to a husband and father that is a victim of the Parsley Massacre(link to parsley massacre) as he pursues a new wage in the same fields.

The novel takes place in 1930’s Port-au-Prince Haiti. The city is a busy metropolis surrounded by slum neighbourhoods and farmlands. Haiti is experiencing severe storms and heavy rainfall throughout the novel. The characters in the “General Sun, My Brother” are for the most part working and lower class farmers and merchants; though the book frequently describes upper-class authoritative figures with reverence. Poor characters in the novel are looked down upon and treated poorly by the upper classes. The workers and merchants wear colourful and at times elaborate traditional Haitian garments, such as dresses decorated with flowers, loose fitting blouses, and bright scarves.^[7] The novel is preceded by a harrowing prologue, in which the protagonist Hilarion experiences pangs of intense hunger. The night sky seems to haunt him as he sneaks around the slum and eventually ends up running to Port-au-Prince.^[8] The prologue paints landscape spirits and promiscuous women, where the lines between reality and fantasy are non-existent. After Josephat invites Hilarion to the Dominican Republic, the setting becomes rural. The rivers, streams and fields are lushly described.

Alexis first submitted “Compére Général Soleil” to publisher Gallimard in 1954. Parts of chapters 1,2 and 9 respectively, were published in slightly different variations in Callaloo 15,no.4 (fall 1992) and Review: Latin American Literature and Arts 58 (spring 1999).^[1] Though well received in Haiti and the Francophone world, the novel remained exclusively in French until 1999, when The University of Virginia Press published “General Sun, My Brother” translated by Carrol F. Coates.^[1] In the English translation by Coates, he chooses to keep some original Haitian language elements such as expressions in French, Kreyòl, and Spanish, while the book remains for the majority in English.^[9]

• Poverty/ Wealth: The protagonist Hilarion and his family are working poor, who can barely have food on the table. As a child, Hilarion was a servant, and as an adult, he has been homeless, a prisoner and a worker. The story spends significant time on Hilarion's position in society, and Hilarion repeatedly acknowledges the disparities between the poor and the rich in Port-au-Prince.

• Violence
  • Police Brutality: Citizen interactions with police and with the military are rarely simple. Frequently police take advantage of their authority and use extreme measures to contain rebellion and preserve power. These methods include beating, torturing, solitary confinement, forced labour and general menacing of the poor in the community.^[10]
  • Violence against women: While at times women are revered and respected, often in the novel they are subjected to intense scrutiny, objectification and violence. This violence is sometimes sexual and sometimes physical; Hilarion's sister Zulema was raped as a child, while his cellmate Chérilus slashed the throat of his doting wife.^[11] Hilarion even dreams about harassing a young black virgin at the water's edge.^[12]

• Anti-American sentiment: In between causal character dialogue and descriptions there is a running current of frustration towards American policy in Haiti. Characters, like the Sigord's, who view Americans favourably are themselves looked down upon.^[13] There is a lasting impression of American imperialism, both in the minds of the inhabitants of Haiti, but also a physical impression. “...the steely fatality of American cars that roll over the body of Haiti like enormous toads. The city dweller is the slave of the Americans, the slaves of the state…”.^[14] There is a clear tone of resentment in these comments.  
• Race: Race is an omnipresent theme in the novel, and the black experience is front and center. Throughout the novel, Hilarion contemplates his own race and identity as a black man, as well as the identities of others. On the way to prison, there is a chapter dedicated to the market inhabitants, all of whom are described first and foremost by their race. All characters are introduced by their race as the primary descriptor: Claire-Hereuse, Madame Roumel, and Lieutenant Martinés. Race serves as a social structure for inhabitants of Port-au-Prince. Those who are light “mulatto” or white are given access and are at the upper echelons of Haitian society. Those who are black work in the fields and markets of the novel, described by Hilarion as “bootblack”.^[15]
• Sexualization of Nature: The landscapes of General Sun, My Brother tend to take on erotic human characteristics and emotions throughout the novel. Initially, Port-au-Prince is introduced to the reader as a tempting, young girl who is asleep with her legs open. The city is described as a “beautiful whore”.^[16]
• Coming of Age: While General Sun, My Brother tells the tale of a Haiti in turmoil before and during the Parsley Massacre, it foremost tells the story of the protagonist Hilarion. Hilarion’s evolution from a young homeless boy to a married, employed man drives the majority of the action in the novel. Coming of age in 1930’s Haiti is a complex reality, and Hilarion navigates through systems of class and racial oppression in an attempt to achieve personal freedom.

General Sun, My Brother is extremely descriptive and relies heavily on figurative language such as metaphor, to give a fantastic quality to the world. The novel shows definitive elements of magical realism/marvellous realism^[17], outlandish imagery and hidden spirits colour this work. It is clear that covert forces are at play, and it gives the novel a nearly supernatural sense of being; things are not what they might appear to be. The novel also has strong influences of negritude, surrealism and naturalist stylistic elements. Alexis devotes considerable time to doing literary justice to the people of Haiti, describing their natural attitudes and culture. It is clear that this is truly Haitian literature, made by a citizen who is conscious of his country's place in the world, as has a deep understanding of the geopolitical and social issues that face the nation. General Sun, My Brother is socially aware while still capturing Haiti of the 1930’s.