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Haitian Book Club: The Wedding at Port-au-Prince by Hans Christoph Buch


Towards the beginning of Haiti’s history, there was a strong link with Germany.

The Wedding at Port-au-Prince by Hans Christoph Buch is a novel written by a German with Haitian roots (this book was actually originally written in German and has been translated by Ralph Manheim). Buch’s great-grandfather Louis was a pharmacist who emigrated to Haiti, just as the 1800s was about to come to a close.

The Wedding at Port-au-Prince is the fictionalized story of German communities in Haiti, but it really begins with the arrival of the French admiral Villaret de Joyeuse, who sails into Port-au-Prince in 1802. This French beginning will give way to the German aspect of the novel’s pages later.

Buch recounts the story of Pauline, the Haitian woman his great-grandfather marries, who dies under mysterious circumstances that her countryman deems vodun-related. Intersected within Buch’s book, are letter exchanges that detail Haitian-German relations from the 1890s down to the 1970s, from the scandal of the so-called Luders affairs, an incident that was to mar relations between Germany and Haiti.

Intrigues, duels, diplomatic gaffes really aren’t supposed to be part of any wedding celebration, but Buch’s story is really about the marriage of two communities, one from Europe and the other the hot Caribbean island of Haiti.

Books, Book, Buch, Christoph, Club, Haitian, Hans, PortauPrince, Wedding
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