The Story Archive

Explosion in a Cathedral

Alejo Carpentier · 1962 CE · Novel · Caribbean · Contemporary

Three young cousins shut up in a Havana merchant's house after their father's death fall under the spell of Victor Hugues, a Marseille baker turned trader turned commissioner of the French Republic. He sails for Guadeloupe with the decree abolishing slavery in one hand and a guillotine in the hold, and the Caribbean receives the Enlightenment as both at once. Carpentier worked a decade in the archives of the revolutionary Antilles before writing it.

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Attributes

Genre
HistoricalPolitical
Theme
Freedom vs FatePower & CorruptionColonialismLoss of Innocence
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
Rebel / OutlawShapeshifterInnocent
Plot structure
ChronicleRise and FallIronic Reversal
Symbol / motif
The Ship / BoatThe SeaLight & Dark
Conflict
vs Societyvs Person
Mode / tone
RealistIronic
Culture / tradition
Caribbean

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