Catastrophe (part fourteen)
Jean Hess La Catastrophe de la Martinique (part fourteen) “They followed, these black waves, one on another in a furious push. One on another, with thunder, making the sea recoil. Splinters, swirling… A sloop was hurled 150 meters to kill one of my foremen […]
Catastrophe (part thirteen)
Jean Hess La Catastrophe de la Martinique (part thirteen) Those Who Have Seen VIII. Some Interviews How was the destruction at Saint-Pierre accomplished? By what force were they thrown to earth, set afire, these ruins through which, in […]
Catastrophe (part twelve)
Jean Hess La Catastrophe de la Martinique (twelve) To raise a monument to the great emancipator, following I don’t know what baroque idea, they could not find a better place than the foyer of the theater. The philosopher’s image was to preside over the […]
Catastrophe (part eleven)
Jean Hess La Catastrophe de la Martinique (part eleven) But what, better than phrases, will permit you to imagine this destruction, are photographs. I have brought back many. I am publishing a few. Look at these, consider these—a countryside of crushed stone. And crushed […]
Catastrophe (part ten)
Jean Hess La Catastrophe de la Martinique (part ten) It seems to me, when my mind’s eye evokes the spectacle…it seems to me that I become stupid again, as I was when the boat stopped, and a canoe landed me on the beach. Once, […]
Catastrophe (part nine)
Jean Hess La Catastrophe de la Martinique (part nine) VI. The Funeral Boat On Land…What We Saw There I had seen the volcano in passing near the coast, aboard the Saint-Domingue. I had remarked the terror it threatened to […]
Catastrophe (part eight)
Jean Hess La Catastrophe de la Martinique (part eight) A few Americans had planned to realize it, this classic ascent become obligatory. They were at Morne-Rouge. Fully equipped, they departed: wagons, horses, mules, guides, and provisions. They had dined, very calm, and happy in […]
Catastrophe (part seven)
Jean Hess La Catastrophe de la Martinique (part seven) I have rediscovered an old and very dear friend, a friend of my young years. We go out to dinner, to a place for admiring the scene of apocalypse, which the sky—if you prefer, the […]
Catastrophe (part six)
Jean Hess La Catastrophe de la Martinique (part six) IV. At Fort-de-France Ashes and Terrors Black Fears. White Fears. Blue Fears. Zulima has not lied. She has barely exaggerated. Fort-de-France is sad. The city seems to go forth from […]
Catastrophe (part five)
Jean Hess La Catastrophe de la Martinique (part five) II. Before the Volcano (On the way to Saint-Pierre, at sunset) The land! It is always there at the end of a voyage, an impatience, a quivering, when we […]