Wednesday, February 19, 2025
5:00 PM (ET)
Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Event Type
Bookstore Event
Contact
(860) 685 - 3939
Link
https://wesleyan.emscloudservice.com/calendar/EventDetails.aspx?EventDetailId=107095
The Legacy of Political Violence: A Discussion with Roger Celestin
Join Roger Celestin as he discusses The Delicate Beast, a searing novel about exile, identity, and the lasting scars of political violence. Explore the journey of a life shaped by history and the resilience it takes to rebuild.
RESERVE YOUR SPOT TODAY!
A novel of a life built on the ashes of childhood
In the 1950s Tropical Republic, a boy lives amid opulence and privilege, spending days at the beach or in the cool hills above the sweltering capital, enjoying leisurely Sunday lunches around the family compound's swimming pool. That is, until the reign of The Mortician begins, unleashing unimaginable horrors that bring his childhood idyll to an end. Narrowly escaping the violent fate visited on so many of his fellow citizens, he and his brother follow their parents into exile in the United States where they must start a new life. But as he grows, he never feels at home, and leaves his family to travel across Europe and outrun the ghosts of the past.
A searing novel of a life lived in the shadow of history, The Delicate Beast portrays the persistent, pernicious legacy of political violence.
Roger Celestin was born in Haiti, emigrated to the United States at the age of eleven, and is Professor Emeritus of French and Comparative Literature at the University of Connecticut. The Delicate Beast is his first novel. He lives in Manhattan.