Frankétienne, considered one of Haiti's most important and prolific writers, dies at 88

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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Frankétienne, a renowned writer, painter, actor and musician known as the “father of Haitian letters” has died. He was 88.

Born Jean-Pierre Basilic Dantor Franck Étienne d’Argent (more on his name later), he was raised in the Bel-Air slum in Haiti’s capital and became what many consider Haiti’s most important writer. He died Thursday following an unspecified illness, according to a statement from Haiti’s government.

Thousands mourned his loss.

“Through his writings, he illuminated the world, carried the soul of Haiti and defied silence. May his word remain, may his spirit still blow. Farewell, master,” said Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé.

Haiti’s government said Frankétienne was a founder of spiralism, described as a chaotic and pluralist literary movement that emerged in the Caribbean country in the 1960s.

He wrote poems, plays and novels, including “Dézafi,” which means “Challenge” and became the first modern novel written in Haitian Creole, according to Haiti’s government. It was based on his experience of living under the brutal dictatorship of François Duvalier, known as Papa Doc.

Frankétienne also was renowned for works including “Au Fil du Temps,” Ultravocal,” and “Pèlin Tèt,” as well as for his paintings “Désastre,” which portrays victims of the catastrophic 2010 earthquake, and “Difficile émergence vers la lumière,” which depicts hurricane victims.

“His paintings are a visual extension of his literary universe, where we find the same abundant energy that recalls his dense and polysemic texts,” wrote Le Centre d’Art, a Haitian cultural institution, on X.

Frankétienne also served as Haiti’s culture minister in the late 1980s and was awarded France’s Order of Arts and Letters.

Evans Paul, a former prime minister, said the artist was committed to Haitian identity, freedom of expression and social justice.

“Frankétienne was much more than an artist: he was a living force, a beacon for Haiti and for humanity,” Paul said in a statement. “With his incisive pen, his captivating voice and his visionary gaze, he has established himself as a giant mapou, an unshakeable pillar of Haitian art and thought.”

A mapou is one of the tallest trees in Haiti and is considered sacred.

Michael Deibert, author of “Notes From the Last Testament: The Struggle for Haiti,” and “Haiti Will Not Perish: A Recent History,” recalled interviewing Frankétienne last year.

“To sit and talk to Frankétienne was to have a lesson in Haitian history and culture and Vodou and art and creativity,” he said.

Deibert said the artist “had a really fascinating combination that could go in discursive mystical tangents, but he was extremely witty and funny. He really symbolized all of this creativity in Haiti.”

In a 2023 interview with UNESCO, Frankétienne explained the meaning behind his seven names.

“My grandmother…and my mother…decided to give me a rosary of valiant names, with mystical and baroque resonance, likely to protect the little ‘petit blanc’ against the mischief and evil spells of any sorcerers,” said Frankétienne, who was born to a Black Haitian mother and a white U.S. father who abandoned the family.

He said he worked on some 60 books and 5,000 paintings in his lifetime, calling himself “an original madman who must have disturbed any number of ‘normal’ people.”

Frankétinne told UNESCO he would remain on a creative path “full of uncertainties” and “jump until my last breath.”

“I’ve always been on the move, in search of new things,” he said. “Permanent creation is an odyssey with no stopovers.”

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