ABSTRACT
The contradictory and conflict-driven of Haiti represents a constitutive factor not only of Haitian culture and its self-images but also of the external images of this country. The most salient historical event of Haitian history can be traced back to the revolution of enslaved people of 1791, a process of political resistance and emancipation which led to independence and the constitution of the Haitian state. The immediate responses to the events of the Haitian Revolution and its echoes within the transatlantic public sphere were full of antagonistic positions. The Haitian Revolution was controversially discussed both in factual and fictional genres. In Haiti, the positive vision of the Haitian Revolution developed into an important factor for molding a national identity. During the 19th century, references to the Haitian Revolution created an epic discourse in which poets and writers established a “pantheon of heroes of the Revolution” — a pantheon clearly gendered and infused with masculinism and visions of masculine heroes.
