Der Auftrag [The Mission, 1979] projects the betrayal of revolution in twentieth-century Europe back in time onto the bloody suppression of the “black and white” revolution in the West Indies after its betrayal by the Bonapartist regime in Paris. The regime reversed the decision of the National Assembly to emancipate the blacks and mulattos of the French Antilles – only Haiti was able to withstand the blast of reaction, but never recovered from the punitive measures that followed.
Debuisson, the prodigal son of a Jamaican slaveholder family who has been seduced by the rhetoric of revolution in Paris, Galloudec, a radical French peasant, and Sasportas, an escaped black slave, are commissioned by the French …
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Citation: Milfull, John. "Der Auftrag". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 March 2004 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=14472, accessed 21 November 2024.]
