The Seeds of Fiction Read Online Free PDF

artists learn the silk-screen process so they could reproduce their paintings and increase their income. He thought the couple’s endeavour was a noble one, if not terribly credible. Their effort ultimately came to halt because the Haitian Consul-General in New York failed to keep his promise to cut the red tape in Haiti and facilitate the import of raw material and to have the appropriate government ministry give the couple permission to work in Haiti. They were completely ignored by Duvalier’s officials. This scenario at the Oloffson closely resembles the scene Graham created at the Trianon with only Brown and Mr and Mrs Smith staying at the hotel.
    This time around Graham did not stay in the suite that had been named after him. Instead, he lodged at the little cottage in the grounds in front of the main hotel building known as the James Jones cottage. The author of
From Here to Eternity
had spent his honeymoon there after marrying Gloria Mosolino, a one-time stand-in for actresses Marilyn Monroe and Eva Marie Saint.
    Although he was a guest at the Oloffson, in the afternoons when government offices closed and the Oloffson became too eerie Graham dropped by the Sans Souci Hotel to relax and take notes under the big caimite tree next to the pool at the back of the hotel. The manager of the Sans Souci could be trusted as he was no pro-Duvalier.The place offered peace and quiet and gave Graham a chance to discuss the political story with foreign correspondents of the daily press.
    One night Graham and the Oloffson’s three guests went to observe brothel life at Chez Georgina, off Carrefour Road just south of town. The place had a lovely garden set off by royal palms and an abundance of hibiscus. The only other patrons were a couple of Tontons Macoutes who stared at the group through their dark glasses. The elderly American man, an artist, began sketching the Haitian prostitutes who were dancing together. When the dance was over the girls went over and looked at what the
blan
was doing and burst into giggles. The Macoutes were not amused.
    When Graham finally secured a
laissez-passer
he hired a driver and rode south from the capital. It took them eight hours to reach the town of Les Cayes, 125 miles away. Graham said there wasn’t much conversation, which gave him plenty of time to think. He was sure the driver was a Macoute. He would later write, ‘Fear in those weeks must have penetrated deep into my unconscious: Haiti really was the bad dream of the newspaper headlines.’
    In southern Haiti it is customary to bury the dead in elaborate tombs in the family
lakou
(compound). But there are also cemeteries. As Graham passed St-Louis-du-Sud he came upon the magnificent old cemetery that rests on a hill. The weathered and strangely built tombs impressed him enough that he used them for a dramatic scene near the end of
The Comedians
when Brown and Jones are driving towards Les Cayes and their car breaks down. Brown describes the cemetery. ‘It was like a city built by dwarfs, street after street of tiny houses, some nearly big enough to hold ourselves, some too small for a newborn child, all of the same grey stone, from which the plaster had longed flaked.’
    Graham learned that fear permeated rural Haiti. Les Cayes had been the main bastion of support for Duvalier’s opponent Senator Louis Déjoie during the 1957 election. Those who supported Déjoie paid dearly. Now, anyone who had a
laissez-passer
was treated with suspicion as a Duvalierist or a supporter of Papa Doc. The following day, when Graham returned to Port-au-Prince, the capital was filled with roadblocks. The Macoutes were constantly on the prowl.
    On Sunday afternoon Jolicoeur and Al Seitz took Graham to the little Magic Ciné cinema on Rue de Centre to watch
Our Man in Havana.
When the lights went on at the end of the film Jolicoeur stood and introducedGraham to the audience as the man who wrote the book on which it was