Sacred Sorrow, Sacred Joy: The Psalmic Aesthetic in Edwidge Danticat

Abstract

The Psalmic is less tidy and linear than popular interpretation, and author Edwidge Danticat explores the non-linear tensions between lament and joy. Her writing is cyclical rather than linear. As Danticat explores the individual and communal juxtaposition of tragedy and celebration, her writing echoes the varied tenor and emotions of the Psalms. Haunting tales of national and personal life and death, separation and reunion are structurally played across her works. The heartrending sequence of life and death is eloquently explored through personal stories set against larger tales of Haitian immigration. Just as the Psalmist employs the vav adversative, or turning movements of joy and lament, Danticat likewise expresses her fluid engagement with the range of human experience (Card 75, 70). Danticat’s Psalmic aesthetic and her “fully awake and alive” wrestling with grief and celebration helps readers reconsider personal and national tragedy and triumph.