Alejo Carpentier

I recently finished The Kingdom of this World by the Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier. Kundera mentioned him in an essay, and I was curious. Now I understand what Kundera was talking about. Carpentier packs a lot of punch into this short novel about Haiti, and his prowess is evident from the novel's beginning. It is said that Carpentier is the father of magic realism, and never before did I realize how much magic realism owes to the African tradition. I guess there is something new to be learned every day.