Aime Cesaire (born 1913)

Co-Founder (with Leopold Senghor) of Negritude, a celebration of African heritage, the black body, the human desire for liberation, freedom, self-concept.

Martinique.

French Language.

Influence of Symbolists, Surrealism. (Picasso does illustration for cover of Lost Body).

Notebook. First major poem.

Quote from Joyce: "I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race." This is perhaps the best summary of what Cesaire does.

Task

--To shed adopted notions of blackness.

--To exhibit the ridiculousness of accepted truths.

--to discover a means of confronting the useless and stagnant and the means of making compliant. This involves in part a critique of reason, repudiation of reason in favor of fierce desires.

--to write history of Negritude as action and fierce determination, pride--instaead of the romance of nature and essential identity.

--To exhibit in language the power of language.

 

Quiz on Aimé Césaire

1. On page 2544-45 of the text, the speaker testifies about the academic incompetence of a young child in both the schoolroom and the classroom. What is the reason for the child’s silence?

2. The speaker claims a difference for Christmas from all the other Island holidays, part of which has to do with “endless jitters.” About what were these jitters? (2546)

3. The poet tells the reader some things about his family life. How is the father described? (2547)

4. How is the mother described? (2547)

5. As the grandmother is described, there is also a depiction of an object perched abouve the grandmother’s bed. What is the object? (2548)

6. In the travel brochures, Martinique is depicted as having blue waters white sands, and the atmosphere of paradise. Where in the text by Cesaire can we find a different picture of the Island? (2548)

 

7. In a famous line, the poet pledges to use his mouth. Or voice. For what purpose? (2549)

8. The poet gives caution to his body and his soul—telling himself to beware of a particular attitude. What is this attitude? (2549)

9. On page 953, the poet gives his attitude towards “reason.” What is his attitude, and why? (2551)

10. The introduction mentions that Césaire was a co-founder of a student journal called L’Etudiant Noir. Name the co-founder that appears in our anthology, and give the name of a poem that he has written.