Césaire, Aimé

Césaire, Aimé

▪ Martinican author and politician
in full  Aimé-Fernand-David Césaire 
born June 26, 1913, Basse-Pointe, Mart.
died April 17, 2008, Fort-de-France
 Martinican poet, playwright, and politician, who was cofounder with Léopold Sédar Senghor (Senghor, Léopold) of Negritude, an influential movement to restore the cultural identity of black Africans.

      Together with Senghor and others involved in the Negritude movement, Césaire was educated in Paris. In the early 1940s he returned to Martinique and engaged in political action supporting the decolonization of the French colonies of Africa. In 1945 he became mayor of Fort-de-France, the capital of Martinique, and he retained that position until 2001 (he was briefly out of office in 1983–84). In 1946 Césaire became a deputy for Martinique in the French National Assembly. Viewing the plight of the blacks as only one facet of the proletarian struggle, he joined the Communist Party (1946–56). He found that Surrealism, which freed him from the traditional forms of language, was the best expression for his convictions. He voiced his ardent rebellion in a French that was heavy with African imagery. In the fiery poems of Cahier d'un retour au pays natal (1939; Return to My Native Land) and Soleil cou-coupé (1948; “Cutthroat Sun”), he lashed out against the oppressors.

      Césaire turned to the theatre, discarding Negritude for black militancy. His tragedies are vehemently political: La Tragédie du Roi Christophe (1963; The Tragedy of King Christophe), a drama of decolonization in 19th-century Haiti, and Une Saison au Congo (1966; A Season in the Congo), the epic of the 1960 Congo rebellion and of the assassination of the Congolese political leader Patrice Lumumba (Lumumba, Patrice). Both depict the fate of black power as forever doomed to failure.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Césaire, Aimé — (b. 1913 )    poet, political figure    Born in Basse Pointe, Martinique, and educated in Paris at the École normale supérieure, Aimé Césaire, who was a descendent of slaves, was a professor and then a Communist deputy in the National Assembly… …   France. A reference guide from Renaissance to the Present

  • Cesaire, Aime-Fernand-David — ▪ 2009       Martinican poet, playwright, and politician born June 26, 1913, Basse Pointe, Martinique died April 17, 2008, Fort de France, Martinique was cofounder of Negritude, an influential movement to restore the cultural identity of black… …   Universalium

  • Césaire, Aimé (-Fernand) — born June 25, 1913, Basse Pointe, Mart. Martinican poet and playwright. Educated in Paris, Césaire returned to Martinique to be elected to the National Assembly as a Communist. A cofounder with Léopold Senghor of the Negritude movement, he… …   Universalium

  • Césaire, Aimé (-Fernand) — (n. 25 jun. 1913, Basse Pointe, Martinica). Poeta y dramaturgo de la Martinica. Educado en París, Césaire regresó a la Martinica para ocupar un escaño en la asamblea nacional como miembro del Partido Comunista. Fundó, junto con Léopold Senghor,… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Césaire, Aimé — ► (n. 1913) Político y escritor, n. en la isla Martinica de lengua francesa. Es autor de Cuaderno de un regreso al país natal (1939) …   Enciclopedia Universal

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  • Aimé Césaire — Aimé Fernand David Césaire Cadastre (1961) and Moi, laminaire (1982) Born Claude Pierre 26 June 1913(1913 06 26) Basse Pointe …   Wikipedia

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