Aimé Césaire: 5 (Cambridge Studies in African and Caribbean Literature, Series Number 5)
Cambridge University Press, 10/16/1997
EAN 9780521390729, ISBN10: 0521390729
Hardcover, 228 pages, 21.6 x 14 x 1.8 cm
Language: English
Aimé Césaire is arguably the best-known poet in the French Caribbean. His poetry and drama have established his formidable reputation as the leading francophone poet and elder statesman of the twentieth century. In this study Gregson Davis examines the evolution of Césaire's poetic career and his involvement with many of the most seminal political and aesthetic movements of the twentieth century. Davis relates Césaire's extraordinary dual career as writer and elected politician to the recurrent themes in his writings. As one of the most profound critics of colonialism, Césaire, the acknowledged inventor of the famous term 'negritude', has been a hugely influential figure in shaping the contemporary discourse on the postcolonial predicament. Gregson Davis's account of Césaire's intellectual growth is grounded in a careful reading of the poetry, prose and drama that illustrates the full range and depth of his literary achievement.
Preface
Acknowledgements
Chronology
Introduction
1. From island to metropolis
the making of a poet
2. Exploring racial selves
'Journal of a homecoming'
3. Inventing a lyric voice
the forging of 'Miracle Weapons'
4. Lyric registers
from 'Sun Cut Throat' to 'Cadaster'
5. The turn to poetic drama
6. The return to lyric
'me, laminaria …'
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index.