AIME CESAIRE

ETHNIC EXPRESSIONS FROM THE MOSAIC OF THE AMERICAS

TEACHERS STUDY GUIDE This guide is designed to assist college and secondary school teachers in using the documentary, Aim Csaire, Poet and Statesman. The video offers an opportunity to meet the most influential French Caribbean poet of the Twentieth Century and the man whose visionary statesmanship in Martinique inspired a renewal of French Caribbean culture and set in motion a battle against assimilation of the island culture by the French homeland. The reader can compare Csaire with other passionate writers whose works illuminate the experience of being discounted, silenced and marginalized. Csaire speaks about his love for the Martinican landscape, his student days in Paris, the connection between his inner journey and the process of writing, his fight against the dual ravages of slavery and French policies in the colonies, and the creation of SERMAC, the Municipal Service for Cultural Action in Martinique. The video includes interviews with two Martinican artists who speak of Csaires influence on their work, Victor Anicet and Luc Marlin, and ends with a two-minute reading by Csaire from his Notebook of a Return to the Native Land. This guide assumes that the reader has little or no foundation in French Caribbean literature. PERSONAL INFORMATION ABOUT AIME CESAIRE Csaire was born on the French Caribbean island of Martinique in 1913. He spent his childhood with five siblings in the coastal town of Basse-Pointe in the shadow of the volcano Mount Pele. His grandfather, who had studied in France, was a professor at the lyce of Saint-Pierre. His grandmother, with whom he spent time in the summer, taught him to read and write. His father, also an intellectual, read aloud to his children, taught school in Basse-Pointe and was the local tax collector. His mother, a dressmaker and an independent woman of high moral character, ran the household with a firm hand. Like all children in the French Caribbean, Csaire studied the traditional French syllabus, which did not include studies in Crole. Csaire learned early on that the French government encourages its students to adopt French culture as their own, and he mastered the French language. However, he has fought against this policy of assimilation throughout his life, because he believes that it engenders alienation and lack of self-esteem among black French Caribbean people. Csaires brilliant performance in grade school earned him entry at age 11 to the famous lyce Schoelcher, still considered today to be the best high school in all of Martinique. Years later, Csaire would become an outstanding teacher at this lyce, and today his former classroom is designated by a plaque. Csaire graduated from the lyce Schoelcher in 1931 at age 18. As there were no colleges or universities in the French overseas colonies at the time, Csaire moved to Paris. He studied at the lyce Louis-le Grand and then gained admittance to Frances most advanced

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institution of learning in the liberal arts, the acclaimed Ecole Normale Suprieure. Csaire remained in Paris for eight years, attending these schools. Because he had few financial means, he was able to visit his family in Martinique only once. In Paris, he spent little time with most of the other French Caribbean students, because he thought they were too bourgeois and found them already quite alienated from their own culture. Shortly after his arrival in Paris, Csaire made a close friend in the person of Lopold Sdar Senghor, the man who was to become the first President of the Republic of Senegal and a famous poet like Csaire. Along with two other French Caribbean students in Paris, Lon Gontran Damas of Guiana and Guy Tirolien of Guadeloupe, both of whom also became important poets, Csaire and Senghor began the literary and political movement known today as Ngritude. They launched a journal called LEtudiant noir (The Black Student) in whose March 1935 issue Csaire published a passionate tract against assimilation in which he first coined the term Ngritude. Influenced by the Harlem Renaissance, Ngritude can be compared to what became known as Black Power in the United States. Ngritude and Black Power both validate the importance of ethnic roots and black heritage. Csaires passion for ethnic roots, however, extends far beyond black culture, because his curiosity embraces all cultures. Csaire made another close friend in the person of Petar Guberina, a student from Yugoslavia. In the video he describes his visit to Petars mothers farm in Dalmatia during the summer vacation of 1935 and the genesis at that time of his famous poem, Cahier dun retour au pays natal (Notebook of a Return to the Native Land.) He recalls his viewing of the island named Martinska,

whose French name would be Saint-Martin, and mentions that the Dalmatian coast reminded him of the cliffs around Le Carbet in Martinique. He suggests that the combination of the islands name and its natural features inspired his great poem about his island home. Csaire completed his university studies in Paris with a focus on the literary works of the Harlem Renaissance, writing his Masters thesis on the theme of the South in African-American literature. The word South refers to the part of the United States where slaves were held. In 1937 Csaire married Suzanne Roussy, a gifted writer in her own right. Like Csaire, Roussy was also a student in Paris, where their first son was born. She too wrote for LEtudiant noir and belonged to the Surrealist group. The commitment of both Csaires to the people of Martinique and their passion for fighting against the ravages of slavery led them home in the early 1940s. Back in Fort-de-France, they both taught at the lyce Schoelcher and eventually had a family of six children. Along with other intellectuals, Aim and Suzanne Csaire co-founded a literary journal in Fort-de-France called Tropiques (Tropics). This journal offered penetrating commentaries on current affairs as well as literary essays. Andr Breton, the acclaimed Surrealist poet, brought Csaires poetry into the limelight after coming upon a copy of Tropiques in a local shop in Fort-de-France in 1941. Breton saw references in Csaires work to that of the French poets Rimbaud and Baudelaire, and he suggested to the young poet that he was a Surrealist like Breton. Csaire demurred; Breton told him they both clearly drew from the same sources, and the two became friends. Breton later published a collection of essays and

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poems, Martinique, charmeuse des serpents, (Martinique, Serpent Charmer) that included a chapter called Un Grand Pote Noir (A Great Black Poet). This chapter helped make Csaires writing known and has subsequently been used as an introduction for several editions of Cahier dun retour au pays natal. During World War II the racist Vichy regime in Paris collaborated with the Nazis and tried to silence all criticism of its policies. The regimes repression affected the colonies severely, and the writers of Tropiques managed to criticize the government by using ironic and beautiful language to camouflage their intent. A particularly striking piece is Suzanne Csaires Le Grand Camouflage, (The Great Camouflage) (l945). The blatant racism of Vichy killed the Csaires dreams of a universal French brotherhood of the future. In 1945 Csaire became mayor of Fort-de-France on the Communist ticket and joined the French National Assembly. In 1946 he persuaded the Assembly to change the status of Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guiana and Runion from colonies to dpartements. He had hoped that inclusion of the former colonies into the republic would guarantee equal rights, and he remains disappointed today by the fact that this did not happen. Instead, numerous French officials were sent to the colonies and often replaced local black Martinican bureaucrats. Autonomy from France remains a goal of the future. During his political career, Csaire became a leader in the pan-African and anti-colonial movements. His first nonfiction book, published in 1950, Discours sur le colonialisme (Discourse on Colonialism) was a vital contribution to the anti-colonial literature of the period. Csaire attended the

First International Congress of Negro Writers and Artists in Paris in 1956, where he delivered a paper that stressed the evils of colonialism and racism. Shortly thereafter, he resigned from the Communist Party and founded the Martinican Progressive Party. He wanted to emphasize the importance of a universality founded on the value of promoting the unique qualities of each individual rather than one founded on the class struggle. As mayor of Fort-de-France, an office he held from 1945 to 2001, Csaire sparked the creation of SERMAC, the Municipal Service for Cultural Action. Today SERMAC is a dynamic center where more than 2,000 students a year study traditional dance, film, drama, sculpture, design, decoupage and painting. Csaire speaks at length about SERMAC in the video, and it is clear that he values his work there deeply. He has engaged so heartily in life, written so much, known so many important figures of the day, that it is impossible to introduce all of these facts in this brief introduction. Excellent additional resources exist on the web under his name and in this study guides bibliography. Csaires writings and his dual focus on alienation and cultural renewal have inspired writers and artists the world over. The most famous among the artists are Pablo Picasso of the generation preceding Csaires and Wifredo Lam, Csaires contemporary and close friend. Both Picasso and Lam created art to illustrate Csaires poetry. Among the younger generation of artists inspired by Csaire are two fellow Martinicans who appear in the video, Victor Anicet and Luc Marlin. Like Csaire, Anicet and Marlin have engaged in extensive studies of French Caribbean history, ethnology, traditional arts and literature. Anicet refers to Csaires collection of poetry, Ferrements (Slave

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Irons) and the slave trade, and Marlin speaks about the tactics of the maroons or runaway slaves in the Caribbean. Csaire selected the segment from Cahier dun retour au pays natal that he reads at the end of the video. This study guide includes this selected portion of the French text and an excellent English translation of it. We are indebted to Editions Prsence Africaine for permission to use the French text from Cahier dun retour au pays natal, Aim Csaire 1956 Editions Prsence Africaine, and to the University of California Press for permission to use the selection from Aim Csaire, Collected Poetry, trans. Clayton Eshleman and Annette Smith 1983 the Regents of the University of California. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE FRENCH CARIBBEAN Martinique and Guadeloupe are the largest of the seven islands the French claimed in 1635. The islands original inhabitants were the Salode Indians who actually came from the Orinoco basin in South America. Later, the Arawaks and then the Carib Indians, also from South America, populated the islands. These people are known today as Amerindians. When the French arrived, the Caribs fought fiercely, but they did not prevail. The French killed as many of these inhabitants as they could and chased out the rest. Today some of the descendants of the original Amerindians live on the island of Dominica, and their heritage is celebrated in collections of artifacts in museums in Fortde-France, Martinique and Le Moule, Guadeloupe. The French created sugar plantations on Martinique and Guadeloupe and brought in boatloads of slaves from Africa to work the cane fields. By 1745 Martinique had 60,000 slaves and 16,000 whites. Slaves on

Guadeloupe outnumbered the whites in even greater proportions. Africans from the same village were systematically separated from each other and put with Africans from different villages so that they would not have a common language. The slaves' living conditions were abominable, and the whip of the white French overseer was quick to lash out at any insubordination. Despite the dangers, however, numerous slaves took to the hills and became runaways, known as maroons. Derived from a Spanish word meaning wild cow, the word maroon is used in all parts of the Caribbean to describe runaway slaves. The maroons attacked plantations, instigated revolt and undermined the system of slavery in every way possible, as did their counterparts throughout the Americas. The legend of the maroons is a central theme in Caribbean literature today as is the entire history of subjugation by slavery. Csaires perspective as the descendant of slaves and a citizen of Martinique when it was still a colony offers valuable insight about how French culture has tried unsuccessfully to form its black citizens into little copies of white French citizens. The French National Assembly abolished slavery in 1848, due in large part to insurrections instigated by maroons and to sustained lobbying by a Deputy from Paris, Victor Schoelcher. However, until recently, all French Caribbean children had to memorize the phrase Our Ancestors the Gauls, whether their ancestors were Amerindian, African, East Indian, European or a combination. The experience of studying the French syllabus and of being expected to measure themselves against French values continues to create self-esteem problems among black French Caribbeans today. A marked difference seems to exist in the English Caribbean areas where the government maintained a distance and

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strong class distinctions between white and black citizens. Frantz Fanon, a Martinican psychiatrist, defined the problem posed by self-alienation in Peau noire, masques blancs (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1952) (Black Skin, White Masks, Grove Press, 1967). Many writers from the region, including Csaire, affirm in their work and in interviews that Fanons analysis remains pertinent today. CESAIRES POETIC INFLUENCE Csaires passion for social justice, his love of Martinique and his global vision of mankind are reflected in every aspect of his life and poetry. His Cahier dun retour au pays natal was first published in the French magazine, Volonts, in 1939 and remains the cornerstone of French Caribbean literature. In this long prose poem, Csaire finds regenerative force in the landscape of his native Martinique. In an over-arching sense, the poem is a quest for creative inspiration. In a more detailed fashion, the poems thematic development has multiple facets: the poet draws a picture of the poverty of daily reality; he writes a lament for monumental losses suffered by Caribbean people because of the slave trade; he describes the vitality of his people who are rooted in the soil; he explores his own anguish; he celebrates the spiritual and physical beauty of Caribbean space; he experiences a catharsis; and he utters a call to action. Csaires mastery of the French language allows him to turn it to his own ends. In the interview, when he says that French must not be used to imprison people, he is responding to a question about his opinion on the value of la francophonie, Frenchness. He replies first that he is not sure what the term means, but that it does not appeal to him. Other writers have

described la francophonie as a renewed interest on the part of French intellectuals in the literature and culture of minority groups in the French-speaking world. Until recent years, the literatures of the French Caribbean, Quebec and French-speaking Africa received very little attention in France proper. Indeed, during the 1940s and 1950s, an attitude of exoticism existed in which these literatures and cultures were regarded as curiosities, exotic entertainment, but they were not taken seriously. Many writers from the French-speaking areas mentioned above have been acclaimed in France only after they were celebrated through translations abroad, for example in the United States, Great Britain and Germany. Indeed, as many scholars have pointed out, it is ironic and telling that Csaire employs the French language precisely to undermine the negative influences of the French political system. He has turned the language into a weapon to use against the conquerors. In so doing, he himself becomes the victor. He also moves beyond the limits of the language, creating neologisms and expressions that suit his needs. It is a testimony to his brilliance as a poet that numerous international scholars continue to study and write about his work, colloquia are held, and collections of essays are published regularly, even in 2002. Scholars of French Caribbean and African literature, as well as politicians and writers from these regions, have noted the development of significant differences between Csaires Negritude and the Negritude of Senghor. One primary difference is that Csaire celebrates the existential dimension of a descendant of slaves who has found his roots in the Caribbean land he inhabits. Csaire does not look to Africa, while Senghor is more

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attached to both Africa and France. However, the fact remains that the poetry of both Csaire and Senghor empowers others of Africa and of the African diaspora to embrace their blackness, and it offers inspiration to all who read it. Negritude became the first international movement to vindicate the importance and dignity of being black at a time when foreign powers still held colonies around the globe. This movement began to show the rest of the world that it could no longer view blacks as savage, uneducated people. The segment of Cahier dun retour au pays natal that Csaire reads at the end of the video brings both the world of domination and the strength of the Martinican people into sharp focus. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS BY AIME CESAIRE (We are indebted to Abiola Irel for the information in this bibliography.) For a complete listing of Csaires writings, published speeches, and interviews up to 1978, with commentary on each item, see Thomas Hale, Les Ecrits dAim Csaire (special publication of Etudes Franaises, Vol. 14, Nos. 3-4). Montreal: Les Presses de lUniversit de Montreal, 1978); see also Frederick Ivor Case, Aim Csaire: Bibliographie (Toronto: Manna, 1973), which lists the works of Csaire as well as the secondary literature up to the year of its publication. A. Cahier dun retour au pays natal The following are the various editions that contain French text: 1. Bilingual edition, French and English (with poems title rendered as Memorandum on my Martinique); Preface by Andr

Breton, Un Grand Pote Noir, translation of poem and preface by Yvan Goll and Lionel Abel. New York: Brentanos, 1947. Andr Bretons preface is reprinted in Martinique, charmeuse de serpents. Editions Jean-Jacques Pauvert, 1972. 2. French text of above, with minor revisions, Bordas, 1947. 3. Revised and expanded edition, French text only, with Preface by Petar Guberina. Prsence Africaine, 1956. 4. Zurck ins Land der Gerburt, bilingual edition, French text of 1956 edition and German translation by Janheinz Jahn. Frankfurt am Main: Insel-Verlag, 1962. 5. Cuaderno de un Retorno al Pais Natal, bilingual edition and Spanish translation, with introduction, by Agusti Bartra. Mexico City: Ediciones Era, 1969. 6. Return to my Native Land, bilingual edition, French text of 1956 and English translation by Emile Snyder. Prsence Africaine, 1968. 7. Oeuvres Completes, Volume 1 (Posie), pp. 41-78. French text of 1956 edition. Fort-de-France: Editions Dsormeaux, 1976. 8. Aim Csaire: The Collected Poetry, bilingual edition, French text of 1956 edition and English translation, pp. 34-85 (title in English as Notebook of a Return to the Native Land); translation by Clayton Eshelman and Annette Smith. Berkley and Los Angeles University of California Press, 1983. 9. Reprint of 1956 edition with corrections to the text and Appendices, including Bretons 1947 preface. Prsence Africaine, 1983.

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B. Other Poetic and Dramatic Works Les Armes miraculeuses, poems. Gallimard, 1946; reissued in revised edition with Postface, 1970 (Collection Posie). Soleil cou coupe, poems. Editions K, 1948. Corps perdu, poems, with illustrations by Picasso. Editions Fragrance, 1949. Et Les Chiens se taisaient, stage version of dramatic poem previously published as part of Les Armes miraculeuses. Prsence Africaine, 1956. Ferrements, poems. Editions du Seuil, 1961. Cadastre, containing Soleil cou coupe and Corps perdu in revised versions of both volumes. Editions du Seuil, 1961. La Tragdie du Roi Christophe, play. Prsence Africaine, 1963 Une Saison au Congo, play. Editions du Seuil, 1966. Une Tempte, play. Editions du Seuil, 1969. Moi, laminaire, poems. Editions du Seuil, 1982. Extracts in historic anthologies: Lon Damas: Potes dexpression franaise. Editions du Seuil, 1947. Lopold Sdar Senghor: Anthologie de la nouvelle posie ngre et malgache, Presses Universitaires de France, 1948; second edition, 1970. Contains Jean-Paul Sartres preface, Orphe noir; this is reprinted in Situations II, Gallimard, 1949; English translation by Samuel Allen under the title Black Orpheus, Prsence Africaine, 1963.

English translations (in addition to Aim Csaire, The Collected Poetry above): State of the Union. Trans. Clayton Eshelman and Denis Kelly. Bloomington: Caterpillar Press, 1966. Return to my Native Land. Trans. John Berger and Anna Bostock, with Introduction by Mazisi Kunene. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1968. Cadastre, bilingual edition. Trans. By Emile Snyder and Sanford Upson. Introduction by Emile Snyder. New York: Third Press, 1973. Non-Vicious Circle: Twenty Poems of Aim Csaire, Selection, French texts and English translations, with introduction and notes, by Gregson Davis, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1984. Lyric and Dramatic Poetry: 1946-82, containing French texts with English translations of stage version of Et Les Chiens se taisaient and complete text of the volume Moi, laminaire. Trans. Clayton Eshelman and Annette Smith. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1990 (CARAF Books). The volume also contains an Introduction by A. James Arnold and his English translation of Posie et Connaissance under the title Poetry and Knowledge. See also Ellen Conroy Kennedy (ed,), The Negritude Poets, New York: Thunders Mouth Press, 2nd ed. 1989, for selections in English translations.

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C. Selected Cultural, Historical and Political Writings Early articles in Tropiques, Tome I, 194142, Tome II, 1943-45, Editions Jean-Michel Place, 1978. (The first volume contains an interview with Jacqueline Leiner, Entretien avec Aim Csaire, pp. v-xxiv, and an introduction, Pour une lecture critique de Tropiques by Ren Mnil, pp. xxv-xxxv.) Introduction, Esclavage et colonisation (Selected writings of Victor Schoelcher). Presses Universitaires de France, 1948. Discours sur le colonialisme. Editions Rclame, 1950; Prsence Africaine, 1955. Trans. Joan Pinkham, Discourse on Colonialism. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1972. :Sur la posie nationale, Prsence Africaine, Oct-Nov., 1955, pp.39-41. Culture et colonisation in Prsence Africaine, juin-novembre, 1956, pp.190-205. Lettre Maurice Thorez. Prsence Africaine, 1956. LHomme de culture noir et ses responsabilits, in Deuxime Congrs des crivains et artistes noirs, Prsence Africaine, Feb-March, 1959, pp.116-122. La Martinique telle quelle est, French Review, Vol. 53, No. 2, December, 1979,. pp.183-89. Toussaint Louverture: La Rvolution franaise et le problme colonial, Prsence Africaine, 1962. Socit et littrature dans les Antilles, Etudes Littraires, Qubec Vol. 6, No.1, April 1973, pp.9-20.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS ABOUT AIME CESAIRE Arnold, A. James. Negritude and Modernism: The Poetry and Poetics of Aim Csaire. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1981. Dash, J. Michael. The World and the Word: French Caribbean Writing in the Twentieth Century, Callaloo. 11:2 (1988) 112-130. Irele, Abiola. Literature and Ideology in Martinique. London: Heinemnan, 1981. Kelley, Robin D. G. Poetry and the Political Imagination: Aim Csaire, Negritude & the Applications of Surrealism, www.lipmagazine.org/articles Kesteloot, Lilyan. Csaire et Senghor, in Soleil Eclat. Ed. Jacqueline Leiner. Tbingen: Gunter Narr Verlag, 1984. Leiner, Jacqueline. Africa and the West Indies: Two Negritudes, in EuropeanLanguage Writing in Sub-Saharan Africa. Ed. Albert S. Grard. Budapest: Akadmiai Kiado, 1986. CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES SMALL GROUP WORK: This interview raises questions that could be explored before and/or after the video is presented. Some issues relate to those of specific ethnic groups in the United States and may resonate with the students personal lives and/or those of their friends as well. Ask students to write a short essay or a poem about any of the following questions. Then have them present their essays/poems in small discussion groups.

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 We see alienation within French Caribbean society as well as pressure to become like the conquerors, dispossession of peoples heritage, the fragmentation of families and the challenge of trying to return to roots one has lost. How does this relate to your current society? What ethnic groups are you aware of in your culture? Do you know when and why they came to your country? Can you describe the hardships any of them faced being assimilated into todays culture? Is a sense of family roots becoming lost in modern society? Is a sense of family roots important or old fashioned? The video suggests that it is very difficult to create a definition of Caribbean identity because the society is composed of people from many backgrounds and languages. How is this also true in your country? Does your country have a national identity? If so, what is it and do you consider yourself part of it? What evidence do you see today of ethnic groups trying to reach back to their ancestors? Does this create a conflict so that people are unable to agree on a modern and unified society? Can different ethnic and language groups live together under one political system? Csaires experience reflects the fragmentation of families and the challenge of choosing a language and a country for ones own identity. Can you identify with this situation in your own life? Do you see families divided in their values, dreams and goals? Are you aware of problems in families created by different languages such as Spanish

and English or polite language and street talk? Do you think people should relate more to the country where they live or the one where either they or their parents came from? Csaire was born into a country that grew out of a crossroads of different cultures, Amerindian, African, Hindu and European. Two languages are spoken in Martinique, French and Creole. Until late in the year 2002, the schools only taught French and French culture. If you lived in Martinique, what do you think your attitudes towards these cultures would be? Would you have friends with different heritage? Would you want to speak both languages? Do you think that the differences between people would be a daily problem? How would you handle problems between people who have different backgrounds? Imagine an island that has two ethnic groups and through a quirk of fate, you visit and are immediately crowned the Almighty Ruler (King or Queen)! What kinds of laws would you create to keep peace and prosperity in the island? What kind of government? Who would be in charge? What kind of educational system? How would you see that everyone had adequate food and housing? Would everyone have to work and have a job? Would everyone have access to doctors, nurses and hospitals even if they didnt work? Could a citizen criticize your decisions? What would happen then?

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FREE FORM POETRY: Give students a copy of one or two segments of the poem ahead of the showing, French or English, depending on your subject area. Ask them to write a poetic response, discuss the segments in groups, and give a resume of what they think it means. PREVIEW ANALYSIS OF POEM IN VIDEO: Choose one or two of the segments and give the students the English or French text. Have them define the tone, poetic qualities (alliteration, assonance, simile, metaphor, meter) of the segment(s) before they see the video. Ask them to guess about the poets identity (age, heritage, gender, etc.). FRENCH CLASSES: Offer students the translation(s) after they have analyzed the French segment(s) and tell them to make a similar analysis of the translation(s). Do they find one version more successful as poetry than the other? TERMS TO DEFINE BEFORE WATCHING THE VIDEO: ( Definitions are taken from Websters New World College Dictionary. Neufeldt, Victoria, ed. New York: Macmillan, 1996.) Assimilation: policy of absorbing minority groups of different races into the dominant culture with the intention of blurring the differences Colony: a territory distant from the state having jurisdiction or nominal control over it Dpartement: a government administrative district in France Exoticism: the practice of being interested in an object or a person primarily because

the thing or person is strange, unfamiliar and foreign French Caribbean: the ensemble of the seven islands claimed by France in 1635, of which the largest are Martinique and Guadeloupe Gaul: 1) any of the Celtic-speaking people of ancient Gaul; 2) a Frenchman Gibbosity: protuberance, swelling Maroon: term used to describe a runaway slave throughout the Caribbean region Negritude: political movement that promoted the validation of black peoples ethnic identity and asserted the right to selfexpression Surrealism: a modern movement in art and literature in which an attempt is made to portray the workings of the unconscious mind as manifested in dreams: it is characterized by an irrational, noncontextual, arrangement of materials TOPICS FOR BRIEF REPORTS BY STUDENTS: History: (topics in chronological order) Arawak and Carib Indians (Amerindians) Pre Labat (Dominican priest, explorer, chronicler, botanist) French colonialism African slave trade French sugarcane plantation Nanny of the maroons (heroine) Maroons in the West Indies Victor Schoelcher (French abolitionist) Vichy regime in France Marshal Philippe Ptain

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 Contemporary relationship between France and Martinique and Guadeloupe Fort-de-France, Martinique (political capitol) Mount Ple, Martinique (volcano) Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe (political capitol) Writers, Artists and Philosophers: Victor Anicet Andr Breton Lon Gontran Damas Frantz Fanon Edouard Glissant Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Immanuel Kant Wifredo Lam Luc Marlin Pablo Picasso Lopold Sdar Senghor Guy Tirolien Writers of the Harlem Renaissance DISCUSSION OF SEGMENT FROM LE CAHIER A. Difficult terms: Kalcdrat/Cailedra: a tree typical of the West African savannah, with royal significance. Cf. Senghor's "Lettre un pote" in CHANTS D'OMBRE, a poem addressed to Csaire. (Abiola Irele, Cahier dun retour au pays natal, annotated ed, New Horn 1994, p.118).

"larmes rincarnes" /udders of reincarnated tears: is a metonymic representation of the black race, weaned on a long history of sorrows, like a child who has suckled its mother's breasts ("pis"); the phrase thus announces a second coming that will see the race fortified by its experience and transfigured by it, emerge into universal history (Irele, p. 120) B. Suggested questions for specific parts of the segment: (numbers refer to the numbers written in beside the lines of poetry) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. What is the source of this light? Why these specific images? Explain the silo image. Why these specific images? What are the qualities of the poets negritude? 6. What contrasts appear here? 7. Note each image and define the nature of its strength. 8. How do images here encompass the Life force? 9. Contrast the weakness described here with the strength of the images in 8. What does each image add to the total picture? 10. How does the speaker view the white world? 11. Who has never explored or conquered anything? 12. Discuss the image of reincarnated tears.

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Excerpt from Notebook of a Return to the Native Land (English) oh friendly light oh fresh source of light -------------------------------------------------those who have invented neither powder nor compass those who could harness neither steam nor electricity those who explored neither the seas nor the sky but those 2 without whom the earth would not be the earth gibbosity all the more beneficent as the bare earth even more earth ----------------------------------------------------silo where that which is earthiest about earth ferments and ripens ----------------------------------------------------my negritude is not a stone, its deafness hurled against the clamor of the day my negritude is not a leukoma of dead liquid over the earths dead eye my negritude is neither tower nor cathedral ---------------------------------------------it takes root in the red flesh of the soil it takes root in the ardent flesh of the sky it breaks through the opaque prostration with its upright patience ---------------------------------------------Eia for the royal Cailcedra! Eia for those who have never invented anything for those who never explored anything for those who never conquered anything -----------------------------------------3 1

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but yield, captivated, to the essence of all things ignorant of surfaces but captivated by the motion of all things indifferent to conquering, but playing the game of the world truly the eldest sons of the world porous to all the breathing of the world 7 fraternal locus for all the breathing of the world drainless channel for all the water of the world spark of the sacred fire of the world flesh of the worlds flesh pulsating with the very motion of the world! Tepid dawn of ancestral virtues ----------------------------------------------Blood! Blood! All our blood aroused by the male heart of the sun those who know about the femininity of the moons oily body the reconciled exultation of antelope and star 8 those whose survival travels in the germination of grass! Eia perfect circle of the world, enclosed concordance! ----------------------------------------------Hear the white world horribly weary from its immense efforts its stiff joints crack under the hard stars hear its blue steel rigidity pierce the mystic flesh its deceptive victories tout its defeats hear the grandiose alibis of its pitiful stumblings ----------------------------------------------Pity for our omniscient and nave conquerors! -------------------------------------------------Eia for grief and its udders of reincarnated tears for those who have never explored anything for those who have never conquered anything -------------------------------------------------Eia for joy Eia for love Eia for grief and its udders of reincarnated tears 10

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Excerpt from Cahier dun retour au pays natal (French) lumire amicable frache source de la lumire ----------------------------------------------------------------ceux qui nont invent ni la poudre ni la boussole ceux qui nont jamais su dompter ni la vapeur ni llectricit ceux qui nont explor ni les mers ni le ciel mais ceux 2 sans qui la terre ne serait pas la terre gibbosit dautant plus bienfaisante que la terre dserte davantage la terre ---------------------------------------------------------------silo o se prserve et mrit ce que la terre a de plus terre ---------------------------------------------------------------ma ngritude nest pas une pierre, sa surdit rue contre la clameur du jour ma ngritude nest pas une taie deau morte sur lil mort de la terre ma ngritude nest ni une tour ni une cathdrale ----------------------------------------------------------------elle plonge dans la chair rouge du sol elle plonge dans la chair ardente du ciel elle troue laccablement opaque de sa droite patience ----------------------------------------------------------------Eia pour le Kalcdrat royal! Eia pour ceux qui nont jamais rien invent pour ceux qui nont jamais rien explor pour ceux qui nont jamais rien dompt -------------------------------------------------------3 1

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mais ils sabandonnent, saisis, l essence de toute chose ignorants des surfaces mais saisis par le mouvement de toute chose insoucieux de dompter, mais jouant le jeu du monde vritablement les fils ans du monde poreux tous les souffles du monde 7 aire fraternelle de tous les souffles du monde lit sans drain de toutes les eaux du monde tincelle du feu sacr du monde chair de la chair du monde palpitant du mouvement mme du monde! Tide petit matin de vertus ancestrales -----------------------------------------------------------Sang! Sang! tout notre sang mu par le cur mle du soleil ceux qui savent la fminit de la lune au corps dhuile lexaltation rconcilie de lantilope et de ltoile ceux dont la survie chemine en la germination de lherbe! Eia parfait cercle du monde et close concordance! -------------------------------------------------Ecoutez le monde blanc horriblement las de son effort immense ses articulations rebelles craquer sous les toiles dures ses raideurs dacier bleu transperant la chair mystique coute aux alibis grandioses son pitre trbuchement -----------------------------------------------Piti pour nos vainqueurs omniscients et nafs! ------------------------------------------------Eia pour la douleur aux pis de larmes rincarnes pour ceux qui nont jamais rien explor pour ceux qui nont jamis rien dompt -----------------------------------------------Eia pour la joie Eia pour lamour Eia pour la douleur aux pis de larmes rincarnes 10

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