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19 de Abril, 2008
In Memory of Aimé Césaire
Categorized under Arte , Artivism , Guest Blogando , Kevin , Literatura | Tags: Aimé Césaire, Post Colonialism
[Kevin Andre Elliott, sometimes known as the Thin Black Duke, is a guest blogger at The Unapologetic Mexican, and can be found blogging away on weekdays at A Slant Truth.]
On Thursday, 17 April, the Martinique poet, activist, politician, and post-colonial theorist Aimé Fernand David Césaire died.
Césaire was a central figure in what can be considered the French version of the Harlem Renaissance. While in school at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, he helped found L'Étudiant Noir (The Black Student), a literary journal dedicated to the cultivation of black pride and which also birthed the Négritude movement, a literary and political movement that sought the "affirmation that one is black and proud of it". His most famous works are his book-length poem, Cahier d'un Retour au Pays Natal (Notes From a Return to the Native Land), and the essay, "Negro I am, Negro I Will Remain." Thanks to Professor Black Woman, I also found excerpts from his play, Une Tempête (adapted from William Shakespeare's The Tempest), which you should most definitely go and read.
Truth be told, I had meant to post this on Thursday, but it slipped my mind until I read this:
I believe that there should be canonical works. I believe that those works should be just that, CANONS. Open salvos in " battles"designed to literally grapple and destroy and rebuild them . Text that lives an breathes and is on it's feet, on it's back, on it's toes. How we take theory and make art. And how that is CONNECTED eternally through performance and history.Most importantly how that performance is SPECIFICALLY and practically located in POC bodies and there interactions with personalizing and culturing various artforms , both intentionally and SIMPLY BY THEIR PRESENCE.
which, by coincidence, I feel perfectly sums up the life that Césaire led.
And so, I take the sad passing of a great artist and activist and choose to make the most positive I can out of it. I choose to renew my commitment to art, activism, and the life of the mind (not that it ever went anywhere, it's more like renewing one's wedding vows). I encourage those so inclined to do the same.
From Cahier d'un Retour au Pays Natal
ma negritude n'est pas une pierre, sa surdite ruee contre la clameur du jour
ma negritude n'est pas une taie d'eau morte sur l'il mort de la terre
ma negritude n'est ni une tour ni une cathedrale
elle plonge dans la chair rouge du so
elle plonge dans la chair ardente du ciel
elle troue l'accablement opaque de sa droite patience.
my Negritude is not a stone, its deafness dashed against the clamor of the day
my Negritude is not an opaque spot of dead water on the dead eye of the earth
my Negritude is neither a tower nor a cathedral
it plunges into the red flesh of the soi
it plunges into the ardent flesh of the sky
it pierces opaque prostration with its upright patience
[cross-posted from A Slant Truth]
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Comentarios (7)
nezua
dijo:
love this post. and i love the word "negritude." it reminds me of a coined and genteel form of NWA (spelled out) or something. jeje. or "solitude,' which is a word i've always loved the sound of.
beautiful poetry.
Palabras por nezua
spat forth on el 20 de Abril, 2008 at 05:27 AM
Lauren dijo:
hey nez i tagged you for a six-word memoir over at my blog. :) cheers!
Palabras por Lauren spat forth on el 20 de Abril, 2008 at 12:01 PM
nezua
dijo:
hey lauren, thanks! i'll get on that soon. :)
Palabras por nezua
spat forth on el 20 de Abril, 2008 at 01:35 PM
luisa dijo:
Thank you for posting this, Kevin. I hadn't heard of Cesaire's passing.
Aime Cesaire is one of the reasons I'm not as bitter with academia as I claim to be... If it wasn't for my undergrad in race theory, I wouldn't have known about Cesair's vital work. He should definately be in the canon (especially his "Discourse on Colonialism"-which is one of my most cited, underlined and marked up books.). Because Cesaire was a mentor to Franz Fanon was the reason I read Fanon.
I'm saddened by the news.
"reason, I abandon you with the evening breeze."
Palabras por luisa spat forth on el 20 de Abril, 2008 at 07:08 PM
James dijo:
There's also a nice tribute to Aime Cesaire at Constellations.
On a tangent: I noticed that Professor Black Woman has shut down her blog - apparently at some point within the last few hours. I'm hoping her voice isn't silenced.
Palabras por James spat forth on el 20 de Abril, 2008 at 09:27 PM
Kevin Andre Elliott
dijo:
@Nez: Yes, I think "solitiude," a state of social isolation, is definitely tied to "negritude." But not in a negative way. Rather in a creative, everyday life kind of way.
@Luisa: I found Cesaire through Fanon, myself. Either way, I feel we are all better off with both of them in our lives.
@James: Yeah, I just discovered that Profbw has password protected her site. I don't have her email addy or anything, so I can't get in touch with her at the moment, although I will keep trying. I too hope that she will blog publicly again soon.
Palabras por Kevin Andre Elliott
spat forth on el 20 de Abril, 2008 at 11:37 PM
James dijo:
Kevin: Looks like Profbw's blog is back up and running as of this morning. Not sure what the deal was, but glad she decided not to leave it password protected.
Palabras por James spat forth on el 21 de Abril, 2008 at 10:35 AM