The Negritude Poets: An Anthology of Translations from the French (Classic Reprint Series) [Paperback]

Ellen Conroy Kennedy (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"An important and moving anthology of the poetry written by four generations of black French-colonial poets--Caribbean, African and Indian Ocean islanders--who have responded intensely to colonization and racism," observed PW , adding, "these poems express a profound range of experience and feeling."
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Bongeumba by Antoine-roger Bolamba
Esanzo by Antoine-roger Bolamba
In A Storm by Antoine-roger Bolamba
Beat It Night Dog by Aime Cesaire
First Problem by Aime Cesaire
Magic by Aime Cesaire
Mississippi by Aime Cesaire
State Of The Union by Aime Cesaire
The Wheel by Aime Cesaire
The Lord's Prayer by Massillon Coicou
Oblivion by Massillon Coicou
The Slave's Lament by Massillon Coicou
Hands by Bernard Dadie
I Thank You, Lord, Fr. Dance Of The Days by Bernard Dadie
In Memoriam by Bernard Dadie
Ode To Africa by Bernard Dadie
A World To Come by Bernard Dadie
A Wreath For Africa by Bernard Dadie
The Black Man's Lament by Leon Gontran Damas
Blues by Leon Gontran Damas
Et Cetera by Leon Gontran Damas
Hiccups by Leon Gontran Damas
Obsession by Leon Gontran Damas
Position by Leon Gontran Damas
Reality by Leon Gontran Damas
Sell Out by Leon Gontran Damas
Shine by Leon Gontran Damas
Sleepless Night by Leon Gontran Damas
So Often My Feeling Of Race by Leon Gontran Damas
Their Thing by Leon Gontran Damas
There Are Nights With No Name by Leon Gontran Damas
They Came That Night by Leon Gontran Damas
Whitewash by Leon Gontran Damas
Agaou by Rene Depestre
Agassou by Rene Depestre
Agoue-taroyo by Rene Depestre
Attibon Legba by Rene Depestre
Azaka-mede by Rene Depestre
Ballad Of A Little Lamp by Rene Depestre
Baron Samedi by Rene Depestre
Baron-la-croix by Rene Depestre
Black Ore by Rene Depestre
Captain Zombi by Rene Depestre
Cousin Zaka by Rene Depestre
Damballah-wedo by Rene Depestre
Guede-nibo by Rene Depestre
Loko by Rene Depestre
Ogou-badagris by Rene Depestre
Ogou-ferraille by Rene Depestre
Shango by Rene Depestre
Ti-jean Sandor by Rene Depestre
Animism by Birago Diop
Desert by Birago Diop
Diptych by Birago Diop
Kassak by Birago Diop
Omen by Birago Diop
Spirits by Birago Diop
Viaticum by Birago Diop
Africa, My Africa, Fr. Pounding by David Diop
Challenge by David Diop
For A Black Child by David Diop
For My Mother by David Diop
The Hours by David Diop
Kama Kan by David Diop
Listen, Comrades Of The Flaming Centuries, Fr. Pounding by David Diop
Negro Tramp by David Diop
The Time Of Martyrdom by David Diop
Vultures by David Diop
With You by David Diop
The Black Man's Son by Oswald Durand
Francie-the-possessed by Oswald Durand
The Indies: 49 by Edouard Glissant
The Indies: 50 by Edouard Glissant
The Indies: 51 by Edouard Glissant
The Indies: 52 by Edouard Glissant
Betrayal by Leon Laleau
Cannibal by Leon Laleau
Legacies by Leon Laleau
Sacrifice by Leon Laleau
Voodoo by Leon Laleau
Silence by Rene Maran
Tropicals by Rene Maran
1 by Edouard J. Maunick
10 by Edouard J. Maunick
14 by Edouard J. Maunick
16 by Edouard J. Maunick
18 by Edouard J. Maunick
19 by Edouard J. Maunick
3 by Edouard J. Maunick
4 by Edouard J. Maunick
5 by Edouard J. Maunick
6 by Edouard J. Maunick
7 by Edouard J. Maunick
8 by Edouard J. Maunick
9 by Edouard J. Maunick
Letter To Ellen Conroy Kennedy by Edouard J. Maunick
Seven Sides And Seven Syllables by Edouard J. Maunick
This Strange Calculation Of Roots by Edouard J. Maunick
Initiations, Sels. by Paul Niger
Dear Husband by Yamba Ouloguem
Black Island by Charles Pressoir
Country Graveyard by Charles Pressoir
1 by Jean-joseph Rabearivelo
1 by Jean-joseph Rabearivelo
18 by Jean-joseph Rabearivelo
2 by Jean-joseph Rabearivelo
3 by Jean-joseph Rabearivelo
4 by Jean-joseph Rabearivelo
47 by Jean-joseph Rabearivelo
5 by Jean-joseph Rabearivelo
57 by Jean-joseph Rabearivelo
6 by Jean-joseph Rabearivelo
7 by Jean-joseph Rabearivelo
Cactus by Jean-joseph Rabearivelo
Reading by Jean-joseph Rabearivelo
Rondo For The Poet's Children by Jean-joseph Rabearivelo
Three Dawns by Jean-joseph Rabearivelo
Your Work by Jean-joseph Rabearivelo
Lamba, Sels. by Jacques Rabemananjara
Lament by Jacques Rabemananjara
Song, Sels. by Jacques Rabemananjara
Carry Me O These Feet Of Mine by Flavien Ranaivo
Choice by Flavien Ranaivo
The Common Lover's Song by Flavien Ranaivo
Distress by Flavien Ranaivo
The Humped Ox by Flavien Ranaivo
Old Merina Theme by Flavien Ranaivo
Dirty Niggers by Jacques Roumain
Ebony Wood, Sels. by Jacques Roumain
Guinea by Jacques Roumain
New Negro Sermon by Jacques Roumain
When The Tom-tom Beats by Jacques Roumain
The Peasant Declares His Love by Emile Roumer
Ten Lines by Emile Roumer
Four Songs For Signare by Leopold Sedar Senghor
French Garden by Leopold Sedar Senghor
I Know Not When It Was, Fr. Ethiopics by Leopold Sedar Senghor
Joal by Leopold Sedar Senghor
Midnight Elegy by Leopold Sedar Senghor
Negro Mask by Leopold Sedar Senghor
New York by Leopold Sedar Senghor
Night Of Sine by Leopold Sedar Senghor
Ode For Three Koras And Balaphong by Leopold Sedar Senghor
Prayer For Peace by Leopold Sedar Senghor
Prayer To The Masks by Leopold Sedar Senghor
Retrun Of The Prodigal Son by Leopold Sedar Senghor
Song Of The Initiate by Leopold Sedar Senghor
The Totem Man by Leopold Sedar Senghor
To The Banquet Of The Earth, Fr. First Song Of Departure by Martial Sinda
You Shall Walk In Peace! by Martial Sinda
The Bombax Tree by Fily-dabo Sissoko
Brush Fire by Fily-dabo Sissoko
Down In The Valley by Fily-dabo Sissoko
Grandmother by Fily-dabo Sissoko
Like A Flower Grown From Fire by Fily-dabo Sissoko
Meeting Bida by Fily-dabo Sissoko
Whirlwinds by Fily-dabo Sissoko
Ghetto by Guy Tirolien
A Little Black Boy's Prayer by Guy Tirolien
Marie Galante by Guy Tirolien
The Soul Of The Black Land by Guy Tirolien
Bad Blood by Tchicaya U Tam'si
Brush Fire by Tchicaya U Tam'si
Communion: 2 by Tchicaya U Tam'si
Headline To Summarize A Passion by Tchicaya U Tam'si
Here Is The Plain That I Inhabit by Tchicaya U Tam'si
I Am No Longer Master Of My Tears by Tchicaya U Tam'si
I Die Alone From Pride by Tchicaya U Tam'si
A Mat To Weave by Tchicaya U Tam'si
A Mat To Weave by Tchicaya U Tam'si
The Promenade by Tchicaya U Tam'si
The Scorner by Tchicaya U Tam'si
Sea Nocturne by Tchicaya U Tam'si
Viaticum by Tchicaya U Tam'si
Love by Elolongue Epanya Yondo
Lullaby by Elolongue Epanya Yondo
My Country by Elolongue Epanya Yondo
To You by Elolongue Epanya Yondo
Woman by Elolongue Epanya Yondo
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

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Product Details

• Paperback: 284 pages
• Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Pr; 1st Thunder's Mouth Press ed edition (April 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0938410725
• ISBN-13: 978-0938410720
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #972,698 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4.0 out of 5 stars A Necessary Primer In Francophone Pan African Literary Culture, February 11, 2012

By 

Michael J. Strode "The AOMuse" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Negritude Poets: An Anthology of Translations from the French (Classic Reprint Series) (Paperback)

"It may be

they dare to

treat me white

though everything within me

wants only to be black

as Negro as my Africa

the Africa they ransacked"

~ excerpt from "Whitewash" by Leon Damas

In the early 1900's while the New Negro Renaissance positioned itself in the U.S. as the latest skirmish in the ongoing struggle for a monolithic black identity, parallel literary and intellectual awakenings were taking place throughout the world amongst members of the African diaspora. In Haiti, the writings of Jean Price-Mars were linking Haitian cultural identity with an African lineage laying the groundwork for the Indigeniste Movement. This shift saw a reclamation of non-white and non-western elements of Haitian communal life paired with a rejection of French neo-colonial subjugation. In Cuba, Nicolas Guillen was engaging Afro-Cuban cultural experiences and son rhythm in his work becoming the genesis of the literary movement Negrismo.

In Paris, a Clamart salon was the seat of intellectual confluence for the global black community finding American, Caribbean and African writers meeting to exchange dialogue and shared ideals. Sisters Andree, Jane and Paulette Nardal hosted this trans-racial and cosmopolitan cast of characters whose discussions traversed the expanse of humanism, literature, art and the future direction of the diaspora. These first fruitful conversations beget "Negro: An Anthology" edited by Nancy Cunard which further beget "La Revue du monde noir" edited by Paulette Nardal. In these two publications was developed the social and political culture which would give rise to Negritude within the black writers and thinkers of the Francophone colonies.

The selections included here are rich with the anguish, experience, insight, emotion and intelligence emerging from different points within the black Francophone post-colonial world. The language was a common medium through which each author might interact and compare notes about how their individual culture had grappled with the question and impact of blackness. There was a vastly different cultural continuum which informed a Malagasy author such as Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo than would shape the Haitian author Rene Depestre. The poetry of the latter was born of the constant flux of Haitian revolutionary politics and the mysteries of Voudoun while the writing of the former had its origin in the relative isolation of Madagascar amongst African nations and the unity of the Malagasy tribes in resisting attempts at colonization.

These internal conflicts in the cohesive blackness that Negritude sought to invoke would later lead to a splintering amongst adherents and the rise of such offshoots as Creolite and Antillanite. Antillanite sought to draw attention to the unique historical and cultural configuration of the Caribbean which brought together both indigenous and imported elements in crafting a shared identity amongst its inhabitants. Creolite refined this shared identity further to focus its attention specifically upon the French Caribbean. These splits mirrored the search for a common black identity which gave rise to the New Negro Renaissance and Garveyism of the same period in the U.S. along with the conflicting direction of those two movements.

The most unfortunate aspect of the anthology is that one cannot reach a cohesive sense of this historical context by examining the introduction of the text and author biographies which precede each chapter. The editor chose to engage only the poetic and prosaic output which flourished within Negritude though as the movement expanded its reach through literary journals, it produced poems, prose, essays and cultural commentary. There was also a failure to adequately address the role women played in the conception and advancement of Negritude although the Nardal sisters amongst others provided a critical intellectual spark in propelling Negritude forward.

Even with these shortfalls, I consider this a necessary work in helping members of the diaspora in the U.S. to gain an international perspective of Pan African literary and intellectual insight where we have previously engaged mostly in the study those literary movements originating in the United States. The availability of more comprehensive information about the experience of members of the global black community serves only to strengthen the cultural ties we make with one another. The history of the Negritude movement should inform us that while we may not be able to wrangle all of these prickly personalities into a single, progressive monolith, we can open channels of dialogue and create pathways of exchange that may lead us to mine our own cultural experience even more deeply.