Césaire, Aimé << say ZEHR, eh MAY >> (1913-2008), was a French-speaking poet and playwright from Martinique. He was cofounder, with Léopold Senghor, who later became president of Senegal, and Léon Damas, a French Guianese poet, of Négritude, a Black African literary movement that lasted from the 1930’s through the 1950’s. Négritude sought the restoration of Black African cultural values, which the movement believed had been endangered by the influence of European values. Césaire supported the decolonization of French African colonies in the 1950’s and 1960’s. He also became active in Communist Party politics.
Césaire’s poetry shows strong influences of Surrealism, in which the imagery is inspired by dreams and the subconscious (see Surrealism). His best-known poem is Cahier d’un retour au pays natal (Notebook of a Return to My Native Land, 1939), an attack on French colonialism. His poetry was published in Aimé Césaire: The Collected Poetry (1983). His best-known plays are And the Dogs Were Silent (1946), The Tragedy of King Christophe (1964), and A Season in the Congo (1966). The plays are fiery examples of Black militancy. His powerful essays and speeches have been published in Discourse on Colonialism (1970) and other works.
Aimé Fernand Césaire was born on June 25, 1913, on the island of Martinique in the eastern Caribbean, and was educated in Paris. He died on April 17, 2008.
See also Senghor, Léopold Sédar.
