ISBN: 150954979X 9781509549795

Category: Social Science / Black Studies (Global)

Page count: 304

<p>Aimé Césaire is arguably the greatest Caribbean literary writer in history. Best known for his incendiary epic poem <i>Notebook of a Return to My Native Land</i>, Césaire reinvented black culture by conceiving 'négritude' as a dynamic and continuous process of self-creation.</p> <p>In this essential new account of his life and work, Jane Hiddleston introduces readers to Césaire's unique poetic voice and to his role as a figurehead for intellectuals pursuing freedom and equality for black people. Césaire was deeply immersed in the political life of his native Martinique for over fifty years: as Mayor of Fort-de-France and Deputy at the French National Assembly, he called for the liberation of oppressed people at home and abroad, while celebrating black creativity and self-invention to resist a history of racism.</p> <p>Césaire's extraordinary life reminds us that the much-needed revolt against oppression and subjugation can—and should—come from within the establishment, as well as without.</p>