A Poetics of Anticolonialism

Monthly Review

Volumn 51, Issue 6, 1999, Pages 1-21

  Kelley, Robin D G ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0347646823     PISSN: 00270520     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.14452/MR-051-06-1999-10_1     Document Type: Review

References (51)

1. The Monthly Review version is a reprint of the revised and expanded third edition put out by Présence Africaine in 1955. The first edition was published by Éditions Réclame.
2. Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth (New York: Grove Press, 1967), p. 102.
3. Robert Young, White Mythologies: Writing History and the West (London: Routledge, 1990) p. 119. A compelling defense of Césaire's Discourse, which has influenced my thinking on this text's relation to postcolonial studies, is Bart Moore-Gilbert, Postcolonial Theory: Contexts, Practices, Politics (London: Verso, 1997). He argues that Discourse not only anticipated Fanon, but works by Homi Bhabha, Edward Said, Wilson Harris, Chinua Achebe, and Chinweizu.
4. Robert Young, White Mythologies: Writing History and the West (London: Routledge, 1990) p. 119. A compelling defense of Césaire's Discourse, which has influenced my thinking on this text's relation to postcolonial studies, is Bart Moore-Gilbert, Postcolonial Theory: Contexts, Practices, Politics (London: Verso, 1997). He argues that Discourse not only anticipated Fanon, but works by Homi Bhabha, Edward Said, Wilson Harris, Chinua Achebe, and Chinweizu.
5. See, for example, A. James Arnold, Modernism and Négritude: The Poetry and Poetics of Aimé Césaire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 1981); M. A. M. Ngal, Aimé Césaire: Un Homme à la Récherche d'une Patrie (Dakar: Nouvelles Éditions Africaines, 1983); Lilyan Kesteloot and B. Kotchy, Aimé Césaire, L'Homme et L'Oeuvre (Paris: Présence Africaine, 1973); Jane L. Pallister, Aimé Césaire (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1991); Susan Frutkin, Aimé Césaire: Black Between Worlds (Miami: Center for Advanced International Studies, 1973).
6. See, for example, A. James Arnold, Modernism and Négritude: The Poetry and Poetics of Aimé Césaire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 1981); M. A. M. Ngal, Aimé Césaire: Un Homme à la Récherche d'une Patrie (Dakar: Nouvelles Éditions Africaines, 1983); Lilyan Kesteloot and B. Kotchy, Aimé Césaire, L'Homme et L'Oeuvre (Paris: Présence Africaine, 1973); Jane L. Pallister, Aimé Césaire (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1991); Susan Frutkin, Aimé Césaire: Black Between Worlds (Miami: Center for Advanced International Studies, 1973).
7. See, for example, A. James Arnold, Modernism and Négritude: The Poetry and Poetics of Aimé Césaire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 1981); M. A. M. Ngal, Aimé Césaire: Un Homme à la Récherche d'une Patrie (Dakar: Nouvelles Éditions Africaines, 1983); Lilyan Kesteloot and B. Kotchy, Aimé Césaire, L'Homme et L'Oeuvre (Paris: Présence Africaine, 1973); Jane L. Pallister, Aimé Césaire (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1991); Susan Frutkin, Aimé Césaire: Black Between Worlds (Miami: Center for Advanced International Studies, 1973).
8. See, for example, A. James Arnold, Modernism and Négritude: The Poetry and Poetics of Aimé Césaire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 1981); M. A. M. Ngal, Aimé Césaire: Un Homme à la Récherche d'une Patrie (Dakar: Nouvelles Éditions Africaines, 1983); Lilyan Kesteloot and B. Kotchy, Aimé Césaire, L'Homme et L'Oeuvre (Paris: Présence Africaine, 1973); Jane L. Pallister, Aimé Césaire (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1991); Susan Frutkin, Aimé Césaire: Black Between Worlds (Miami: Center for Advanced International Studies, 1973).
9. See, for example, A. James Arnold, Modernism and Négritude: The Poetry and Poetics of Aimé Césaire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 1981); M. A. M. Ngal, Aimé Césaire: Un Homme à la Récherche d'une Patrie (Dakar: Nouvelles Éditions Africaines, 1983); Lilyan Kesteloot and B. Kotchy, Aimé Césaire, L'Homme et L'Oeuvre (Paris: Présence Africaine, 1973); Jane L. Pallister, Aimé Césaire (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1991); Susan Frutkin, Aimé Césaire: Black Between Worlds (Miami: Center for Advanced International Studies, 1973).
10. Arnold, Modernism and Négritude, pp. 1-8, quote from page 8.
11. Quote from "An Interview with Aimé Césaire" appended at the end of Discourse; Arnold, Modernism and Négritude, pp. 8-9; on black diasporic intellectuals in Paris, see Tyler Stovall, Paris Noir: African-Americans in the City of Light (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1996); Brent Edwards, "Black Globality: The International Shape of Black Intellectual Culture," (Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 1997).
12. Quote from "An Interview with Aimé Césaire" appended at the end of Discourse; Arnold, Modernism and Négritude, pp. 8-9; on black diasporic intellectuals in Paris, see Tyler Stovall, Paris Noir: African-Americans in the City of Light (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1996); Brent Edwards, "Black Globality: The International Shape of Black Intellectual Culture," (Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 1997).
13. Quote from "An Interview with Aimé Césaire" appended at the end of Discourse; Arnold, Modernism and Négritude, pp. 8-9; on black diasporic intellectuals in Paris, see Tyler Stovall, Paris Noir: African-Americans in the City of Light (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1996); Brent Edwards, "Black Globality: The International Shape of Black Intellectual Culture," (Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 1997).
14. Quote from "An Interview with Aimé Césaire" appended at the end of Discourse; Arnold, Modernism and Négritude, pp. 8-9; on black diasporic intellectuals in Paris, see Tyler Stovall, Paris Noir: African-Americans in the City of Light (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1996); Brent Edwards, "Black Globality: The International Shape of Black Intellectual Culture," (Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 1997).
15. Maryse Conde, Cahier d'un Retour au Pays Natal; Césaire, Analyse Critique (Paris: Hatier, 1978); Norman Shapiro, ed., Négritude: Black Poetry from Africa and the Caribbean (New York: October House, 1970), p. 224; Pallister, Aimé Cé, pp. xiii-xiv.
16. Maryse Conde, Cahier d'un Retour au Pays Natal; Césaire, Analyse Critique (Paris: Hatier, 1978); Norman Shapiro, ed., Négritude: Black Poetry from Africa and the Caribbean (New York: October House, 1970), p. 224; Pallister, Aimé Cé, pp. xiii-xiv.
17. Maryse Conde, Cahier d'un Retour au Pays Natal; Césaire, Analyse Critique (Paris: Hatier, 1978); Norman Shapiro, ed., Négritude: Black Poetry from Africa and the Caribbean (New York: October House, 1970), p. 224; Pallister, Aimé Cé, pp. xiii-xiv.
18. Maryse Conde, Cahier d'un Retour au Pays Natal; Césaire, Analyse Critique (Paris: Hatier, 1978); Norman Shapiro, ed., Négritude: Black Poetry from Africa and the Caribbean (New York: October House, 1970), p. 224; Pallister, Aimé Cé, pp. xiii-xiv.
19. Arnold, Modernism and Négritude, pp. 12-13.
20. "Lettre du Lieutenant de Vaisseau Bayle, chef du service d'information au directeur de la revue Tropiques, Fort-de-France, May 10, 1943́ and ́Response de Tropiques à M. le Lieutenant de Vaisseau Bayle, Fort-de-France, May 12, 1943,́ (signed Aimé Césaire, Suzanne Césaire, Georges Gratiant, Aristide Maugée, René Ménil, Lucie Thesée), Tropiques, vol. 1, ed. by Aimé Césaire [fascimile reproduction] (Paris: Éditions Jean-Michel Place, 1978), Documents-Annexes, pp. xxxvi-xxxviii.
21. See Michael Richardson, ed., Refusal of the Shadow, pp. 7-15, 69-182; Franklin Rosemont, ed., André Breton - What is Surrealism?: Selected Writings (New York: Pathfinder, 1978), pp. 83-92; Arnold, Modernism and Négritude, pp. 12-13.
22. See Michael Richardson, ed., Refusal of the Shadow, pp. 7-15, 69-182; Franklin Rosemont, ed., André Breton - What is Surrealism?: Selected Writings (New York: Pathfinder, 1978), pp. 83-92; Arnold, Modernism and Négritude, pp. 12-13.
23. See Michael Richardson, ed., Refusal of the Shadow, pp. 7-15, 69-182; Franklin Rosemont, ed., André Breton - What is Surrealism?: Selected Writings (New York: Pathfinder, 1978), pp. 83-92; Arnold, Modernism and Négritude, pp. 12-13.
24. Quote from Penelope Rosemont, ed., Surrealist Women: An International Anthology (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1998), p. 137; Franklin Rosemont, " Suzanne Césaire: In the Light of Surrealism," (unpublished paper in author's possession).
25. Quote from Penelope Rosemont, ed., Surrealist Women: An International Anthology (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1998), p. 137; Franklin Rosemont, " Suzanne Césaire: In the Light of Surrealism," (unpublished paper in author's possession).
26. Penelope Rosemont, ed., Surrealist Women, pp. 136-37. "Surrealism and Us: 1943" is also reprinted in Micheal Richardson, ed., Refusal of the Shadow: Surrealism and the Caribbean, trans. by Michael Richardson and Krzysztof Fijalkowski (London: Verso, 1996), pp. 123-26, but I prefer Rosemont's translation
27. Penelope Rosemont, ed., Surrealist Women, pp. 136-37. "Surrealism and Us: 1943" is also reprinted in Micheal Richardson, ed., Refusal of the Shadow: Surrealism and the Caribbean, trans. by Michael Richardson and Krzysztof Fijalkowski (London: Verso, 1996), pp. 123-26, but I prefer Rosemont's translation
28. Brent Hayes Edwards offers an illuminating description of Césaire's poetic challenge to surrealism. While he sees Césaire's work as a departure from Surrealism, I like to think of it as a transformation. Brent Hayes Edwards, ́Ethnics of Surrealism," Transition 78 (1999), pp. 132-34.
29. Jacqueline Leiner, "Entretien avec A.C.," in Tropiques, vol. 1, ed. by Aimé Césaire [fascimile reproduction] (Paris: Édition Jean-Michael Place, 1978).
30. Pallister, Aimé Césaire, pp. 29-33.
31. Rosemont, ed., André Breton - What is Surrealism?, pp. 36-37; Maurice Nadeau, The History of Surrealism, trans. by Richard Howard (Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1989, orig. 1944), p. 117; "Murderous Humanitarianism," reprinted in Race Traitor - Special Issue - Surrealism: Revolution Against Whiteness 9 (Summer 1998), pp. 67-69. The document first appeared in Nancy Cunard, ed., Negro: An Anthology (New York, 1996 reprint, orig. 1934).
32. Rosemont, ed., André Breton - What is Surrealism?, pp. 36-37; Maurice Nadeau, The History of Surrealism, trans. by Richard Howard (Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1989, orig. 1944), p. 117; "Murderous Humanitarianism," reprinted in Race Traitor - Special Issue - Surrealism: Revolution Against Whiteness 9 (Summer 1998), pp. 67-69. The document first appeared in Nancy Cunard, ed., Negro: An Anthology (New York, 1996 reprint, orig. 1934).
33. Rosemont, ed., André Breton - What is Surrealism?, pp. 36-37; Maurice Nadeau, The History of Surrealism, trans. by Richard Howard (Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1989, orig. 1944), p. 117; "Murderous Humanitarianism," reprinted in Race Traitor - Special Issue - Surrealism: Revolution Against Whiteness 9 (Summer 1998), pp. 67-69. The document first appeared in Nancy Cunard, ed., Negro: An Anthology (New York, 1996 reprint, orig. 1934).
34. Rosemont, ed., André Breton - What is Surrealism?, pp. 36-37; Maurice Nadeau, The History of Surrealism, trans. by Richard Howard (Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1989, orig. 1944), p. 117; "Murderous Humanitarianism," reprinted in Race Traitor - Special Issue - Surrealism: Revolution Against Whiteness 9 (Summer 1998), pp. 67-69. The document first appeared in Nancy Cunard, ed., Negro: An Anthology (New York, 1996 reprint, orig. 1934).
35. Cedric J. Robinson, "Fascism and the Response of Black Radical Theorists," (unpublished paper in author's possession); Cedric J. Robinson, "Fascism and the Intersection of Capitalism, Racialism, and Historical Consciousness," Humanties in Society 3, no. 6 (Autumn 1983), pp. 325-49; Cedric J. Robinson, "The African Diaspora and the Italo-Ethiopian Crisis," Race and Class 27, no. 2 (Autumn 1985), pp. 51-65; W.E.B. Dubois, The Autobiography of W.E.B. DuBois, ed. by Herbert Aptheker (New York, 1968), pp. 305-306; Ralph J. Bunche, "French and British Imperialism in West Africa," Journal of Negro History 21, no. 1 (January 1936), p. 31; W.E.B. DuBois, The World and Africa (New York: International Publishers, 1947), p. 23.
36. Cedric J. Robinson, "Fascism and the Response of Black Radical Theorists," (unpublished paper in author's possession); Cedric J. Robinson, "Fascism and the Intersection of Capitalism, Racialism, and Historical Consciousness," Humanties in Society 3, no. 6 (Autumn 1983), pp. 325-49; Cedric J. Robinson, "The African Diaspora and the Italo-Ethiopian Crisis," Race and Class 27, no. 2 (Autumn 1985), pp. 51-65; W.E.B. Dubois, The Autobiography of W.E.B. DuBois, ed. by Herbert Aptheker (New York, 1968), pp. 305-306; Ralph J. Bunche, "French and British Imperialism in West Africa," Journal of Negro History 21, no. 1 (January 1936), p. 31; W.E.B. DuBois, The World and Africa (New York: International Publishers, 1947), p. 23.
37. Cedric J. Robinson, "Fascism and the Response of Black Radical Theorists," (unpublished paper in author's possession); Cedric J. Robinson, "Fascism and the Intersection of Capitalism, Racialism, and Historical Consciousness," Humanties in Society 3, no. 6 (Autumn 1983), pp. 325-49; Cedric J. Robinson, "The African Diaspora and the Italo-Ethiopian Crisis," Race and Class 27, no. 2 (Autumn 1985), pp. 51-65; W.E.B. Dubois, The Autobiography of W.E.B. DuBois, ed. by Herbert Aptheker (New York, 1968), pp. 305-306; Ralph J. Bunche, "French and British Imperialism in West Africa," Journal of Negro History 21, no. 1 (January 1936), p. 31; W.E.B. DuBois, The World and Africa (New York: International Publishers, 1947), p. 23.
38. Cedric J. Robinson, "Fascism and the Response of Black Radical Theorists," (unpublished paper in author's possession); Cedric J. Robinson, "Fascism and the Intersection of Capitalism, Racialism, and Historical Consciousness," Humanties in Society 3, no. 6 (Autumn 1983), pp. 325-49; Cedric J. Robinson, "The African Diaspora and the Italo-Ethiopian Crisis," Race and Class 27, no. 2 (Autumn 1985), pp. 51-65; W.E.B. Dubois, The Autobiography of W.E.B. DuBois, ed. by Herbert Aptheker (New York, 1968), pp. 305-306; Ralph J. Bunche, "French and British Imperialism in West Africa," Journal of Negro History 21, no. 1 (January 1936), p. 31; W.E.B. DuBois, The World and Africa (New York: International Publishers, 1947), p. 23.
39. Cedric J. Robinson, "Fascism and the Response of Black Radical Theorists," (unpublished paper in author's possession); Cedric J. Robinson, "Fascism and the Intersection of Capitalism, Racialism, and Historical Consciousness," Humanties in Society 3, no. 6 (Autumn 1983), pp. 325-49; Cedric J. Robinson, "The African Diaspora and the Italo-Ethiopian Crisis," Race and Class 27, no. 2 (Autumn 1985), pp. 51-65; W.E.B. Dubois, The Autobiography of W.E.B. DuBois, ed. by Herbert Aptheker (New York, 1968), pp. 305-306; Ralph J. Bunche, "French and British Imperialism in West Africa," Journal of Negro History 21, no. 1 (January 1936), p. 31; W.E.B. DuBois, The World and Africa (New York: International Publishers, 1947), p. 23.
40. Cedric J. Robinson, "Fascism and the Response of Black Radical Theorists," (unpublished paper in author's possession); Cedric J. Robinson, "Fascism and the Intersection of Capitalism, Racialism, and Historical Consciousness," Humanties in Society 3, no. 6 (Autumn 1983), pp. 325-49; Cedric J. Robinson, "The African Diaspora and the Italo-Ethiopian Crisis," Race and Class 27, no. 2 (Autumn 1985), pp. 51-65; W.E.B. Dubois, The Autobiography of W.E.B. DuBois, ed. by Herbert Aptheker (New York, 1968), pp. 305-306; Ralph J. Bunche, "French and British Imperialism in West Africa," Journal of Negro History 21, no. 1 (January 1936), p. 31; W.E.B. DuBois, The World and Africa (New York: International Publishers, 1947), p. 23.
41. Césaire, Senghor, and their colleagues in the Négritude movement had been fascinated with Leo Frobenius, the German irrationalist whose massive ethnography, Histoire de la civilisation Africaine, provided a powerful defense of African civilization. See Suzanne Césaire, "Leo Frobenius and the Problem of Civilization [1941]," in Michael Richardson, ed., Refusal of the Shadow, pp. 82-87;
42. L.S. Senghor, "The Lessons of Leo Frobenius," in Leo Frobenius: An Anthology, ed. E. Haberland (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1973), p. vii;
43. Jacqueline Leiner, "Entretien avec A.C."
44. Aimé Césaire "Introduction to Victor Schoelcher," Esclavage et colonisation (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1948), p. 7; also quoted in Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks, trans. by Charles Lam Markmann (New York: Grove Press, 1967), pp. 130-31.
45. Aimé Césaire "Introduction to Victor Schoelcher," Esclavage et colonisation (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1948), p. 7; also quoted in Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks, trans. by Charles Lam Markmann (New York: Grove Press, 1967), pp. 130-31.
46. Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks, p. 130.
47. Cedric Robinson, Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2000).
48. Arnold, Modernism and Négritude, p. 14, pp. 169-70; Susan Frutkin, Aimé Césaire: Black Between Worlds (Miami: Center for Advanced International Studies, 1973), pp. 26-27.
49. Arnold, Modernism and Négritude, p. 14, pp. 169-70; Susan Frutkin, Aimé Césaire: Black Between Worlds (Miami: Center for Advanced International Studies, 1973), pp. 26-27.
50. Aimé Césaire, Letter to Maurice Thorez (Paris: Présence Africaine, 1957), p. 6, p. 7, pp. 14-15.
51. Manthia Diawara, In Search of Africa (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998), pp. 6-7. Although the specific topic of Diawara's essay is Jean Paul Sartre's "Black Orpheus," he is speaking generally here about a whole body of literature that includes works by Césaire and Fanon.