{"id":593,"date":"2010-05-12T05:48:52","date_gmt":"2010-05-12T05:48:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=593"},"modified":"2017-10-19T10:39:22","modified_gmt":"2017-10-19T08:39:22","slug":"revue-litteraire-no-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/revue-litteraire-no-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Revue litt\u00e9raire no. 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the fun of\u00a0Balzac\u2019s Sarrasine<\/a> , it\u2019s time for our deuxi\u00e8me revue litt\u00e9raire! <\/em>Aim\u00e9 C\u00e9saire was un po\u00e8te, un \u00e9crivain et un homme politique Martiniquais<\/em>: a Martinican poet, writer and politician. N\u00e9 en <\/em>(born in) Martinique en<\/em> 1913, C\u00e9saire a d\u00e9menag\u00e9 <\/em>(moved) to Paris for high school.<\/p>\n

There, he began an academic career that included the founding of a movement acknowledging the artistic and cultural contributions of blacks, la n\u00e9gritude<\/em>. His 1950 speech \u201cDiscours sur le colonialisme\u201d <\/em>is a landmark in the study of colonialism.<\/p>\n

Discours sur le colonialisme <\/em>is spectacularly well-written; an important document in intellectual history; and, \u00e0 mon avis, un chef-d\u2019oeuvre de l\u2019\u00e9criture fran\u00e7aise<\/em>. \u00a0Because its history and its writing are both so rich, and I feel so strongly about the book, on va prendre quelques posts pour le traiter<\/em>: we are going to take a few posts to process it.<\/p>\n

I bought my copy of Aim\u00e9 C\u00e9saire\u2019s pamphlet-sized bouquin<\/em> (book) at Pr\u00e9sence Africaine<\/a>, une librairie c\u00e9l\u00e8bre <\/em>(a famous bookstore) in the 5th<\/sup> arrondissement <\/em>of Paris. Discours sur le colonialisme<\/em> is reportedly one of their top sellers, and certainly the only reason I learned about and visited la librairie<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Pr\u00e9sence Africaine a \u00e9t\u00e9 fond\u00e9e par <\/em>(was founded by) un intellectuel s\u00e9n\u00e9galais<\/em>, Alioune Diop, en 1947. <\/em>Diop declared dans le premier num\u00e9ro <\/em>(in the first edition) que \u00ab\u00a0la revue ne se place sous l’ob\u00e9dience d’aucune id\u00e9ologie ou politique. Elle veut s’ouvrir \u00e0 la collaboration de tous les hommes de bonne volont\u00e9 (Blancs, Jaunes ou Noirs), susceptibles de nous aider \u00e0 d\u00e9finir l’originalit\u00e9 africaine et de h\u00e2ter son insertion dans le monde moderne\u00a0\u00bb<\/em>. This openness to \u201ctous les hommes de bonne volont\u00e9,\u201d<\/em> all men of goodwill, se sent toujours chez Pr\u00e9sence Africaine<\/em>: is still felt at Pr\u00e9sence Africaine<\/em>. Like decades of students before me, I felt at home there.<\/p>\n

At a time when I was searching for something authentic and real in Paris, Pr\u00e9sence Africaine <\/em>proved that what I was looking for existed in la francophonie<\/em> (the French-speaking world). After living there for several weeks, Paris hadn\u2019t hooked me: it was too beautiful, too self-satisfied, too expensive. \u00a0For me, Paris is like a beautiful woman you try to seduce: yes, she\u2019s lovely to be with and that makes you feel good, but she really doesn\u2019t care about you because she has so many other, probably better options. Paris is not looking to settle down, and she definitely won\u2019t hold hands.<\/p>\n

Pr\u00e9sence Africaine <\/em>is as much about welcoming outsiders as anything else, and in that alone it is unique and special. I spent an hour in this small bookstore, listening to people talk, looking at books I could possibly, someday, maybe begin to read. I left with Discours sur le colonialisme<\/em>, Aim\u00e9 C\u00e9saire\u2019s condemnation of European colonization.<\/p>\n

Chez moi <\/em>(at home), I pored over Discours sur le colonialisme<\/em>, fascin\u00e9e par<\/em> the challenge of its language and the importance of its subject. I handed in my paper on it many days late, more determined to do justice to the book than to be punctual. Its language and intellectual firepower still thrill me, et je veux que vous le connaissiez aussi\u2014<\/em>and I want you to be introduced to it too. We\u2019ll spend another post l\u00e0-dessus<\/em> on Thursday, exploring Discours <\/em>and its place in the intellectual and political history of Europe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

After the fun of\u00a0Balzac\u2019s Sarrasine , it\u2019s time for our deuxi\u00e8me revue litt\u00e9raire! Aim\u00e9 C\u00e9saire was un po\u00e8te, un \u00e9crivain et un homme politique Martiniquais: a Martinican poet, writer and politician. N\u00e9 en (born in) Martinique en 1913, C\u00e9saire a d\u00e9menag\u00e9 (moved) to Paris for high school. There, he began an academic career that included…<\/p>\n

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