Aimé Césaire
Aimé Césaire | |
|---|---|
Césaire in 2003 | |
| Born | Aimé Fernand David Césaire 26 June 1913 |
| Died | 17 April 2008 (aged 94) Fort-de-France, Martinique, France |
| Education | École Normale Supérieure |
| Occupation(s) | Poet, author and politician |
| Known for | Négritude movement |
| Notable work | Cahier d'un retour au pays natal (1939) |
| Political party | Martinican Progressive Party |
| Spouse | |
Aimé Fernand David Césaire (/seɪˈzɛər/; French: [ɛme fɛʁnɑ̃ david sezɛʁ]; 26 June 1913 – 17 April 2008) was a French poet, author, and politician from Martinique. He was "one of the founders of the Négritude movement in Francophone literature" and coined the word négritude in French. He founded the Parti progressiste martiniquais in 1958, and served in the French National Assembly from 1945 to 1993 and as President of the Regional Council of Martinique from 1983 to 1988. He was also the Mayor of Fort-de-France for 56 years, from 1945–2001.
His works include the book-length poem Cahier d'un retour au pays natal (1939), Une Tempête, a response to William Shakespeare's play The Tempest, and Discours sur le colonialisme (Discourse on Colonialism), an essay describing the strife between the colonizers and the colonized. Césaire's works have been translated into many languages.