SOURCE: Wolitz, Seth L. “The Hero of Negritude in the Theater of Aimé Césaire.” Kentucky Romance Quarterly 16, no. 3 (1969): 195-208.

In the following essay, Wolitz explains the vision of Negritude as expressed by Césaire in his drama and poetry.

          “J'ai marché devant tous, triste et seul dans ma gloire.” 

—Alfred de Vigny

The poet-President Léopold Senghor has written many theoretic tracts on Negritude,¹ but Aimé Césaire, poet, playwright, Mayor of Fort-de-France, has expounded, for the most part, his vision of Negritude in verse and drama.

… ma Négritude n'est ni une tour ni une cathédrale 

elle plonge dans la chair rouge du sol elle plonge dans la chair ardente du ciel … 

(Cahier, p. 71)²

Césaire, like Lorca, began with poetry and turned to theater later in his career. The stage offered a larger audience and a more dynamic expression.

Art, for Césaire, provided...