Suzanne Césaire

Suzanne Césaire (; ; née Roussi; 11 August 1915 – 16 May 1966) was a French writer, teacher, scholar, anti-colonial and feminist activist, and Surrealist. She co-founded the Martinique cultural journal Tropiques, of which she was also an editor, along with her husband, Aimé Césaire, and René Ménil, both of whom were notable French poets from Martinique. She died in 1966 at the age of 50 from brain cancer.

Early life Césaire (née Roussi) was born in Poterie des Trois-Ilets on 11 August 1915 to Flore Roussi (née William), a school teacher, and Benoït Roussi, a sugar factory worker.

She began her education at her local primary school in Rivière-Salée in Martinique (which still had the status of a French colonial territory at that time), before attending a girls' boarding-school in the capital, Fort-de-France. Having completed her secondary education, she went to study literature in Toulouse and then in Paris at the prestigious École normale supérieure from 1936-1938.

University and marriage to Aimé Césaire In 1933, Suzanne Roussi traveled to Toulouse for her first year of preparatory school and in 1934, she moved to Paris to continue her studies. There, she met Léopold Sédar Senghor, who introduced her to Aimé Césaire in 1936. On July 10, 1937, Suzanne and Aimé Césaire married at the town hall of the 14th arrondissement in Paris. During their studies, the Césaires were both part of the editorial team of the militant journal L'Étudiant noir. In her essay "1943: Surrealism and Us", she called for a Martinican surrealism:

"Our surrealism will then deliver it the bread of its depths. Finally, those sordid contemporary antinomies of black/white, European/African, civilised/savage will be transcended. The magical power of the mahoulis will be recovered, drawn forth from living sources. Colonial stupidity will be purified in the blue welding flame. Our value as metal, our cutting edge of steel, our amazing communions will be recovered." This encounter with André Breton opened the way for her development of Afro-Surrealism.

Her writing is often overshadowed by that of her husband, who is better known. However, in addition to her important literary essays, her role as editor of Tropiques can be regarded as an equally significant (if often overlooked) contribution to Caribbean literature. Tropiques was the most influential francophone Caribbean journal of its time and is widely acknowledged for the foundational role it played in the development of Martiniquan literature. She managed the journal's relations with the censor—a particularly difficult role given the oppositional stance of Tropiques towards the war-time Vichy government—as well as taking responsibility for the printing.

Tropiques published its last issue in September 1945, at the end of World War Two. With the closing of the journal, Suzanne Césaire stopped writing. The reasons for this are unknown. However, journalist Natalie Levisalles suggests that Suzanne Césaire would have perhaps made different choices if she had not had the responsibilities of mothering six children, teaching, and being the wife of an important politician and poet, Aimé Césaire.

Recent scholar Joseph-Gabriel argues that Césaire contributed an influential foundation for subsequent Caribbean anti-imperialist literature and political activity. Although Césaire published relatively few essays, her continued influence can be traced via personal letters and also remembrances from Haitian students. In letters to Gauclére, Césaire described her role in Haiti as an emissary who provided teacher training, wrote literary analysis, and edited dissertations for the purpose of supporting Aime's teaching. Haitian student activists Gérald Bloncourt and Michael Löwy recalled Breton's public speaking on surrealism as helpful in inciting the overthrow of undemocratic Haitian President Lescot. Suzanne Cesaire's work celebrated the multiethnic and multicultural influences that formed the Caribbean cultural identity of her era. Though highly criticized for appropriating black stereotypes, she used them in her writing in order to provoke both the colonizer and colonized to reexamine their perceptions of race. She wrote "The most troubling reality is our own. We shall act. This land, our land, can only be what we want it to be".

Works Essays published in Tropiques "Leo Frobenius et le problème des civilisations" (April 1941) "Alain et l'esthétique" (July 1941) "André Breton, poète" (October 1941) "Misère d'une poésie" (January 1942) "Malaise d'une civilization" (April 1942) "1943: Le surréalisme et nous" (October 1943) "Le Grand camouflage" (1945)

Books Suzanne Césaire, This book is a collection her seven literary essays. Suzanne Césaire, A translation of her seven literary essays.

English translations "The Malaise of a Civilization" and "The Great Camouflage" in " Surrealism and Us" and "The Domain of the Marvelous" (extract from the essay «Alain et l'esthétique») in "The Domain of the Marvelous" (extract from the essay «Alain et l'esthétique») in "André Breton, Poet", Guy Ducornet and Franklin Rosemont, translators; "Discontent of a Civilization", Penelope Rosemont, translator; "1943: Surrealism and Us" and "The Domain of the Marvelous" (extract from the essay "Alain et l'esthétique"), Erin Gibson, translator; in "Leo Frobenius and the Problem of Civilizations", "A Civilization's Discontent", "1943 : Surrealism and Us" and "The Great Camouflage", Krzysztof Fijalkowski and Michael Richardson, translators; in