Latitude and Longitude of the Past: Place; Negritude and French Caribbean Identity in Aimé Césaire‘s Poetry

Abstract

Césaire is one of the greatest French poets of the 20th century and his oeuvre has been studied by many scholars in its slightest recesses. In what way could a geographic analysis lead to a better understanding of Césaire‘s poetry and his process of identity-making? Actually; the geographic dimension of his writings has not really been analyzed; though it is one of the main backdrops of his poetry. Césaire invents his own geography of imagination as he claims it. What are the frames of his map of the word for personal use? Césaire‘s purpose is to find again his latitude and longitude lost in the wake of the slave ships. To exist; an uprooted person; as Césaire was; has to write a new relationship with the Earth according to the philosophy of geography developed by Eric Dardel. The author of this paper analyzes the influence of Césaire‘s poetry and his vision of the world in the process of identity-making. Césaire‘s poetry is first a personal revolt against colonial domination. But thanks to the strength of his writings; he overcame his inner wound to build a new Caribbean identity.