Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo
Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo | |
---|---|
Born | Joseph-Casimir Rabearivelo 4 March 1901 or 1903 Antananarivo (Ambatofotsy), Madagascar |
Died | 22 June 1937 (36 or 34) Antananarivo, Madagascar |
Occupation | Poet |
Literary movement | Romantic, post-symbolist, modernist, surrealist |
Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo (4 March 1901 or 1903 – 22 June 1937), born Joseph-Casimir Rabearivelo, was a
Rabearivelo's early period of modernist-inspired poetry showed skill and attracted critical attention, but adhered strictly to traditional genre conventions. The surrealist poetry he composed beginning in 1931 displayed greater originality, garnering him strong praise and acclaim. Despite increasing critical attention in international poetry reviews, Rabearivelo was never afforded access to the elite social circles of colonial Madagascar. He suffered a series of personal and professional disappointments, including the death of his daughter, the French authorities' decision to exclude him from the list of exhibitors at the Universal Exposition in Paris, and growing personal debt worsened by his opium addiction and philandering. Following Rabearivelo's suicide by cyanide poisoning in 1937, he became viewed as a colonial martyr.
The death of Rabearivelo occurred just prior to the emergence of the Négritude movement, by which time the poet had established an international reputation among literary figures such as Léopold Sédar Senghor as Africa's first modern poet. The Government of Madagascar named Rabearivelo the national poet upon the establishment of national independence in 1960. His works are a focus of ongoing academic study. Modern Malagasy poets and literary figures including Elie Rajaonarison have cited him as a major inspiration. A street and a high school in Antananarivo have been named after him, as has a dedicated room in the National Library of Madagascar.
Biography
Childhood
Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo, born Joseph-Casimir on 4 March 1901 or 1903 in
After leaving school, he worked a variety of low-skilled jobs, including as a lace designer,[1] an errand boy, and a secretary and interpreter to a district administrator.[3] During this period he developed a passion for French 19th and 20th century literature and refined his fluency in the French language; he also began teaching himself English, Spanish, and Hebrew.[1] He changed his name to Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo to have the same initials as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, while continuing to occasionally use pseudonyms, including "Amance Valmond" and "Jean Osmé".[2] He was particularly attracted to poets and writers who were outcasts in their own society, including Baudelaire and Rimbaud.[3]
Early period
In 1920, Rabearivelo was hired as an assistant librarian
He published his first collection of poems, La coupe de cendres ("The Cup of Ashes") in 1924; the same year he also translated twelve previously unpublished Malagasy language poems into French and published them in literary magazines, including 18° Latitude Sud in Antananarivo and La Vie in Paris.[1] This publication launched him into the intellectual and cultural circles of Antananarivo high society, where he established himself as Madagascar's leader not only in poetry and prose, but as an esteemed journalist, art critic, translator, and writer of essays and plays.[2]
In 1925 he published a
In 1926, Rabearivelo married Mary Razafitrimo, the daughter of a local photographer,[4] with whom he would have five children.[1]
Late period
In 1931, Rabearivelo's lover, the Malagasy writer Esther Razanadrasoa, died after taking abortive substances to terminate a pregnancy by the poet. After her death, Rabearivelo published an obituary telling of their close relationship, and dedicated three poems to her.[6][7] Throughout the 1930s, Rabearivelo joined with other Malagasy poets and writers in an emerging literary movement termed "Hitady ny Very" ("The Search for Lost Values"), which sought to promote the traditional literary and oral arts of Madagascar. Together with fellow artists Charles Rajoelisolo and Ny Avana Ramanantoanina, in August 1931 he founded a literary journal called Ny Fandrosoam-baovao ("New Progress") to promote Malagasy-language poetry.[2] He published two more anthologies of thirty poems each: Presque-Songes ("Dream Images") (1931) and Traduit de la nuit ("Translated from the Night") (1932). As an experiment, he wrote Malagasy and French versions of each poem in these two books; the French versions were published in 1934 and 1935 respectively. For the remainder of his life he focused primarily on the translation of hainteny (traditional Malagasy poetry) into French, work which was published posthumously.[1] He also wrote Madagascar's first and only opera, Imaitsoanala (1935), named for the legendary heroine mother of King Ralambo; it was set to music composed by Andrianary Ratianarivo and was performed by Ratianarivo's Troupe Jeanette at the Municipal Theater of Isotry in Antananarivo.[8]
In 1933, his three-year-old daughter Voahangy became ill and died.[9] Rabearivelo was deeply affected by this loss and was plunged into grief from which he never recovered. His last daughter, who was born in 1936, he named Velomboahangy ("Voahangy Alive"). The theme of death became prominent and recurrent in his works and journal.[2]
The colonial high society of Antananarivo showcased Rabearivelo's work as evidence of the success of the
Rabearivelo was deeply troubled by these disappointments and his worsening chronic financial troubles,[3] in addition to the continuing grief he felt for the death of his daughter.[2] On 19 June 1937, a French friend informed him that his ambition to hold a higher official role within the administrative authority could never materialize as he was largely self-educated and lacked the required diplomas. Having staked his future on a government career, Rabearivelo began to muse about his own death in his journal, writing "Perhaps one needs to die to be found sincere."[3]
Death
Rabearivelo committed suicide by cyanide poisoning on the afternoon of 22 June 1937.[1] He may have been seriously ill with tuberculosis at the time.[10] The morning of his suicide, Rabearivelo completed several unfinished works; he then took fourteen 250-milligram quinine capsules with water at 1:53 pm, followed at 2:37 pm by ten grams of potassium cyanide.[3] Before dying he wrote a final poem and burned the first five volumes of his personal journal,[2] the Calepins Bleus ("Blue Notebooks", 1924–1937), leaving four volumes of approximately 1,800 pages that document his life after 4 January 1933.[1] In his final journal entries he recorded the detailed experience of his suicide, concluding with his final entry at 3:02 pm.[3] At the time of his death, only half of his twenty literary works had been published; the remainder were printed posthumously.[4] His tomb is found in Fieferana.[11]
Style and influences
With remarkable originality, [Rabearivelo] synthesized Europe's prevailing urban surrealism with his own comparatively bucolic surroundings. In Rabearivelo we are offered ... the wildly innovative imagery of modern realism, permeated with the essence of traditional oral poetry. When reading Rabearivelo, unlike many other Surrealist-influenced modern poets, we never feel that we've been given a superfluous display of linguistic dexterity devoid of meaning ... Here, we know, there is something of relevance being poetically manifested by a man isolated on an island, who wishes to communicate his thoughts to the rest of the world. His poems are often deceptively simple, uniquely surreal yet logical, both sensual and abstract — yet they always bear the distinction of being infused with undeniable sincerity.
— Robert Ziller, Translated from the Night[10]
Rabearivelo's first poetic work, La coupe de cendres (1924), demonstrates the evident mastery of
In the romantic period, typified by Sylves (1927) and Volumes (1928), Rabearivelo's poems are shorter and reflect a purer form of traditional models. He identified himself and his work as post-symbolist in the early part of his artistic career. Regarding Rabearivelo's works from this period, editor Jacques Rabemananjara acknowledged the poet's evident talent but critiqued his over-adherence to form and poetic conventions at the expense of innovation and genuine self-expression.[1]
Beginning in 1931, his works begin to change in tone[1] and show the influences of surrealism[2] and modernism.[1] His poems become more daring, free, and complex,[2] while also reflecting greater doubt.[1] According to academic Arnaud Sabatier, this change reflects "the rediscovery and embrace of the sound and images of traditional Malagasy poetry, from which he had previously distanced himself or which he had subjected to the colonial language and culture."[2] These later works are described by academic Claire Riffard as "his strangest, evoking rural and commonplace images alongside unexpected dreamlike visions, superimposing the new and the forgotten ..." His break from convention in this period offered greater freedom to reconcile his conflicted identity, such as through his bilingual creations, Presque-Songes (1931) and Traduit de la nuit (1932).[1]
Legacy
Rabearivelo has long been considered the first modern poet of Africa.[10] Academic Arnaud Sabatier identifies him as "one of the most important writers of the twentieth century".[2] He has also been described by Radio France Internationale journalist Tirthankar Chanda as "the founder of the African francophonie" and "the enfant terrible of French literature".[5] Rabearivelo is the most internationally famous and influential Malagasy literary figure.[5][12] Jeune Afrique described him as "Madagascar's greatest poet",[3] a sentiment echoed by Léopold Sédar Senghor, first president of Senegal and founder of the Négritude movement, who called him the "prince of the Malagasy poets".[2] He was described by academic Claire Riffard as "one of the principal founders of contemporary Malagasy literature",[1] and following national independence in 1960, the government of Madagascar affirmed his cultural contributions by promoting him as the island's national writer.[12]
Rabearivelo struggled throughout his life to
The Lycée Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo was inaugurated in central Antananarivo on 21 December 1946 in honor of the poet.[14] A room has been dedicated to the poet in the National Library of Madagascar, located in the capital city.[15]
He was included in the seminal volume of poetry of the Négritude movement, Léopold Senghor's Anthologie de la nouvelle poesie negre et malgache ("Anthology of New Black and Malagasy Poetry"),[16] published in 1948.[17] He has inspired many Malagasy writers and poets after him, including Elie Rajaonarison, an exemplar of the new wave of Malagasy poetry.[18]
The Francophone University Agency and Madagascar's National Center for Scientific Research collaborated to publish the entirety of Rabearivelo's works in three volumes. The first volume, comprising his journal and some of his correspondence with key figures in literary and colonial circles, was printed in October 2010. The second volume, a compilation of all his previously published works, was released in July 2012. The remaining 1,000 pages of materials produced by Rabearivelo have been published in digital format.[5] The first complete English translation of his masterpiece Translated from the Night was published by Lascaux Editions in 2007.[19]
Works
Complete anthologies:
- Oeuvres complètes, tome I. Le diariste (Les Calepins bleus), l'épistolier, le moraliste. Edited by Serge Meitinger, Liliane Ramarosoa and Claire Riffard. Paris: Éditions du CNRS, 2010.
- Oeuvres complètes, tome II. Le poète, le narrateur, le dramaturge, le critique, le passeur de langues, l'historien. Edited by Serge Meitinger, Liliane Ramarosoa, Laurence Ink and Claire Riffard. Paris: Éditions du CNRS, 2012.
Poetry:
- La Coupe de cendres. Antananarivo: G. Pitot de la Beaujardière, 1924.
- Sylves. Antananarivo: Imprimerie de l'Imerina, 1927.
- Volumes. Antananarivo: Imprimerie de l'Imerina, 1928.
- Presque-songes. Antananarivo: Imprimerie de l'Imerina, 1934.
- Traduit de la nuit. Tunis: Éditions de Mirage, 1935; Paris: Éditions Orphée La Différence, 1991; Paris: Éditions Sépia / Tananarive: Tsipika, 2007.
- Chants pour Abéone. Antananarivo: Éditions Henri Vidalie, 1936.
- Lova. Antananarivo: Imprimerie Volamahitsy, 1957.
- Des Stances oubliées. Antananarivo: Imprimerie Liva, 1959.
- Poèmes (Presque-songes, Traduit de la nuit). Antananarivo: Imprimerie officielle, 1960.
- Amboara poezia sy tononkalo malagasy. Antananarivo: Éditions Madagasikara, 1965.
- Vieilles chansons des pays d'Imerina. Antananarivo: Éditions Madprint, 1967.
- Poèmes (Presque-songes, Traduit de la nuit, Chants pour Abéone). Paris: Hatier, 1990.
Theatrical plays:
- Imaitsoanala, fille d'oiseau: cantate. Antananarivo: Imprimerie officielle, 1935.
- Aux portes de la ville. Antananarivo: Imprimerie officielle, 1936.
- Imaitsoanala, zana-borona. Antananarivo: Imprimerie nationale, 1988.
- Eo ambavahadim-boahitra. Antananarivo: Imprimerie nationale, 1988.
- Resy hatrany. Antananarivo: Imprimerie nationale, 1988.
Prose:
- L'Interférence, suivi de Un conte de la nuit. Paris: Hatier, 1988.
- Irène Ralimà sy Lala roa. Antananarivo: Imprimerie nationale, 1988.
- L'Aube rouge. Paris: Bouquins, 1998.
Miscellaneous:
- Enfants d'Orphée. Mauritius: The General Printing, 1931.
- Ephémérides de Madagascar. Edited by M. Eugene Jaeglé. Antananarivo: 1934.
- Tananarive, ses quartiers et ses rues. Edited by E. Baudin. Antananarivo: Imprimerie de l'Imerina, 1936.
Audio recordings:
- "Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo". Audio archives of African and Indian Ocean literature. Radio France Internationale, in cooperation with Radio Télévision Malagasy. December 1990.
See also
- Esther Razanadrasoa
- Ny Avana Ramanantoanina
- Jacques Rabemananjara
- Dox Razakandrainy
- Elie Rajaonarison
- Aimé Césaire
- Léon Damas
- Harlem Renaissance
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Riffard, Claire (2012). "Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo" (in French). City University of New York. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Sabatier, Arnaud; Boissière, Patrick (2011). "Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo, (1903–1937), poète malgache" (in French). Les Rencontres de Bellepierre. Archived from the original on 13 October 2007. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lubabu, Tshitenge (29 June 2012). "Madagascar: 22 juin 1937, le poète Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo décrit son suicide" (in French). Jeune Afrique. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
- ^ a b c Rabearivelo 2007, p. ix.
- ^ a b c d Chanda, Tirthankar (17 July 2012). "Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo : Les Œuvres complètes du fondateur de la francophonie africaine" (in French). Radio France Internationale. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
- ^ Rabearivelo, Jean-Joseph (12 March 1932). "Destin romantique dans la mer des Indes: Sur Esther Razanadrasoa [Un]". NUM ETU REV JP32 Destin romantique. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
- ISSN 2275-1742.
- ^ Ranaivoson 2004, p. 67.
- ^ Fox 1990, p. 71.
- ^ a b c d e Rabearivelo 2007, p. x.
- ^ J.-J. Rabearivelo
- ^ a b Chanda, Tirthankar (11 July 2012). "Jean Joseph Rabearivelo: L'œuvre fondatrice de la modernité francophone". Madagascar Tribune (in French). Retrieved 22 September 2013.
- ^ a b Serrano 2006, pp. 41–44.
- ^ "Le Lycée RABEARIVELO fête ses 75 ans" (in French). Ministère de l'éducation nationale. 2011. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
- ^ "Littérature: Des Œuvres complètes et une salle pour Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo". La Gazette de la Grande Ile (in French). 1 September 2012. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
- ^ Parekh & Jagne 1998, p. 405.
- ^ Senghor 1948.
- ^ Auzias & Labourdette 2007, p. 142.
- ^ Rabearivelo 2007, p. i.
References
- Auzias, Dominique; Labourdette, Jean-Paul (2007). Petit Futé 2008–2009: Madagascar (in French). Paris: Petit Futé. ISBN 978-2-7469-1982-2.
- Fox, Leonard (1990). Hainteny: the traditional poetry of Madagascar. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8387-5175-6.
- Parekh, Pushpah; Jagne, Siga (1998). Postcolonial African Writers: A Bio-bibliographical Critical Sourcebook. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-29056-5.
- Rabearivelo, Jean-Joseph (2007) [1936 (translation by Robert Ziller)]. Translated from the Night. Pittsburgh, PA: Lascaux Editions. ISBN 978-1-60461-552-4.
- Ranaivoson, Dominique (2004). Iza moa?: bref dictionnaire historique de Madagascar (in French). Antananarivo: Tsipika. ISBN 978-1-60461-552-4.
- Senghor, Léopold Sédar (1948). Anthologie de la nouvelle poésie nègre et malgache de langue française: Précédée de Orphée noir (in French). Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
- Serrano, Richard (2006). Against the Postcolonial: 'Francophone' Writers at the Ends of the French Empire. New York: Lexington Books. ISBN 978-0-7391-2029-3.