The writings of Leon Damas and their connection with the negritude movement in literature
| dc.contributor.author | Hodge, Merle | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-07-04T15:47:53Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-07-04T15:47:53Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 1967 | |
| dc.description.abstract | The Negritude movement is a literary, cultural and socio – political manifestation which took place among intellectuals of the black French colonies in the first half of the twentieth century. It involved a reaction against the French policy of cultural assimilation, and the assertion of the validity of African cultures, as well as the defence of the dignity of African peoples. The word 'negritude' is used variously to denote the Negritude movement , the community of experience of black people with relation to the white world, and the more abstract idea (and subject to discussion) of there being a body of immanent characteristics common to all Negro - African peoples and their various cultures . Some theorizers of Negritude put f or ward the highly doubtful assertion that this ' negritude ' or supposed specificity of the African is discernible in his literary sty e even when he is writing in European languages. One of the lea ding poets of the Negritude movement is Leon- G. Damas, born in French Guyana in 1912. Among the Caribbean writers the theme of, race includes the subject of slavery, and the idealization of Africa, their ancestral country. The tone of Damas ' work is bitter revolt against the white world f or the crimes perpetrated against this race, with strong note of protest against the cultural assimilation of the black man. The theme of race does not occupy all of Damas ' poetry: his 'work contains a body of more personal poetry, mainly love- poems . | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/2139/57475 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | University of London | |
| dc.title | The writings of Leon Damas and their connection with the negritude movement in literature | |
| dc.type | Thesis |