The Yale Anthology of Twentieth-Century French Poetry

ÉDOUARD GLISSANT

Late Minoan I
(Ewers of Hagia Triada)

Dolphins, octopi, fish
cool of linen, of reeds, of olive trees
trembling of the day in a color
joy of a line that still moves
and I dream of this hand among billions
of hands, astonished, happy—
and I don’t know what, a pigment
that causes the soul to breathe,
that life sees, these things that
come to my fingers
and will die one more time—
—ronnie scharfman

Édouard Glissant 1928–

morne-bezaudin, martinique

G

lissant is perhaps best known for his theoretical work Caribbean Dis-

course (1981), in which he postulates a new Caribbean identity based

on neither negritude nor Western culture, both of which he rejects.

His formulation of ethnicity serves as a basis for his poetry and occasionally he

writes in Creole. In 1945 Glissant relocated to France to study philosophy and

ethics at the Sorbonne. He aided Aimé Césaire in his election campaign and was

prohibited from leaving France because of his e√orts on behalf of Antillean

independence. In 1965 he finally returned to his native Martinique to teach

philosophy. There, in 1974, he began the Institut martiniquais d’études, a private

school teaching Martiniquan culture and history. He has taught at Louisiana

State University and at the Graduate School of the City University of New York,

as a distinguished professor. In 1980 he took a position with UNESCO. Principal