Diego Galvan Cesaire

Diego Galvan

Since the focus of my independent research has been the connection between modernism, modernismo, and the Harlem Renaissance with special interest in poetry, I thought that I could consider this aspect of Cesaire’s “Notebook of a Return to the Native Land”. The challenge of this entire discussion lies within the discussion’s inherent general objective. By expanding or redefining the literary concepts mentioned above it sometimes becomes difficult to determine if any of these ideas are related and, secondly, to determine if any given text can be associated with the concepts. Nevertheless, I’d like to mention the structure of the poem because I believe that this is perhaps most indicative of the reason for its inclusive in this class. The poem’s long and free verse (and often times “prosaic”) structure remind me of something that T.S. Eliot would write, a protagonist of modernism. Furthermore, the connection to modernismo may be more evident in the incompatibility of the surrealism of the poem (as implied by the introductory essay) and Realism at the turn of the 20^th century. Lastly, I restrain from making a connection of this text to the Harlem Renaissance or other texts discussed this semester simply on the basis of Afro-American or Afro-Caribbean heritage because this can potentially oversimplify or undermine the culture as a whole. We mentioned in class that it would be unreasonable to consider the Harlem Renaissance as a strange outburst of creative energy or pride. Instead, we can consider that literature (much like jazz) gave a new voice to people. I would rather consider the Avant-garde as an attempt to express the recurring theme, but not necessarily new.