Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo

Childhood Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo, born Joseph-Casimir on 4 March 1901 or 1903 in Ambatofotsy (north of Antananarivo), Madagascar, was the only child of an unwed mother descended from the Zanadralambo ("sons of Ralambo") caste of the Merina andriana (nobles). 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. ==Style and influences==

Rabearivelo's first poetic work, La coupe de cendres (1924), demonstrates the evident mastery of meter and rhythm in his earliest works, despite an absence of innovation on the classic models of poetry he uses. The works that follow this initial effort can be broadly clustered into two phases, the first being highly influenced by the symbolist and romantic schools of poetry, and the second reflecting greater creativity and individuality in personal expression, and with a recurrent interest in reconciling a mental image of a "mythic past" with an "alienating modernity". 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. Beginning in 1931, his works begin to change in tone and show the influences of surrealism and modernism. His poems become more daring, free, and complex, while also reflecting greater doubt. 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". 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). ==Legacy==

Rabearivelo has long been considered the first modern poet of Africa. Academic Arnaud Sabatier identifies him as "one of the most important writers of the twentieth century". 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". Rabearivelo is the most internationally famous and influential Malagasy literary figure. and following national independence in 1960, the government of Madagascar affirmed his cultural contributions by promoting him as the island's national writer. Rabearivelo struggled throughout his life to reconcile his identity as Malagasy with his aspiration toward French assimilation and connection with the greater universal human experience. He has been depicted as a martyr figure as a result of his suicide following the refusal of French authorities to grant him permission to go to France. He has been the subject of a significant number of books and conferences; on the fiftieth anniversary of his death, his work was commemorated at events organized in North America, Europe and Africa, including a week-long conference at the University of Antananarivo. Recent scholarship has questioned Rabearivelo's elevation as a colonial martyr, arguing that the poet was by and large an assimilationist who did not view himself as African. The Lycée Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo was inaugurated in central Antananarivo on 21 December 1946 in honor of the poet. A room has been dedicated to the poet in the National Library of Madagascar, located in the capital city. 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"), published in 1948. He has inspired many Malagasy writers and poets after him, including Elie Rajaonarison, an exemplar of the new wave of Malagasy poetry. 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. The first complete English translation of his masterpiece Translated from the Night was published by Lascaux Editions in 2007. ==Works==

Complete anthologies: • ''Œuvres 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. • ''Œuvres 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==