Aimé Césaire, the collected poetry

Césaire, Aimé, Eshleman, Clayton (introduction, notes) & Annette Smith (introduction, notes). Aimé Césaire, the collected poetry, Berkeley : University of California Press, 1983.

Césaire was born in abject poverty on the French Caribbean island of Martinique. His work mostly centres around colonialism (particularly French), relating to colonial authorities mission to suppress the cultures of native civilisations, and African diaspora, which “refers to black people who now live in exile far from Africa as a result of the slave trade that transported their ancestors into slavery in the New World” (Campion, Edmund's Aimé Césaire). Césaire also endeavoured to describe “the experience of what it meant to be a black person in literary works that would appeal to readers of all races.” (Campion, Edmund's Aimé Césaire). These are works which are both intellectual and emotive, which provide an extensive frame of historical detail, densely written with beautifully flowing tone describing the horrific nature of colonialism.