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Negritude
and
Leon-Gontran
Damas
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Born March 28, 1912
in Cayenne, FrenchGuiana
from a comfortablemiddle-class mulattofamily
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He met Aime Cesaire and eo!old "edar"en#hor
$hile studyin# in %aris&
'n 19() they founded the *ournal+tudiant oir
or .he Blac/ "tudent&
't e0!lored American-deried ideas of a
e#ro renaissance&
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%i#ments, his rst
collection of!oems, $as!ublished in 19(3&
4't is an attac/, acry of !ain, anan#uishedinentory of the
!ersonal loss ofAfrica, of Blac/identity, ofdiscomfort andreolt at the
.hrou#h his !oetry,
6amas refused the4blac/5 title #ien bythe French andclaimed his o$n
identity7 #re&
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My friends Ive waltzed
waltzed
more than any
of my ancestors
the Gauls
to such a point my bloodstill beats
to the Viennese
Sleepless Night
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My friends Ive waltzed
waltzed my childhood through
wandering on
some blue Danube
white Danubered Danube
green Danube
pin Danubered green pin or blue
whichever
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My friends Ive waltzed
Madly
!altzed
to such a point that often
I thought I had an arm around the waist
of "ncle Gobineau
or of #ousin $itleror of that good %ryan that gums his years
on some par bench
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uit Blanche as a !hrasemeans 4"lee!less i#ht5
But it literally means 4hitei#ht5
.he $alt: is a uro!ean dancethat $ould hae been tau#ht to
6amas from a ery early a#e&
't symboli:es the !rocess ofcultural assimilation that manycolonials $ent throu h&
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Sleepless Night
4my ancestors /the Gauls5 is an ironicstatement&
African children in theFrench colonies are nottau#ht of their o$nherita#e&
'nstead they are tau#hturo!ean history andculture&
My friends Ive waltzed
waltzed
more than any
of my ancestors
the Gauls
to such a point my blood
still beats
to the Viennese
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My friends Ive waltzed
waltzed my childhood through
wandering on
some blue Danubewhite Danube
red Danube
green Danube
pin Danube
red green pin or bluewhichever
4Blue 6anube5 refers tothe famous $alt:com!osed by ;ohann"trauss ''
blue
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My friends Ive waltzed
Madly
!altzed
to such a point that oftenI thought I had an arm around the waist
of "ncle Gobineau
or of #ousin $itler
or of that good %ryan that gums his yearson some par bench
Arthur de Gobineau $rote 4An ssayon the 'ne>uality of the Human ?aces5and deelo!ed the theory of the4Aryan master race&5
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'n a blunt, dry, iid style,unashamedly !lain lan#ua#e, staccatorhythms and acridly $itty !uns,6amas+ short !oems lay bare their his
often iolent re*ection of $hiteuro!ean 4ci-i-li-:a-tion&5
46amas is e#ro and insistson his e#ro-ness and on hiscondition as a e#ro&5
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