The Concept of Negritude in the Poetry of Leopold Sedar Senghor

ISBN: 9780691618937 出版年：2015 页码：316 Ba, Sylvia Washington Princeton University Press

Negritude has been defined by leopold sedar senghor as "the sum of the cultural values of the black world as they are expressed in the life, the institutions, and the works of black men." sylvia washington ba analyzes senghor's poetry to show how the concept of negritude infuses it at every level. A biographical sketch describes his childhood in senegal, his distinguished academic career in france, and his election as president of senegal. Themes of alienation and exile pervade senghor's poetry, but it was by the opposition of his sensitivity and values to those of europe that he was able to formulate his credo. Its key theme, and the supreme value of black african civilization, is the concept of life forces, which are not attributes or accidents of being, but the very essence of being. Life is an essentially dynamic mode of being for the black african, and it has been senghor's achievement to communicate african intensity and vitality through his use of the nuances, subtleties, and sonorities of the french language.