A Tempest - Softcover

Aime Cesaire

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0913745154 ISBN 13: 9780913745151

Publisher: G. Borchardt, 1986

Synopsis

Césaire’s Tempest, in translation by Richard Miller, is a sprightly and song-filled enchantment. The luminous intelligence of Mr. Césaire’s meditation on the absurdities of colonialism shines through the antics of the bewildered characters.” New York Times

The weapon of poetry may be Césaire’s greatest gift to a modern world still searching for freedom. As one of the last truly great universalists’ of the twentieth century, he has had a hand in shaping or critiquing many of the major ideologies and movements of the modern world. In his own words: Poetic knowledge is born in the great silence of scientific knowledge.’” from the Introduction

Césaire’s rich and insightful adaptation of The Tempest draws on contemporary Caribbean society, the African-American experience and African mythology to raise questions about colonialism, racism and their lasting effects.
AIMÉ CÉSAIRE was a world-renowned poet, essayist and dramatist, whose best known works include Notebook of a Return to My Native Land, The Tragedy of King Christophe and A Season in the Congo. He was the founding editor of Tropiques, which was instrumental in establishing the use of surrealism as a political weapon. He co-formulated the concept of negritude,” which urges black Africans to reject assimilation and cultivate consciousness of their racial qualities and heritage. Césaire held a number of government positions in his native Martinique, including that of mayor of Fort-de-France. Césaire died in 2008.

RICHARD MILLER has translated many books, both nonfiction and fiction, including works by Roland Barthes, Brassa? and Albert Camus, as well as poetry, many articles and a number of plays. Among his more recent translations are Scent by Annick Le Guérer and Beethoven’s Ninth by Esteban Buch, which was published in 2002. He lives in Paris.

About this title

Review

One of Shakespeare's most famous but also enigmatic plays, for many years the story of Prospero's exile from his native Milan, and life with his daughter Miranda on an unnamed island in the Mediterranean, was seen as an autobiographical dramatisation of Shakespeare's departure from the London stage. The Epilogue, spoken by Prospero, claims that "now my charms are all o'erthrown", appeared to reflect Shakespeare's own renunciation of his magical dramatic powers as he retired to Stratford. But The Tempest is far more than this, as recent commentators have pointed out. The dramatic action observes the classical unities of time, place and action, as Prospero uses his "rough magic" to lure his wicked usurping brother, Antonio, and King Alonso of Naples to his island retreat to torment them before engineering his return to Milan.

However, the play is full of extraordinary anomalies and fantastic interludes, including Gonzalo's fantasy of a utopian commonwealth, Prospero's magical servant Ariel, and the "poisonous slave" Caliban. The creation of Caliban has particularly fascinated critics, who have noticed in his creation a colonial dimension to the play. In this respect Caliban can be seen as an American Indian or African slave, who articulates a particularly powerful strain of anti-colonial sentiment, telling Prospero that "this island's mine, by Sycorax my mother,/ Which thou tak'st from me". This has led to an intense reassessment of the play from a post-colonial perspective, as critics and historians have debated the extent to which the play endorses or criticises early English colonial expansion. --Jerry Brotton

Review

Césaire’s Tempest, in translation by Richard Miller, is a sprightly and song-filled enchantment. The luminous intelligence of Mr. Césaire’s meditation on the absurdities of colonialism shines through the antics of the bewildered characters.” New York Times


“Césaire’s Tempest, in translation by Richard Miller, is a sprightly and song-filled enchantment. The luminous intelligence of Mr. Césaire’s meditation on the absurdities of colonialism shines through the antics of the bewildered characters.” – New York Times

About this edition

• Publisher: G. Borchardt
• Publication date: 1986
• ISBN 10: 0913745154
• ISBN 13: 9780913745151
• Binding: Paperback