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Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm

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Jenny Kaplan and this is Womanica.

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Historically, women have been told to make themselves

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smaller, to diminish themselves. Some

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have used that idea to their advantage, disappearing

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into new identities. For

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others, a disappearance was the end to their

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stories, but the beginning of a new chapter of

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their legacies. This

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month, we're telling the stories of these women. We're

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talking about disappearing acts. Today

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we're talking about a woman who toes the line between

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the disappeared and the forgotten. A

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woman who allegedly wrote her whole

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life, and yet little of her intellectual

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contributions around Caribbean literature remained

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today. Did she choose to disappear

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or was she erased? Today

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we're focusing on Suzanne Rusie

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Cesaire, whether she likes

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it or not. Suzanne

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Russi was born in nineteen fifteen in

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Martinique. It's a small Caribbean

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island smothered in a dense jungle with

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a prominent volcano on its north shore.

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Martinique was colonized by the French in sixteen

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thirty five. The Martinique Suzanne

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was raised in was still heavily influenced by

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Eurocentric ideals, and the local economy

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benefited mainland France over the locals.

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Suzanne, the daughter of a teacher, still got

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a good education. In nineteen

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thirty three, she sailed across the Atlantic

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and arrived in France to study literature.

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At first she studied in Toulouse and

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then a year later made her way to Paris.

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While in Paris, Suzanne quickly made friends

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with other writers and thinkers of African descent

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who had also been raised under French colonial

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rule. They

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hosted salons, danced at balls, and

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attended Dukellington concerts. By

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then, the waves of the Harlem Renaissance made

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their way over the Atlantic and were hitting the shores

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of France, and Suzanne's

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new circle began a movement of their own. Suzanne

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joined the editorial staff of the journal Le

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Tudion Nois. There she

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met Iime Cesaire. He

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was a politically minded writer and poet

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also for Martinique and had created

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the magazine. He would

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also shortly become Suzanne's husband.

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It was at the journal that the negratude movement

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was solidified into writing. The

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Negritude movement was a poetic revolt

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that used writing, philosophy and poetry

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to critique colonialism and find a shared

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Black identity. Letudiant

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Nois became the journal of the Negritude

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movement. In

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nineteen thirty seven, Suzanne and II

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Me married in Paris. A year later

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they returned to Martinique with their first born,

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Ina. Then

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in nineteen forty one, Iimeh

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and Suzanne did some disrupting of their own.

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Now with three children, the couple gave birth to

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another creation, Tropique.

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Tropique was a literary journal that featured surrealist

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stories and poetry, as well as anti

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colonial essays and articles that criticized

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the French government and started to redefine

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Martiniquan and Caribbean identity.

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Suzanne's creative output became explosive

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and overflowed like the island's volcano.

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She produced major essays weaving together

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thoughts on colonialism, assimilation, black

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identity, and surrealism.

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Her writing chiseled away at French influences

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in order to uncover true Martiniquan identity.

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She emphasized the Caribbean's multi ethnic

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and multinational composition. Its

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identity, she thought lay in its multitude

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of cultures rather than in one single entity

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or worse, in attempting to assimilate to colonial

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standards.

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When she wasn't writing, she was editing

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other writers pieces and had a heavy hand

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in the editorial prom of every publication.

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She also took on the daunting task of going

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to the Information service. In

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order to have each publication approved, it

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had to go through a censorship check. This

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was a tricky task given that the magazine's

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writings directly challenged French influence

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and during World War II Vicia's censors.

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So the sesare built up the magazine's

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surrealist and abstract tones to make

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it harder for censors to read between the lines.

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Tropique was a huge success in Martinique

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and the Caribbean at large. It laid

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the foundation for new Martinique in literature,

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and Suzanne's writings specifically were foundational

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for Afro surrealism.

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Then, in nineteen forty four, Suzanne's writing

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began to wind down. She

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accepted a teaching position in Port of Prince

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Haiti I

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May began to undertake a prominent political

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career. Within a year, the

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Saesars decided to end Tropique.

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The Saesares published fourteen issues of

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Tropek from nineteen forty one to nineteen

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forty five. In them, Suzanne

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wrote seven intellectually stimulating essays.

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In the final issue of the paper, she published

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her most renowned essay, The Great

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Camouflage, which was the last

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article on the journal's final word.

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Her writing career ended in tandem with

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the magazine. Maybe.

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Raising six children on top of her teaching career

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and her husband's political achievements left little

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room for her own writing. Her

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eldest daughter, Ena, later remembered

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that her mother would often say to her, yours

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will be the first generation of women who choose.

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But for whatever reason, Suzanne

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did put down the pen. There

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are letters of her correspondence with her students,

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but her seven essays are the main evidence

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left that demonstrate her thoughts and talent.

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By nineteen forty six, the Saesars

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moved back to Paris as i May became deputy

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to the French National Assembly for Martinique.

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For the next seventeen years, Suzanne

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lived in Paris. In nineteen

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sixty three, she and i May separated.

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During that time, she did write a play that was

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never published, but she died

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three years later from cancer at the

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age of fifty one. In

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nineteen seventy eight, the collective Works of

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Tropeaque was published, and

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Suzanne was not credited as a leading writer,

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editor, or publisher. The

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credit mostly went to her husband and other

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male contributors. To

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this day, Tripek is a foundational resource

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for Caribbean writing and surrealism literature.

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Suzanne herself, intentionally or

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not, stepped into the dense tangle

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of Caribbean literature and vanished.

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All month we're talking about disappearing acts.

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For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram

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at Wamanica Podcast special

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thanks to Liz Kaplick, my favorite sister and co

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creator. Talk to you tomorrow