The Collected Poetry - (Caraf Books) by Leopold Sedar Senghor (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Leopold Sedar Senghor was not only president of the Republic of Senegal from 1960 to 1981, he is also Africa's most famous poet. A cofounder of the Negritude cultural movement, he is recognized as one of the most significant figures in African literature. This bilingual edition of Senghor's complete poems made his work available for the first time to English-speaking audiences. His poetry, alive with sensual imagery, contrasts the lushness and wonder of Africa's past with the alienation and loss associated with assimilation into European culture. Translator Melvin Dixon places Senghor's writing in historical persepctive by relating it to both his political involvement and his intellectual development.

Review Quotes

[Dixon] preserves Senghor's lyricism and re-creates the textual sensuality of the original language.

I am particularly grateful (as we should all be) to Melvin Dixon... [for] his graceful translation of Senghor's complete works.

With the publication of Melvin Dixon's new translation of Senghor's poetry, CARAF Books provides an invaluable service to students, teachers, and scholars.

About the Author

Leopold Sedar Senghor was born in 1906 in Joal, Senegal and educated in Senegal and France. From 1960 to 1981 he was president of the Republic of Senegal, and in 1983 became the first African and only black intellectual elected to the French Academy. Melvin Dixon (1950-1992) was a Professor of English at Queens College, City University of New York, and the author of Vanishing Rooms, Trouble the Water, Ride out the Wilderness, and Change of Territory.