Boris Gamaleya (18 December 1930

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

– 30 June 2019) was a

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...

poet, literary critic, linguist, folklorist, and

social activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

. He primarily wrote in French.

Biography

His father was

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

a descendant of Cossack Hetman

Petro Doroshenko Petro Doroshenko ( uk, Петро Дорофійович Дорошенко, russian: Пётр Дорофе́евич Дороше́нко, pl, Piotr Doroszenko; 1627–1698) was a Cossack political and military leader, Hetman of Right-bank Ukr ...

, who fled Russia after the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...

and died when Boris was still young. He mother was a Réunion-born ''créole'' of distantly Portuguese decent. He grew up in mountain village of Makes in the home of his grandparents. He was first published in local newspapers in Réunion. In 1950, he began higher education in France but left the Ecole Normale d'Instituteurs in Avignon for the university town of

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...

in 1951 where he joined the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Unit ...

. Upon his return to the island in 1955 with his wife Clélie, a literature teacher, he taught French, published poems and essays in the press and began collecting Reunionese oral culture. He joined the Communist Party of Reunion (PCR) in 1959. In 1960 the Debré ordinance transferred any public-sector workers, including teachers, suspected of "disrupting public order" out of Réunion to

Metropolitan France Metropolitan France (french: France métropolitaine or ''la Métropole''), also known as European France (french: Territoire européen de la France) is the area of France which is geographically in Europe. This collective name for the European ...

and Gamaleya was sent to Paris. He would not return to Réunion for twelve years. During his exile in European France, he obtained a

license A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

in Russian at

the Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

, joined the Union générale des travailleurs réunionnais en France and wrote for its revue. After 1980 he broke from the PCR and with activism. His writing at this time shifted to geopoetics that focused on the nature and culture of the Indian Ocean islands. Some of his is poems were translated into

at this time by Victor Koptilov and published in the magazine ''The Universe'' (1981) and the anthology ''The Poetry of Africa'' (1983). In 1997 he wrote a poetic novel ''L’île du Tsarévitch'' (Island of the

Tsarevich Tsarevich (russian: Царевич, ) is a Slavic title given to tsars' sons. Under the 1797 Pauline house law, the title was discontinued and replaced with ''Tsesarevich'' for the heir apparent alone. His younger brothers were called '' Velik ...

) exploring his Slavic origins and

Eastern Orthodox faith Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

as well as the fate of his father. In 1998 he was commissioned by French authorities to create a work to mark the 150th anniversary of the

abolition of slavery in France Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The Britis ...

. He produced the

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...

entitled ''Ombline, ou le volcan à l’envers'' with a

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

based on one of his plays. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Reunion.

References

External links

Biography of Boris Gamaleya'' (fr.)''
1930 births 2019 deaths People from Saint-Louis, Réunion People from Réunion of Ukrainian descent Communists from Réunion French-language poets 20th-century French poets Poets from Réunion French librettists {{Réunion-bio-stub