Esther Nirina (née Ranirinaharitafika, 1932–2004), was a Malagasy poet. Born in 1932 in Madagascar, she lived in
Orléans
Orléans (;"Orleans" (US) and Académie Malagache, and head of the Society of the Writers of the Indian Ocean (SEROI). Her volume of poetry ''Simple voyelle'' was awarded the ADELF Grand Prix Littérature de Madagascar.
Life
Nirina was an only child, and she has said in interviews that her name means "desired one" because her parents wanted a child so badly. She was raised in
Antananarivo
Antananarivo ( French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana, is the capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known as Antananarivo-Renivohitra ("Antananarivo-Mother Hill" or "An ...
, the capital of Madagascar, where her father worked as a civil servant, but her family often visited the village in the country where her father was raised.
Nirina moved to France in 1953, following her husband, who completed his studies in teaching there. While in Orléans, she began working as a librarian. She worked alongside Hélène Cadou, the wife of Réné-Guy Cadou. Hélène Cadou took an interest in Nirina after reading a poem she'd written, and pushed her to continue writing. In 1975, Nirina's first volume of poetry, ''Silencieuse respiration'', was released by the Orléans publisher Sergent. ''Simple voyelle'' followed in 1980, from the same publisher.
Madagascar attained independence in 1960, and Nirina's family chose to stay in France. She and her husband remained in Orléans until her children went to university. Nirina and her husband traveled some, before returning to Madagascar in 1990 to renovate their houses in Antananarivo and the country so that they would have some place to retire, she said. She died in 2004.
Style
Nirina's style combines her heritage and youth in Madagascar with her experiences living in France. She uses traditional Malagasy poetry forms such as
hainteny
Hainteny (pronounced , Malagasy for "knowledge of words") is a traditional form of Malagasy oral literature and poetry, involving heavy use of metaphor. It is associated primarily with the Merina people of Madagascar. In its use of metaphor and ...
, but also draws on international influences such as
Pablo Neruda
Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...
and
George Bataille
Georges Albert Maurice Victor Bataille (; ; 10 September 1897 – 9 July 1962) was a French philosopher and intellectual working in philosophy, literature, sociology, anthropology, and history of art. His writing, which included essays, novels ...
. Her poetry is marked by nostalgia as well as philosophical references and multiplicity of meanings in her word choice.
Notable works
*''Silencieuse respiration'' (1975)
*''Simple voyelle'' (1980)
*''Lente spirale'' (1990)
*''Multiple solitude'' (1997)
*''Rien que lune: Oeuvres poétiques'' (1998)
*''Mivolana an-tsoratra / Le dire par écrit'' (2004)