Esther Razanadrasoa
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Esther Razanadrasoa, pen name Anja-Z (1892–1931), was a Malagasy poet and novelist who wrote in the Malagasy language. She was also the editor in chief of the literary journal ''Tsara Hafatra''.


Biography

Born in Antananarivo, Madagascar in 1892, Esther Razanadrasoa was brought up in a Hova environment by a father who was a journalist, writer and composer, and by a mother who inspired her to adopt the pen name of Anja-Z. Following in her father's footsteps, she wrote novels, plays and poetry. While her poetry was not published during her lifetime, she published a number of novels, several of them considered highly successful. She was also editor in chief of the Malagasy literary journal ''Tsara Hafatra''. Much of her poetry is in the ''kindriandina'' tradition, consisting of romantic thoughts and aspirations as frequently practised by young Hova women. In her novel ''L'Orage'', the Swiss writer
Douna Loup Douna Loup (born 1982) is a Swiss writer. Biography She was born in Geneva and grew up in the Drôme area of France. Loup began writing for children's theatre. She spent six months working in an orphanage in Madagascar. In 2010, she published ''M ...
tells the story of Esther Razanadrasoa and her lover
Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo (4 March 1901 or 1903 – 22 June 1937), born Joseph-Casimir Rabearivelo, was a Malagasy poet who is widely considered to be Africa's first modern poet and the greatest literary artist of Madagascar. Part of the fi ...
, a budding local poet. It is based mainly on some 1,200 pages of his diary which revealed that Esther lived an exceptionally free life for a woman in the 1920s, marrying quite late. Following her untimely death on 14 April 1931, Rabearivelo told of his close relationship with Razanadrasoa and published three of her poems which he had translated into French. According to Rabearivelo's own account, she died from the abortive substances she took in an attempt to prevent pregnancy after sleeping with him.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Razanadrasoa, Esther 1892 births 1931 deaths People from Antananarivo Malagasy women writers 20th-century Malagasy poets Malagasy novelists Malagasy women novelists Malagasy editors Women editors Malagasy women poets Malagasy-language writers