Emile Eugène André Dervain (1928–2010) was a Martinican-Ivorian playwright, lawyer and judge.

Life

Émile Eugène André Dervain was born on February 4, 1928, in Saint-Esprit in central

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...

. He married a woman from the west of the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

, and was naturalized as Ivorian in 1967.Adou Bouatenin
Dervain's Negritude: the writing of the negation of self and the writing of the other
''Romanica Olomucensia'', Vol. 29, No. 2 (2017), pp.177-86. Dervain's ''Saran ou la Reine scélérate'' (1968) was a historical play set in the early nineteenth century, in Da Monzon's semi-legendary rule over the kingdom of Ségou, and drawing on oral epic tradition. A prologue invoked classical precedent: Dervain's 1969 one-act play ''Abra Pokou'' was based on

Queen Pokou Queen Pokou, or Awura, Aura, or Abla Pokou (reigned c. 1750 - c. 1760) was Queen and founder of the Baoule ethnic group in West Africa, now Ivory Coast. She ruled over a branch of the powerful Ashanti Empire as it expanded westward. A subgroup of ...

, the mythical founder of the

Baoulé people The Baule or Baoulé ( Baule: ''Baule'' a.u.le french: baoulé awle are an Akan people and one of the largest ethnicities in Côte d'Ivoire who historically migrated from what is today Ghana. The Baoulé are traditionally farmers who live in ...

of the Ivory Coast. Trained as a lawyer, Dervain became a barrister at the Court of First Instance in Abidjan. From 1986 to 1988 he was president of the Bar Association in Abidjan. Dervain went on to serve as judge, prosecutor and investigating judge at the Court of First Instance. He was also President of the Côte d'Ivoire section of

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

, and a member of the Academy of Sciences, Arts, African Cultures and African Diasporas (ASCAD).

Works

* ''Saran: ou, La reine scélérate & La langue et le scorpion; pièces en trois et quatre actes'' aran: or, the villainous queen and The tongue and the scorpion: plays in three or four acts Yaoundé, Éditions Clé, 1968. * ''Abra Pokou; pièce en un acte'' ueen Pokou: a play in one act Yaoundé: Éditions CLE, 1969. * ''Termites: théâtre''. Paris: P.J. Oswald, 1976. * ''Une vie lisse et cruelle: poèmes'' smooth and cruel life: poems Abidjan: Edilis, 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dervain, Eugene 1928 births 2010 deaths Martiniquais emigrants Immigrants to Ivory Coast 20th-century Ivorian lawyers Ivorian judges Ivorian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Ivorian lawyers