Philippe Thoby-Marcelin (1904–1975), was a

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

folklorist Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...

and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

Early life

Philippe Thoby-Marcelin was born December 11, 1904 in

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...

. He and his younger brother, Pierre Marcelin (1908-?), worked together on the writing of several novels about rural Haiti, highlighting the themes of peasant life and Haitian folklore. Philippe went to high school in Port-au-Prince and finished his education in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

where he studied law. While there, he became acquainted with

Valéry Larbaud Valery Larbaud (29 August 1881 – 2 February 1957) was a French writer and poet. Life He was born in Vichy, the only child of a pharmacist. His father died when he was 8, and he was brought up by his mother and aunt. His father had been owner ...

, who arranged to have some of his poems published in ''La revue européenne'', a monthly literary journal that was published from 1923 to 1931. Back in Haiti, he began his career as general secretary at the Ministry of Public Works. Like most Haitian intellectuals, he was opposed to the

American occupation of Haiti The United States occupation of Haiti began on July 28, 1915, when 330 U.S. Marines landed at Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after the National City Bank of New York convinced the President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, to take control of ...

, which had been established in 1915. In 1927, together with

Jacques Roumain Jacques Roumain (June 4, 1907 – August 18, 1944) was a Haitian writer, politician, and advocate of Marxism. He is considered one of the most prominent figures in Haitian literature. The African-American poet, Langston Hughes, translated some of ...

Carl Brouard Carl Brouard (5 December 1902 – November 1965) was a Haitian poet. He is best known for his compilation of poems entitled ''Ecrit sur du Ruban Rose''. Brouard was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. In 1927, Brouard along with Jacques Roumain, � ...

Émile Roumer Émile Roumer (5 February 1903 - April 1988) was a Haitian poet. Roumer wrote mostly satirical poems and poems dealing with love and nature. Born in Jérémie, he was educated in France before studying business in Manchester, England. Bibliograph ...

and Normil Sylvain (1900-1929), he helped create ''La Revue Indigène'', a literary journal in which they published their poems. They idea was to honor the indigenous Haitian literary and artistic material, and return the culture to its pre-occupational state. His first novel ''Canapé-Vert'', was published in 1944. In 1946, he participated in the founding of the short-lived Popular Socialist Party (PSP), together with . That same year he published his second novel, ''La Bête de Musseau'', translated as ''The Beast of the Haitian Hills''. In 1948, when the PSP was declared illegal by President

Dumarsais Estimé Dumarsais Estimé (born April 21, 1900 in Verrettes, died July 20, 1953 in New York) was a Haitian politician and President of the Haitian Republic from August 16, 1946 to May 10, 1950. Previously, he was a member of the Parliament for Verrett ...

, he moved to the United States, where he worked as a translator for the

Pan-American Union The Organization of American States (OAS; es, Organización de los Estados Americanos, pt, Organização dos Estados Americanos, french: Organisation des États américains; ''OEA'') is an international organization that was founded on 30 April ...

. His third novel, ''Le Crayon de Dieu'', appeared in 1952. His last novel, ''Tous les Hommes sont Fous'' was published in 1972 and translated into English by his wife, Eva. He died at his home in Cazenovia, near

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

, in 1975.New York Times obituary
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Biographies

*Philippe Thoby-Marcelin and Pierre Marcelin, Canapé-Vert, the French Publishing House, New York: 1944 *Philippe Thoby-Marcelin and Pierre Marcelin, La Bête de Musseau, Editions of the French House, New York: 1946 *Philippe Thoby-Marcelin and Pierre Marcelin, Le Crayon de Dieu, Editions La Table Ronde, Paris: 1952 *Philippe Thoby-Marcelin, Contes et Légendes d'Haïti, Editions Fernand Nathan, Paris: 1967 *Philippe Thoby-Marcelin and Pierre Marcelin, Tous les Hommes sont Fous, New Optical Publishing, Montreal, Quebec: 1980

References

1904 births Haitian writers in French Haitian male poets Haitian male novelists Haitian journalists Haitian politicians People from Port-au-Prince 1975 deaths 20th-century Haitian novelists 20th-century Haitian poets 20th-century male writers 20th-century journalists {{Haiti-writer-stub