René Ménil (1907,

Gros-Morne, Martinique Gros-Morne (; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Gwomòn) is a town and commune in the French overseas department of Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas depa ...

– 29 August 2004) was a French

surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

writer and philosopher who lived on the island of

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 ...

. Born and raised on the island of Martinique, Ménil was one of several of the island's natives who studied in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and returned to influence the independence movement with the ideas of

Marxism Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectical ...

, and Surrealism. He was involved in helping to publish a literary journal in 1932 with

Étienne Léro Étienne Léro (1910–1939) was a French poet from region of Martinique, "the first person of African descent to publicly identify himself as a surrealist". In 1932 he helped found a literary journal ''Légitime Défense'' with Jules Monnerot and ...

called '' Légitime Défense.'' He also began the '' Antillanité'' movement. In the early 1940s Ménil started a journal called ''

Tropiques ''Tropiques'' was a quarterly literary magazine published in Martinique from 1941 to 1945. It was founded by Aimé Césaire, Suzanne Césaire, and other Martinican intellectuals of the era, who contributed poetry, essays, and fiction to the magazi ...

'' along with other notable Martinique writers such as

Aimé Césaire Aimé Fernand David Césaire (; ; 26 June 1913 – 17 April 2008) was a French poet, author, and politician. He was "one of the founders of the Négritude movement in Francophone literature" and coined the word in French. He founded the Par ...

. The publication spoke very strongly against French colonialism in its essays. To avoid retaliation from their powerful critics, they portrayed the magazine as a journal of West Indian folklore. A professor and writer throughout his life, in 1981 Ménil published a book of essays entitled ''Tracées'' ().

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* 1907 births 2004 deaths People from Gros-Morne, Martinique Martinican Communist Party politicians French surrealist writers Martiniquais writers French male writers 20th-century French male writers {{Martinique-writer-stub