Simone Schwarz-Bart
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Simone Schwarz-Bart (born Simone Brumant, 1938) is a French novelist and playwright of
Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...
an origin. She is a recipient of the Grand prix des lectrices de Elle.


Life

Simone Brumant was born in 1938 at Saintes in the
Charente-Maritime Charente-Maritime () is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region on the southwestern coast of France. Named after the river Charente, its prefecture is La Rochelle. As of 2019, it had a population of 651,358 with an area of 6,864 square kil ...
department of France. Her place of birth is not clear, however, as she has also stated that she was born in
Pointe-à-Pitre Pointe-à-Pitre (; gcf, label=Guadeloupean Creole, Pwentapit, , or simply , ) is the second largest (most populous) city of Guadeloupe after Les Abymes. Guadeloupe is an overseas region and Overseas department, department of France located in the ...
, Guadeloupe. Her parents were originally from
Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...
. Her father was a soldier while her mother was a teacher. When the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
broke out, her father stayed in France to fight, while she and her mother returned to Guadeloupe. She lived in a rather dilapidated school group with her mother. She studied at Pointe-à-Pitre, followed by
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 ...
and
Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...
. At the age of 18, while studying in Paris, she met her future husband,
André Schwarz-Bart André Schwarz-Bart (May 23, 1928, Metz, Moselle - September 30, 2006, Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe) was a French novelist of Polish-Jewish origins. He was awarded the 1967 Jerusalem Prize. Biography Schwarz-Bart's parents moved to France i ...
, who encouraged her to take up writing as a career. They married in 1960, and lived at various times in Senegal, Switzerland, Paris, and Guadeloupe. Schwarz-Bart at one time ran a Creole furniture business as well as a restaurant. Her husband died in 2006. They have two sons,
Jacques Schwarz-Bart Jacques Schwarz-Bart (born 22 December 1962 in Les Abymes) is a French jazz saxophonist. Biography His mother is the Guadeloupean novelist Simone Schwarz-Bart, author of ''The Bridge of Beyond''. His father was French-Jewish author André Schwar ...
, a noted
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
saxophonist, and Bernard Schwarz-Bart. She currently lives in
Goyave Goyave (, unlike ''goyave'' ; gcf, label= Guadeloupean Creole, Gwayav, italic=no) is a commune in the French overseas region and department of Guadeloupe, Lesser Antilles. It is part of the urban area of Pointe-à-Pitre, the largest metropol ...
, a small village in Guadeloupe.


Career

In 1967, together with her husband, André Schwarz-Bart, she wrote ''Un plat de porc aux bananes vertes'', a historical novel exploring the parallels in the exiles of Caribbeans and Jews. In 1972, they published ''La Mulâtresse Solitude''. In 1989, they wrote a six-volume encyclopaedia ''Hommage à la femme noire'' (''In Praise of Black Women''), to honour the black heroines who were missing in the official historiography. Despite being mentioned as her husband's collaborator in their works, critics have often attributed full authorship to André Schwarz-Bart, and only his name appears in the French edition of ''La Mulâtresse Solitude''. Her authorship is acknowledged, however, in the English translation of the book. In 1972, Schwarz-Bart wrote ''Pluie et vent sur Télumée Miracle'', which is considered one of the masterpieces of Caribbean literature. She wrote the book after the loss of a dear friend named Stéphanie whom she considered to be "her grandmother, her sister ..." For her "it was the country that went away with this person" In 1979, she published ''Ti jean l'horizon''. Schwarz-Bart has also written for the theatre: ''Ton beau capitaine'' was a well-received play in one act.


Themes

Schwarz-Bart, along with her husband, is deeply committed to political issues, and the issues faced by people, especially women, of colour. She has explored the languages and locations of her ancestry in her works, and examines male domination over women in the Caribbean, as well as themes of alienation in exile.


Simone Schwarz-Bart and feminism

In her novel ''Pluie et vent sur Télumée Miracle'', the aim is indeed to identify the process by which ''women become women''. The famous sentence of Simone de Beauvoir, "we are not born a woman, we become it" will not have escaped you, but much more than a conceptual formula. Schwartz-Bart highlights this statement in her production by mentioning the genealogy of its literary staff. This evocation will constitute a database, understood like historical, in which is given to have elements characteristic of the West Indian woman. Schwarz-Bart attempts to rehabilitate female figures in the West Indian discourse by giving them a decisive place. She links to the heritage of feminism which is part of the West Indies reflection discourse which it projects as a social and historical reality which would legitimize the latter. The reintegration of women into the general historicity of the West Indies will enable the reader of Simone Schwarz-Bart to reposition women in the social relations of power, both subject to the colonial system and to that of compulsory "herocentrism". In this positioning, the woman shows herself to be humble, modest and courageous.


Bibliography


Novels

* ''Un Plat de porc aux bananes vertes'' (with
André Schwarz-Bart André Schwarz-Bart (May 23, 1928, Metz, Moselle - September 30, 2006, Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe) was a French novelist of Polish-Jewish origins. He was awarded the 1967 Jerusalem Prize. Biography Schwarz-Bart's parents moved to France i ...
), Seuil, 1967 * ''Pluie et vent sur Télumée Miracle'', Seuil, 1972 (''The Bridge of Beyond'', translated by
Barbara Bray Barbara Bray (née Jacobs; 24 November 1924 – 25 February 2010) was an English translator and critic. Early life Bray was born in Maida Vale, London; her parents had Belgian and Jewish origins. An identical twin (her sister Olive Classe was al ...
, New York Review Books Classics, 2013.),
Grand prix des lectrices de Elle The Grand prix des lectrices de Elle is a French literary prize awarded by readers of ''Elle'' magazine. History Unlike other literary prizes that have professionals for their juries and selection committees, the Grand prix des lectrices de Elle i ...
* ''Ti Jean l'horizon'', Seuil, 1979 (''Between Two Worlds'', translated by Barbara Bray, Heinemann, 1992.)


Theatre

* ''Ton Beau Capitaine'', Seuil, 1987. (''Your Handsome Captain'', translated by Jessica Harris and Catherine Temerson, ''Callaloo 40'' (Summer 1989).)


Non-fiction

* ''Hommage à la femme noire'' (with André Schwarz-Bart), Éditions Consulaires, 1989, 6 vol. (''In Praise of Black Women'', translated by Rose-Myriam Réjouis, Stephanie Daval and Val Vinokurov, University of Wisconsin Press, 2001–2004.)


Awards and recognition

In 1973, Schwarz-Bart's ''Pluie et vent sur Télumée Miracle'' was awarded the
Grand prix des lectrices de Elle The Grand prix des lectrices de Elle is a French literary prize awarded by readers of ''Elle'' magazine. History Unlike other literary prizes that have professionals for their juries and selection committees, the Grand prix des lectrices de Elle i ...
. In 2006, Schwarz-Bart was awarded the rank of a Commander in the
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...
. In 2008, she received the
Prix Carbet de la Caraïbe et du Tout-Monde The Prix Carbet de la Caraïbe et du Tout-Monde (or, the Prix Carbet of the Caribbean and Tout-Monde) is an annual award given to the best literary work in French or French Creole from the Caribbean and the Americas. History The Prix Carbet ...
(together with her husband, posthumously) for her lifetime of literary works.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwarz-Bart, Simone 1938 births Living people Writing teachers Guadeloupean women writers Guadeloupean novelists French women novelists Guadeloupean dramatists and playwrights People from Saintes, Charente-Maritime