Libertação épica, amanhã trágico: o significado da Revolução Haitiana na Tragédia do Rei Christophe, de Aimé Césaire

Abstract

This work aims to understand the motivations that led the poet-politician Aimé Césaire to address the Haitian Revolution as a central theme in his works during the mid-20th century, focusing primarily on the play La Tragédie du Roi Christophe. Considering the revival of the Haitian Revolution theme by various engaged authors since the early decades of the 20th century, we seek to identify how Césaire’s play fits within this corpus of literary works. We also take into account Césaire’s intention to recover the history of the Haitian Revolution in its most contradictory aspect — the reign of Henri Christophe, while exploring its connection to Pan-Africanism and the Négritude movement.Through the figure of Henri Christophe, we seek to understand the author’s preference for theater and the tragic form to speak about Haiti, taking into consideration the political relevance of this theme in the context in which the play was written.