Notebook of a Return . . .
One of the passages that stuck out to me in the Notebook is the one where Césaire cites some of the African heritage of his people (princes of Ghana, Madhis, etc.) contrasting this heritage with their present-day reality (mediocre dishwashers, etc.). Dr. Sol’s lecture helped me see the big picture in this text. She suggested that this was a point in which Césaire was working through which group he identified with. In this passage, Césaire seems to identify with the black people in his country. In speaking of the history of the black people in this passage, he uses the pronoun “we,” which implies that he is part of the group being described. I wonder, though, what he means by the phrase “I laugh at my former childish fantasies,” which precedes the history he cites. Is he suggesting that as a child he fantasized about these “glory days” for the black people, in a time when they were not slaves, but proud warriors? Were these the stories that black children acted out as they played with each other, similar to the cowboys and Indians that children used to act out in the U.S.? Or, is Césaire referring back to his fantasies of how he would return to his native land and speak for all those who could not speak for themselves? It is hard to say for sure what Césaire intended by this statement, but it could fit all three interpretations.
