In ten panels and through many very rare, even unpublished archives, the Francophone Multimedia Library (BFM) of Limoges recounts the life, the literary and political commitment and the work of the great Haitian poet René Depestre, born in 1926, who crossed on his way as well Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, André Breton and Aimé Césaire. Interview with the librarian Patricia Laroussarie, responsible for this very prestigious Francophonie center at the BFM and curator of the exhibition.
RFI : René Depestre is an immense poet whose poetic commitment was often accompanied by a political commitment. He had to leave Haiti in 1946 after his fight against the military regime, in 1950 he was expelled from France because of his struggle for decolonization, and in 1952 he was first imprisoned and then expelled from Cuba by Batista . In 1991, he obtained French nationality and has since lived in Lézignan-Corbières in the south of France. You titled the exhibition René Depestre, from revolt to tenderness. Why these are keywords for Depestre ?
The revolt represents the first years, even if he is always a rebellious being in his writing and in his documents, in everything he wrote on racism, colonization, the bad sides of globalization. Tenderness is a word that comes up in many writings, both poems and essays. And especially towards the end of his work, he speaks a lot of tenderness. We went to see him to recover part of the archives for the exhibition we were preparing. I asked him the question, do you prefer as a title: “ between rebellion and tenderness ” or rather ” from rebellion to tenderness »? And replied: I prefer “from revolt to tenderness”, because it’s a journey. Depestre has calmed down over the years. Certain writings, certain poems, he reworked them for certain editions, in particular in that of 2005 which is called Rage to liveand in the preface he also explains this, because he wanted to speak to the reader of the 21st century.
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There are ten panels hung on a small hut, but visitors realize very quickly that the documents and contents are worthy of a pantheon. Are there any new things ?
In the documents on display, there are certain things that have never been seen before or things that the general public has not necessarily seen, in particular the manuscripts. In the first showcase there is everything related to Clarity plants [publié en 1951, préfacé par Aimé Césaire]. We have his handwritten poems that no one has seen, people have only seen or read the published version. I found it interesting to show these sets, the book and the manuscript. Depestre put a lot of annotations. These are new things to discover.
The BFM has leading archives. Who consults the Depestre archives ?
These archives are alive. There are researchers who even come from the United States, for example the person who translated the novel “Hadriana in all my dreams” into English. [prix Renaudot en 1988]. Today, there is a person from Glasgow to consult the archives and prepare a documentary on Depestre. Sometimes, they make us discover things, and we, we also direct them towards something else. I think there are still a lot of unreleased [rires].
The last thing you discovered ?
It is perhaps anecdotal: in his work, Depestre met many characters, many politicians. While doing the exhibition, I discovered a small document of his arrest in 1952, when he was in Cuba. I found an article in a newspaper where they talk about his arrest. There is a whole set of documents. Among these four documents, there is the official document of his arrest. This is the latest little find. René Depestre is a real novel. Even when he recounts his life, it is a mainstream novel. In the Rene Depestre Collection, there are notes, drafts, manuscripts, typescripts, it’s filled with small notebooks… In the part “The meaning of a victory”, there is a set of documents where he explains why and how he was arrested and expelled from Cuba in 1952.
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You show in the exhibition a copy of the second edition of the Sparkshis first book, published in 1945. But we can also discover the very moving words of Poem of filial love : “ My cries as a sentry at the highest tower of hunger, of hunger which is nigger, of the colonist’s hatred… »
the Poem of filial love was precisely an unpublished poem, it was he who gave it to us, in 2018, when we went to look for these archives. The poem is a tribute to his mother… we couldn’t talk about Depestre without talking about his mother who often comes up in his writings.
You did an interview with René Depestre in 2018 which is screened in the exhibition for the first time. What struck you most about him ?
His human warmth and his tenderness touched me a lot. He granted us the interview, despite the fact that he hardly receives any more… He is very warm, then there is his voice, his little laugh that everyone is talking about, and his way of telling his life like a novel . There is also this respect for the person in front of him, I thought that was great. It’s a lifetime, and he is always equal to himself, he has kept this soul of childhood.
Today he is 96 years old. Is he aware of this exhibition ?
Yes, of course he knows. But he has no computer, no email address, etc. When there are requests from researchers, we call him. It is asked for permissions, sometimes to scan things, etc. We also write to him regularly to send him documents. The last time, I wrote to him to tell him about an agreement to put things online afterwards on the digital library. I warned him that we are going to do this exhibition. Besides, he sent me a very cute little note, a handwritten letter, which he ends with ” admiring and affectionate “. There is always this tenderness and this benevolent look on the people he meets.
How is it that a very famous poet and writer donated his archives to a library in Limoges and not in Paris or Port-au-Prince ?
He came here in 2004 to Limoges for the Festival des Francophonies. At the time, my colleague heard that Mr. Depestre wanted to donate his archives. Here he had the opportunity to develop his fund. And he knew that the library already had very prestigious French collections such as the Fonds Sony Labou Tansithe Emmanuel Roblès Fund (member of the School of Algiers and friend of Camus) or the Edmont Charlot Fund (publisher of Free France during the Occupation and of Camus).
The Franco-Rwandan writer and musician Gaël Faye who recorded a reading of Depestre’s poems, but also the Haitian poet Jean D’Amérique and other authors of this generation evoke René Depestre today. Is there a revival of his work ?
The writing of Jean D’Amérique is quite different, but we find themes on Haiti, on voodoo, for example in opera dust, but it is not at all the same tone. I had asked Depestre for an opinion on the new generation, he knew James Noel, but in terms of tone and form of writing, it is still very different. In the writing of Jean D’Amérique, we also feel this violence of today’s world. René Depestre also expresses it, but not in the same way, there is another rhythm, another form of song. On the other hand, it is true, the younger generation tackles subjects that Depestre also denounced. Depestre marked the spirits a lot.
► René Depestre, from revolt to tendernessexhibition at the Francophone Multimedia Library (BFM) in Limoges, until November 15, 2022.