As a poet, playwright, and activist, Haitian writer Félix Morisseau-Leroy's (1912–1998) persistent aim was to elevate the voice of his peopleâ??—â??full of tragedy as well as resplendenceâ??—â??in all its facets and contradictions. Hailed as the “voice of Haiti” during his own lifetime, Morisseau-Leroy's iconic status among the Haitian and diaspora community rests on his outspoken courage and pioneering legacy in Haitian literature.
Known simply as “Moriso” in Creole, Morisseau-Leroy is revered as a leading figure in Haiti's Creole Renaissance during the 1950s. His 1953 poetry collection Dyakout broke convention by presenting Creole writing, the language of the common Haitian people, as art. His stage play Antigòn an Kreyòl, a similarly groundbreaking translation of a classic Greek tragedy set in a Haitian cultural and religious context, was received triumphantly in Port-au-Prince that same year. It was the success of Antigòn that first propelled Morisseau onto an international stage.
To publish and stage Creole during the 1950s, as Morisseau did, was an inherently political act. Haitian Creole was the true language of some 90 percent of the country's population, as it remains today. At that time, however, the Haitian Republic's sole official language was French—a vestige of its colonial past. Critics derided Creole as less than a language, an impure pidgin that kept Haiti backward-looking. Morisseau, on the other hand, strove to show its rich capacity for expressing the range of human intellect and emotion. In addition to championing Creole literature, Morisseau believed ardently that the language must be legitimized officially, advocating for its adoption in Haiti's educational system. Later in the decade, when the repressive regime of US-backed President François “Papa Doc” Duvalier began tightening its grip on power through notoriously cruel methods, Morisseau perceived that his overt free speech was no longer welcome in his home country. In 1959, Morisseau went into exile.
Read Full Article »