René Ménil [SEP] native language
René Ménil
René Ménil (1907, Gros-Morne, Martinique – 29 August 2004) was a French surrealist writer and philosopher who lived on the island of Martinique.
Born and raised on the island of Martinique, Ménil was one of several of the island's natives who studied in France and returned to influence the independence movement with the ideas of Marxism, and Surrealism. He was involved in helping to publish a literary journal in 1932 with Étienne Léro called "Légitime Défense." He also began the "Antillanité
of ours that I am speaking."The first issue was published in Fort-de-France, Martinique's capital, in April 1941, with contributions by Aimé and Suzanne Césaire, René Ménil, Charles Péguy, and Georgette Anderson. It cost 12 francs for a single issue, or 40 francs for a yearlong subscription.
The magazine included poetry, fiction, essays, and commentary from a range of authors in Martinique at the time. Ménil and the Césaires would write and solicit pieces after their jobs as schoolteachers at