# Joseph Zobel

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Martiniquai writer (1915–2006)

**Joseph Zobel** (26 April 1915 – 18 June 2006) is the Martinican author of several novels and short-stories in which social issues are at the forefront. Although his most famous novel, *La Rue Cases-Nègres*, was published some twenty years after the great authors of [Negritude](/source/Negritude) published their works, Zobel was once asked if he considered himself "the novelist of Negritude".[1] The novel was adapted for the screen by [Euzhan Palcy](/source/Euzhan_Palcy) in 1983 as *[Sugar Cane Alley](/source/Sugar_Cane_Alley)*.

## Biography

### Literary beginnings and influences

Born in [Martinique](/source/Martinique), Joseph Zobel grew up with the support and unconditional love of his grandmother and his mother. His mother, Delia, was forced to work as a nanny for a [Békés](/source/B%C3%A9k%C3%A9) (white Creoles) family, the Des Grotte family, in [Fort-de-France](/source/Fort-de-France), the capital of [Martinique](/source/Martinique).

Young Zobel was a brilliant student, earning himself a scholarship that allowed him to pursue an education and finish high school. After finishing his high school studies, he had hoped to study [architecture](/source/Architecture) in [Paris](/source/Paris). Unfortunately, he did not have the funds or another scholarship to help pay for such endeavors. Instead, he got his first job with the [Corps of Bridges, Waters and Forests](/source/Corps_of_Bridges%2C_Waters_and_Forests) which forced him to move closer to the water in South Martinique, specifically to the towns of [Diamant](/source/Le_Diamant) and [Saint-Esprit](/source/Saint-Esprit%2C_Martinique).[2] His time in Diamant and Saint-Esprit allowed him to become well acquainted with the local fishermen and to learn more about their lifestyle, which would later influence his popular novel *La Rue Cases-Nègres*. Despite gaining an appreciation for the lifestyle on the coast, he couldn't forget the values he grew up with in the more rural inland of Martinique.

During [World War II](/source/World_War_II), there was a blockade on the French West Indies preventing anybody, including Zobel, from leaving Martinique or traveling to France.[2] While he was in Martinique, he worked as a teacher and then a school master of Lycée Victor-Schœlcher, a boarding school in Fort-de-France. In the meantime, he found ways to express himself by writing short stories. His friends would read the stories for him. One friend, a fellow physical education teacher, brought the stories to a newspaper called Le Sportif who published the stories with popular success. The [Martiniquais](/source/Martinique) appreciated Zobel’s stories because they accurately portrayed the habits and customs of the island and its people without exaggerating the exoticism of their lifestyle.

[Aimé Césaire](/source/Aim%C3%A9_C%C3%A9saire), a young [agrégé](/source/Agr%C3%A9gation) at the time, taught in the same high school as Zobel. He had an appreciation for Zobel’s writings and encouraged him to write a novel. Inspired by his experience working in the village of fishers in Diamant, Zobel wrote *Diab’-là* in 1942. It was a story about a peasant who decided to win his freedom by working the land near a community of fishermen. When Zobel first wanted to publish the novel, Martinique was governed by Admiral Robert, an authoritarian representative of the [Vichy government](/source/Vichy_France), delaying publication until 1947.[3]

### Time in France and literary career

In 1946, Zobel took advantage of his administrative leave and went to Paris to continue his studies. In [Sorbonne](/source/University_of_Paris), he took courses in literature, dramatic art, and ethnology. Additionally, he earned a position as an assistant professor at the [Lycée International François-Ier](/source/Lyc%C3%A9e_Fran%C3%A7ois-Ier_(Fontainebleau)) in [Fontainebleau](/source/Fontainebleau).

Settled in this city with his wife and three children, Zobel devoted the 1950s to intense literary activity and writing. He published numerous novels such as *Les Jours Immobiles* and *La Fête à Paris*. He also wrote many poems which he recited at various festivals in France, Switzerland, and Italy. Most notably, in 1950, Zobel published one of his principle works, *La Rue Cases-Nègres*, a story greatly influenced by his childhood and time in Martinique. The story recounts a child, without much experience in the world, and a grandmother, who is experienced but softens her perspective of the world, resulting in a rare testimony to the West Indian Black community at the time. The [Éditions Albin Michel](/source/%C3%89ditions_Albin_Michel) refused to publish the text because of the Creole-inspired phrases. It was [Alioune Diop](/source/Alioune_Diop) who finally published *La Rue Cases-Nègres* in his newly created publishing house and magazine, [Présence Africaine](/source/Pr%C3%A9sence_Africaine). The novel proceeded to go down in history in France and in the African continent.[4][3]

### Time in Africa

In 1957, Zobel, driven by his desire to know [Africa](/source/Africa), used his relationships with some [Senegalese](/source/Senegal) friends in Paris to find a way into the continent. He was recruited to become a college director by the Senegalese Minister of Education, Amadou Matar M’bow, as a college director at school of [Ziguinchor](/source/Ziguinchor) (at present the Lycée Djignabo) in [Casamance](/source/Casamance).

After a few years as a general supervisor of the Van Vollenhoven school in [Dakar](/source/Dakar), he became a producer of educational and cultural programs at the Radio of Senegal. His programs were heard throughout French-speaking West Africa. Some anecdotes of his experiences in Dakar are recounted in the collections of short stories *Mas Badara* (1983) and *Et si la mer n’était pas bleue* (1982).[5]

### Retirement and final publications

Retiring in 1974,[5] Zobel settled in the village of [Générargues](/source/G%C3%A9n%C3%A9rargues) where he continued to write and even rewrite some novels: *Les Jours Immobiles* became *Les Mains pleines d’oiseaux* and *La Fête à Paris* became *Quand la neige aura fondu*.[3]

In 1995, Zobel published *D’Amour et de Silence*, an art book of watercolors and some unpublished poems and extracts from his personal journal.

His final publications were published in 2002: *Gertal et autres nouvelles*, a novel combining unpublished texts and extracts from his personal journal which he held from 1946-2002; *Le Soleil m’a dit*, a complete poetic work.[3]

## Works

His most famous novel, *La Rue Cases-Nègres* (often translated as *Black Shack Alley* or *Sugar Cane Alley*), was published in Paris in 1950. The novel is an account of a young boy raised by his grandmother in a post-slavery - but still plantation-based - Martinique. The struggles of the impoverished cane-sugar plantation workers, and the ambitions of a loving grandmother who works hard to put the main character through school are the core focus of the novel, which also describes life in a colonial society. Zobel stated that the novel was his version of [Richard Wright](/source/Richard_Wright_(author))'s *[Black Boy](/source/Black_Boy)* (1945), in that they are both semi-autobiographical.[1]

The novel was adapted for the screen by [Euzhan Palcy](/source/Euzhan_Palcy) in 1983 as *[Sugar Cane Alley](/source/Sugar_Cane_Alley)*.

While *La Rue Cases-Nègres* is Zobel's most renowned work, the author started his writing career in 1942 during [World War II](/source/World_War_II) with *Diab-la* (a tentative English title could be "The Devil's Garden"), a socially conscious novel similar to [Jacques Roumain](/source/Jacques_Roumain)'s *Masters of the Dew* (published a year or more later). With *Diab-la*, Zobel tells the powerful story of a sugar-cane plantation worker freeing himself from colonial exploitation by creating a garden in a fishermen's village of Southern Martinique.

Leaving Martinique in 1946 to pursue ethnology and drama studies in Paris, Zobel spent some years in Paris and [Fontainebleau](/source/Fontainebleau), before relocating to [Senegal](/source/Senegal) by 1957. Writing a few short stories, he had a notable impact in the cultural life of French-speaking West Africa as a public radio producer.

A noted poet and a gifted sculptor as well as a writer, Zobel retired to a small village in southern France in 1974. He died in [Alès](/source/Al%C3%A8s) in 2006.

## Bibliography

- Bishop, Marie-France, et al. “Joseph Zobel.” *Dictionnaire Des Écrivains Francophones Classiques : Afrique Subsaharienne, Caraïbe, Maghreb, Machrek, Océan Indien*, H. Champion, 2010, pp. 447–450, ([ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-2-7453-2126-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-2-7453-2126-8)).

- Kesteloot, Lilyan. “Joseph Zobel.” *Anthologie Négro-Africaine. Histoire Et Textes De 1918 à Nos Jours*, EDICEG, 2001, pp. 181–185.

- Moigne, José Le. *Joseph Zobel: Le Coeur En Martinique Et Les Pieds En Cévennes*, Ibis Rouge, 2008, p. 172, ([ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-2-84450-334-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-2-84450-334-3)).

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Warner1979_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Warner1979_1-1) Warner, Keith Q., 1979. Foreword: We All Had a M'man Tine. *Black Shack Alley*, 1996.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Zobel1_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Zobel1_2-1) “Joseph Zobel”, sur Île en Île, le site des littératures insulaires francophones (CUNY).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Larose_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Larose_3-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Larose_3-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-Larose_3-3) Véronique Larose, “Pawol Kreyol». Joseph Zobel, artisan du Temps”, sur potomitan.info, site de promotion des cultures et des langues créoles.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Kidi Bebey, “La Rue Cases-Nègres passe par la case bande dessinée”, Le Monde, 30 March 2018.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Zobel2_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Zobel2_5-1) “L'écrivain Joseph Zobel est mort”, L'Obs, 19 June 2006.

## External links

- [James Ferguson, "Joseph Zobel" (obituary)](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/jul/01/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries), *The Guardian*, 1 July 2006.

- [Reference Website on Joseph ZOBEL](http://www.josephzobel.com) (French Language).

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