"Rene Maran"(November 5,1887- May 9,1960)

He was born in Martinique of Guyanese parents.After a four-stay in Gabon,Central Africa,where his daddy was serving in a colonial post,Rene returned in 1894 to France,where he attended the lycee.He later completed his baccalaureate at Bordeaux,which he thereafter regarded as home.Like his father,Rene entered the French colonial service.In 1910 he left for Bangui to serve as petty officer in charge of indigenous affairs in the Ubangi-Shari territory of French Equatorial Africa (present-day Central African Republic).The only black Frenchman to hold such a post,he served from 1910-1925.His first book of poems (Batouala) was born out of this experience,and was published in French in 1921.This translation is,based upon the franker 1938 edition.He wrote seven other books including Le Livre de la Brousse (1934) and an autobiographical novel Un Homme pareil aux autres.Rene stated that he spent six years,off and on,writing his best work by observing the ways of the tribal groups and learning their languages.