Introduction

Abstract

The critical introduction to the edition and translation of . . . . . . Et les chiens se taisaient outlines its importance as an original and until recently unknown major dramatic work by Aimé Césaire. The article opens with a brief introduction of Aimé Césaire’s life and works for unfamiliar readers. It then explores the complicated history of the text, explaining why it was unknown until recently, and how it came to be known. The article provides insights into the different stages of composition and revision of the play, and Césaire’s writing conditions in Vichy Martinique. Gil also explores the sources for his drama, Haitian and otherwise, placing the text in the twentieth-century tradition of Black revolutionary writings about Haiti. The article provides a synopsis of the text, act by act, and concludes with a preliminary analysis of two themes within the drama to aid the reader.