Hosties noires (1948) – Poèmes de Léopold Sédar Senghor

Authors : Leopold Sedar Senghor

Genres : poésie

Original language : français

Editions

  • Éditions du Seuil, 1948 fr
  • Éditions du Seuil, coll. Points fr
    ISBN 9782020016407
  • Les Bibliophiles de France, 2006 fr

Hosties noires

Hosties noires, published in 1948 by Éditions du Seuil, gathers poems written mostly during the captivity of Léopold Sédar Senghor: mobilized in 1940, taken prisoner near La Charité-sur-Loire, he remained for eighteen months in five French camps.

The collection raises the voice of tirailleurs sénégalais and African soldiers who died for a France that denied them equality: « l’Afrique s’est faite acier blanc, l’Afrique s’est faite hostie noire / pour que vive l’espoir de l’homme ». A negation of a two-speed humanism, prayer and revolt intertwine in a language that makes sacrifice the springboard for future fraternity.

The collection is regularly reissued (Seuil, coll. Points), and sometimes joins Chants d’ombre in a single volume; an edition illustrated with lithographs by Nicolas Alquin was published by the Bibliophiles de France in 2006.

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