Ny Avana Ramanantoanina

Ny Avana Ramanantoanina (1891–1940)^[1] is among the most celebrated literary artists of Madagascar. He is principally renowned for his poetry, but also wrote stories and plays. He wrote during the colonial period^[2] and is considered to have been the first Malagasy writer to weave political messages into his work.^[1] He wrote primarily in the Malagasy language. A contemporary of Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo, who is commonly cited as the first African poet to write according to Western conventions, Ramanantoanina was highly critical of the French colonial authority.^[2] He was a member of the secret nationalist organization Vy Vato Sakelika, and was exiled to Mayotte in the Comoros when the organization was banned by the French colonial authority in 1917.^[1] His writings were consequently banned and were not reprinted until the 1980s in Madagascar. As a result, his writings are relatively less well known in international literary circles than those of Rabearivelo.^[2]

Ramanantoanina was born in 1891 in Ambatofotsy, a suburb of Antananarivo in central Madagascar,^[3] to a family that belonged to the former Merina aristocracy that had been dissolved upon French colonization in 1896.^[4] After completing his education in a private Protestant school, Ramanantoanina began writing and publishing his work in several local literary journals at the age of 16 under the pen name Ny Avana (rainbow).^[1] He gained popularity with his early publication Chant de fiancailles (Wedding Engagement Song) in 1907.^[3]

Ramanantoanina was among the first generation of Malagasy poets to attempt to develop a structure and theory of Malagasy language poetry, who would be termed Ny Mpanoratra zokiny (The Elders) by later generations of Malagasy literary artists.^[4] His work drew upon the traditional Malagasy poetic form of hainteny, integrating standard characteristics the form such as embona (nostalgia) and hanina (longing) into his poems as a means to promote the unity of the Malagasy people and encourage a return to traditional values.^[5]

After returning from exile in Comoros^[1] in 1922,^[4] he was excluded from opportunities for a lucrative career with the colonial government, and instead earned a modest living as a clerk in a book shop in the capital city.^[1] His works during this period became increasingly characterized by themes of disillusionment.^[6] He founded a literary movement called Mitady ny Very (Search for Lost Values), and on 5 August 1931 he launched a literary journal called Fandrosoam-baovao (New Progress) with fellow writers Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo and Charles Rajoelisolo.^[7][4] He died in 1940 in Antananarivo.^[3]

After national independence in 1960, his writings were promoted nationally as evidence of the nationalist sentiment of the Malagasy elite in Antananarivo during colonization.^[1] There is a street named after him in Antananarivo.^[8]

See also

• Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo
• Jacques Rabemananjara
• Dox Razakandrainy
• Elie Rajaonarison
• Aimé Césaire
• Léon Damas
• Harlem Renaissance

Notes

References

• Adejunmobi, Moradewun (2004). Vernacular Palaver: Imaginations of the Local and Non-native Languages in West Africa. Tondawa, NY: Multilingual Matters. ISBN 9781853597725.
• Andrzejewski, B.W.; Piłaszewicz, Stanisław; Tyloch, Witold (1985). Literatures in African Languages: Theoretical Issues and Sample Surveys. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521256469.
• Peek, P.M.; Yankah, K. (2003). African Folklore: An Encyclopedia. New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 9781135948733.
• Ramamonjisoa, Solotiana Nirhy-Lanto (2008). De l'éclosion à l'épanouissement de la littérature malgache: variations littéraires (in French). Antananarivo, Madagascar: INALCO. ISBN 9782858311675.