The Yavarhoussen Fund is very proud to have supported the publication of this work, which was
awarded a Prix de l'Académie française in 2023.
In contrast to the figure of the cursed writer who dominated the last century, Claire
Riffard's study reports on recent research into the poet's archives. It reveals
a considerable body of work, written at the interface between the Malagasy and French languages, which has emerged from
the shadows where it had long been kept. And a jewel: the diary of the last five years
of the poet's life, his Calepins bleus, his "written life".
Claire Riffard's biographical account is based not only on this diary, but also on the writer's
other manuscripts, which provide an insight into the genesis of his writing. She retraces
the journey of a young man in his city, Tananarive, which he almost never left, and
the itinerary of an artist at the crossroads of worlds.