In 1965, Glissant returned to Martinique and devoted his time to writing novels, poetry and plays. By order of the French president, General De Gaulle, Glissant was arrested, forbidden to reside in the West Indies, and was sentenced to administrative detention in France until the situation in the colonies calmed down. The difficult situation of 1961, notably the start of Algerian war of independence, commanded the dissolution of the group. After this experience, Glissant founded Le Front Antillo-Guyanais (The Antillean-Guyanese Front) with other writers, such as Béville and Corsnay Marie-Joseph, and fought for the independence of the French West Indies and Guiana from France’s rule. With his literary career flourishing, the young writer chose to participate politically in the anti-colonialist movement, working specifically withinin the black writers and artists movements. Glissant’s popularity rose in 1958 when he published La Lézarde (The Ripening) and won a prestigious French literary award, the Renaudot Prize. Upon his return to Martinique in 1953, he mainly published his works in the journal of a close friend, Maurice Nadeau, called Les Lettres Nouvelles (The New Arts). He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a graduate degree in ethnology under the supervision of French philosopher Jean Wahl. There, he studied at La Sorbonne and bonded with several ‘Antillais,’ or West Indians, most notably Frantz Fanon. In 1946, Glissant, determined to continue his studies, left his natal island for the first time and set out for Paris. Being the brilliant student he was, Glissant received a scholarship in 1938, allowing him to attend the prestigious Schoelcher High School in Fort-de-France, the capital of Martinique, where the famous Aimé Césaire studied before him. During childhood, he moved to Lamentin, the second most populated city in Martinique, where Glissant discovered primary school and the strictness of the third republic school system, where children were forbidden to speak Creole. His father was working as an agricultural manager, or ‘géreur d’Habitation’, and directly exposed the young Edward to the colonial reality. Edouard Glissant was born in Saint-Marie, Martinique in 1928 to a family of five children.
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