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    Detail for Author: Léonard Sainville

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Author: Sainville, Léonard
Nationality: Martinican
Sex: m
Birth/Death 1910-1977
Biography: Historian, novelist, and decolonial marxist thinker, Léonard Sainville was a prominent yet understudied member of the Negritude movement. As a student delegate to the metropole, Sainville became close friends with Etienne Léro in 1933, who introduced him to communism. In 1934, he contributed two articles to L’Etudiant Noir, and participated in the Congres des artistes  antifascistes in 1935. Sainville left behind a substantial corpus of work, including two novels, Dominique, nègre-esclave, which won the 6th Grand Prix Litteraire des Antilles, and Au fond du bourg, as well as a historical overview of the life and work of Victor Schoelcher. He continued to contribute to decolonial periodicals and magazines such as Présence Africaine and Le Droit de Vivre until the end of his life. 
BibReferences: Sainville, Léonard. “Comment est né le racisme aux Antilles.” Le Droit de Vivre. May 15, 1952, Paris, p.3. BNF Gallica, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1820987p. Accessed April 2, 2026.  Le Pavec, Michele. Leopold Sedar Senghor. Bibliotheque Nationale, 1953. BNF Gallica, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k65404338.  Editors. “Le Grand Prix Littéraire des Antilles.” Le Populaire du Centre. June 19, 1952, Limoges, p.2. BNF Gallica, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t5430693m. Accessed April 2, 2026.  Decker, Robert. "Negritude’s Problem with History: The Case of Léonard Sainville." Small Axe, vol. 23 no. 2, 2019, p. 57-71. Project MUSE, https://muse.jhu.edu/article/731023.


Articles Authored:
Result Title Journal Volume Issue
1 Littérature antillaise--un livre sur la Martinique Etudiant Noir (none) 1
2 Simples questions à 'Je suis partout' Etudiant Noir (none) 1
3 La presse française et la Guinée Présence Africaine NSB 29


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