Philippe Thoby-Marcelin (1904–1975), was a

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

folklorist Folklore studies (also known as folkloristics, tradition studies or folk life studies in the UK) is the academic discipline devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the ac ...

and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

Early life

Philippe Thoby-Marcelin was born December 11, 1904, in

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...

. He and his younger brother, Pierre Marcelin (1908-?), worked together on the writing of several novels about rural Haiti, highlighting the themes of peasant life and Haitian folklore. Philippe went to high school in Port-au-Prince and finished his education in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

where he studied law. While there, he became acquainted with

Valery Larbaud Valery Larbaud (29 August 1881 – 2 February 1957) was a French writer and poet. Life He was born in Vichy, the only child of a pharmacist Nicolas Larbaud and Isabelle Bureau des Étivaux. His father died when he was 8, and he was brought up ...

, who arranged to have some of his poems published in ''La revue européenne'', a monthly literary journal that was published from 1923 to 1931. Back in Haiti, he began his career as general secretary at the Ministry of Public Works. Like most Haitian intellectuals, he was opposed to the

American occupation of Haiti The United States occupation of Haiti began on July 28, 1915, when 330 US Marines landed at Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after the National City Bank of New York convinced the President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, to take control of Hai ...

, which had been established in 1915. In 1927, together with

Jacques Roumain Jacques Roumain Encarnación (; June 4, 1907 – August 18, 1944) was a Haitian writer, politician, and Marxist. He is considered one of the most prominent figures in Haitian literature. Langston Hughes translated some of Roumain's works, includ ...

, Carl Brouard,

Émile Roumer Émile Roumer (5 February 1903 – 6 April 1988) was a Haitian poet. Roumer wrote mostly satirical poems and poems dealing with love and nature. Born in Jérémie, he was educated in France before studying business in Manchester, England. Biblio ...

and Normil Sylvain (1900–1929), he helped create ''La Revue Indigène'', a literary journal in which they published their poems. They idea was to honor the indigenous Haitian literary and artistic material, and return the culture to its pre-occupational state. His first novel ''Canapé-Vert'', was published in 1944. In 1946, he participated in the founding of the short-lived Popular Socialist Party (PSP), together with . That same year he published his second novel, ''La Bête de Musseau'', translated as ''The Beast of the Haitian Hills''. In 1948, when the PSP was declared illegal by President

Dumarsais Estimé Dumarsais Estimé (April 21, 1900 – July 20, 1953) was a Haiti, Haitian politician and President of the Haitian Republic from August 16, 1946, to May 10, 1950. Previously, he was a member of the Parliament for Verrettes for 16 years, as we ...

, he moved to the United States, where he worked as a translator for the

Pan-American Union The Organization of American States (OAS or OEA; ; ; ) is an international organization founded on 30 April 1948 to promote cooperation among its member states within the Americas. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS is ...

. His third novel, ''Le Crayon de Dieu'', appeared in 1952. His last novel, ''Tous les Hommes sont Fous'' was published in 1972 and translated into English by his wife, Eva. He died at his home in Cazenovia, near

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...

, in 1975.

Biographies

*Philippe Thoby-Marcelin and Pierre Marcelin, Canapé-Vert, the French Publishing House, New York: 1944 *Philippe Thoby-Marcelin and Pierre Marcelin, La Bête de Musseau, Editions of the French House, New York: 1946 *Philippe Thoby-Marcelin and Pierre Marcelin, Le Crayon de Dieu, Editions La Table Ronde, Paris: 1952 *Philippe Thoby-Marcelin, Contes et Légendes d'Haïti, Editions Fernand Nathan, Paris: 1967 *Philippe Thoby-Marcelin and Pierre Marcelin, Tous les Hommes sont Fous, New Optical Publishing, Montreal, Quebec: 1980

References

1904 births Haitian writers in French Haitian male poets Haitian male novelists Haitian journalists Writers from Port-au-Prince Politicians from Port-au-Prince 1975 deaths 20th-century Haitian novelists 20th-century Haitian poets 20th-century Haitian male writers 20th-century journalists {{Haiti-writer-stub