Somewhere in this world is a
writer to whom we owe a debt of gratitude. That individual has chosen to
write his or her thesis on Jack London as a socialist writer, a theme also
selected by Michel Fabre, a young graduate student at the Sorbonne. "I worked
on it for about 6-month and then I received a letter saying the topic has
been preempted." The year was November, 1960. Fabre was stymied.
In Paris, the family and a few friends of Richard Wright had committed his
ashes to an urn at Pere Lachaise, marking, not the end of the Black
expatriates' experience abroad, but the closing of one of its most important
chapters. It was at the time that Fabre decided to write about Richard
Wright. "I chose him, not because he was black," says the distinguished
scholar, "but because he was a great American writer." He pauses before
adding, "and because he was dead, we weren't allowed to write about a living
author."
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Thus began Fabre"s "The Unfinished Quest of Richard Wright," and a personal
journey that would result in the establishment of the Center for Afro-American
Studies and Post-Colonial Literatures in English at the Universite de la
Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris under his directorship. He was the moving force
behind a seminal conference in 1992 that explored the contributions of
African-American artists to European culture. Scholars from China to the
Caribbean delivered papers, and readings, exhibitions dinners and discussions
were held at places as diverse as Leroy Haynes' restaurant to the Hotel de
Ville.
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His efforts did as much to preserve the imprints made by African-American
artist in Paris and Europe than any other, and, as one literary journal
reports, "Dispels the myth that Americans in Paris have always been white."
His book "Black American Writers in France, 1840-1980, From Harlem to Paris,"
should be required reading, not just for journalist and academics, but for
young students, regardless of race, everywhere.
With his retirement, the department was discontinued at the Sorbonne Nouvelle
in Paris, but his library and research papers will be donated to the
University in Tours.
Fabre's departure, like Wright's death, marks the end of one era, but,
hopefully the beginning of another, equally brighter one.
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