Grimard, Luc (1886–1954)

Luc Grimard (pseudonyms, Lin Dege; Marie Gérard; b. 30 January 1886; d. 24 October 1954), Haitian writer, educator, and diplomat. Luc Grimard finished a law degree at age nineteen. He taught classics, philosophy, and social science before serving as Haitian consul in Le Havre (1922–1927). During his directorship of the Lycée Philippe Guerrier in Cap Haïtien (1927–1932), Grimard's resistance to the American occupation (1915–1934) was exemplary to his students. In 1932 he went to Port-au-Prince as inspector of the École Normale des Instituteurs. He was named director of Le Temps (1938) and later of the Catholic daily, La Phalange (1941–1950). President Elie Lescot appointed him conservator of the Musée Sténio Vincent (1941). Grimard also served as rector of the University of Haiti (1951–1954) and was a member of the Cuban Academy of Arts and Letters.

His first volumes of poetry were published in France in 1927. His early verse has been compared to that of Paul Verlaine. Later he turned to Haitian history, nature, and women for inspiration. From his early poetry through his stories there runs a thread of fascination with mystery and the supernatural.

See alsoHaiti; Literature: Spanish America.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Among his other works are Jours de gloire (theater, with Dominique Hippolyte, 1917; Ritournelles (poetry, 1927); Sur ma flûte de bambou (poetry, 1927); Du sable entre les doigts (novellas, 1941); Bakoulou (novellas, with André F. Chevallier, 1950); and L'offrande du laurier (poetry, 1950). See also F. Raphaël Berrou and Pradel Pompilus, Histoire de la littérature haïtienne illustrée par les textes, vol. 2 (1975), pp. 437-452.

Additional Bibliography

Renda, Mary A. Taking Haiti: Military Occupation and the Culture of U.S. Imperialism, 1915–1940. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.

Shannon, Magdaline W. Jean Price-Mars, the Haitian Elite and the American Occupation, 1915–1935. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996.

                                         Carrol F. Coates