Auguste Lacaussade

Biography

Born on 3 July 1815 in Saint-Denis, Réunion, Auguste Lacaussade was a poet of the first Romantic generation who chose Paris without ever cutting ties with his native island. Of freed descent, he came to France for his studies and became friends with Sainte-Beuve, who became his mentor and introduced him to Parisian literary circles. Leconte de Lisle, his fellow Réunionese, was close to him.

His first collection, “Poésies” (1840), reveals a melancholic sensitivity and references to the tropical nature of Bourbon (Réunion's former name). He also translated the work of the English historian and poet Thomas Macaulay, establishing himself as a talented translator too. His “Épaves de mer” (Sea Wreckage, 1875) gathers poems marked by nostalgia for his homeland and an awareness of being caught between two cultures. Lacaussade embodies the educated Creole of the Romantic generation: well versed in the codes of French literature but carrying an island memory. He died in Paris in 1897.

Contribution

Romantic poet born in Saint-Denis; author of “Poésies” (1840) and “Épaves de mer” (1875); close to Sainte-Beuve and Leconte de Lisle; translator of Macaulay.

Legacy

A figure of the cultural in-between, straddling the island and Paris, in 19th-century literature; his work bears witness to the Réunionese presence in French Romantic literary life.