Émile Ollivier

Ollivier, Émile

Émile Ollivier, author (b at Port-au-Prince Haïti 1940; d at Montréal 10 Nov 2002). He studied at the Lycée in Port-au-Prince, then at the École normale supérieure, where he was working on a degree in philosophy (1962). After receiving a degree in literature from the Sorbonne, he immigrated to Canada in 1966, and taught at the Collège and École normale d'Amos (Abitibi) for eight years. Then, he successively became co-ordinator at the Ministry of Education (1973-1976), assistant director of Télé Université (1976-1977), and eventually an administrator at the U du Québec à Montréal (1977-1980). That same year, he was named professor of andragogy at the U de Montréal. A PhD in sociology (Analyse sociologique d'un programme d'éducation populaire: l'expérience multimédia, 1980); a university authority (L'Alphabétisation fonctionnelle: les formations sociales dépendantes, 1973; Sociologie de la formation des adultes: matériaux pour un enseignement, 1981; La marginalité silencieuse, 1991), and an essayist (Haïti: quel développement? Propos sur l'Enquête... de Jean-Jacques Honorat), 1975; 1946-1976: Trente ans de pouvoir noir, 1976), Émile Ollivier is considered above all, one of the greatest contemporary Latin-American novelists. Portraying characters who themselves are exiles in perpetual search of something else (family, the past, roots, a better life, or simply just the truth), he denounces the community massacres of his native country in wild language and a fiery tone. However, taking this stand does not prevent his paying homage to the beauty of his island and the unchanging values of its inhabitants.