Mercer Cook

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Will Mercer Cook (born March 30, 1903 in Washington, DC , † October 4, 1987 there ) was an American Romance studies , translator and diplomat .

Life

Mercer Cook came from an old family in Washington, DC His parents were the singer Abbie Mitchell and the composer Will Marion Cook . His grandfather was secretary to General Oliver Otis Howard , founder of Howard University . Mercer Cook went to school in Washington, DC and then attended Amherst College , where he received his bachelor's degree in French language and literature in 1925 . With a scholarship he was able to spend the academic year 1925/1926 at the Sorbonne in Paris . There he moved in the intellectual circles of African and Afro-Caribbean students close to Négritude . He became known, for example, with Alioune Diop , Birago Diop , Léopold Sédar Senghor and Ousmane Socé Diop from Africa and with Léon-Gontran Damas , René Maran and Gaston Monnerville from the Antilles . In Paris he obtained a teaching diploma.

Back in the United States, Cook became an assistant professor at Howard University for a year. He received his Masters Degree in French Language and Literature from Brown University in 1931 and his PhD in 1936. In 1929 he married the social worker Vashti Smith. The marriage resulted in two sons. Cook took over the direction of the French department at Atlanta University in 1936 , where he taught until 1943. During these years, a Rosenwald scholarship enabled him to do research in the French West Indies and in Paris. In 1943 he worked as a professor at the University of Haiti . In the same year he accepted a permanent professorship for Romance languages ​​at Howard University. He wrote a manual for Haitian English teachers and other writings on Haiti. He also translated the works of well-known French-speaking authors from Africa into English.

From the late 1950s onwards, Mercer Cook became increasingly politically active, for example in the American Society of African Culture and in the Congress for Cultural Freedom . In 1961 he began his diplomatic career as the United States Ambassador to Niger . In 1964 he moved to Senegal as ambassador . From 1965 he was also accredited as ambassador to Gambia , although he kept his official seat in the Senegalese capital Dakar . A separate embassy was opened in the Gambian capital Banjul during his term of office, which was manned by a Chargé d'Affaires ad interim . In 1966, Cook retired as ambassador. He returned to Howard University as Head of the Department of Romance Languages. He also worked as a visiting professor at Harvard . His most important late publications include the anthology The militant black writer in Africa and the United States (1969).

In 1970 Cook retired, but continued to publish books and articles. He died in 1987 of pneumonia .

Own writings

  • Jean-Jacques Ampère and Sainte-Beuve: the study of an influence . Thesis. Brown University, Providence 1931.
  • French travelers in the United States, 1840-1870 . Dissertation. Brown University, Providence 1936.
  • Five French Negro authors . The Associated Publishers, Washington, DC 1943.
  • The Haitian-American Anthology. Haitian readings from American authors . Imprimerie de l'état, Port-au-Prince 1944.
  • Handbook for Haitian teachers of English . Editions Henri Deschamps, Port-au-Prince 1945.
  • Education in Haiti . United States Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 1948.
  • An introduction to Haiti . Pan American Union, Washington, DC 1951.
  • Mountains and manuscripts. A US writer reviews Haitian literature . Pan American Union, Washington, DC 1951.
  • Chicago's Haitian ancester . Pan American Union, Washington, DC 1952.
  • The militant black writer in Africa and the United States . With Stephen Henderson. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison 1969, ISBN 0-299-05391-1 .

Translations

  • Mamadou Dia : The African nations and world solidarity . Translated by Mercer Cook. Frederick A. Praeger, New York 1961.
  • Léopold Sédar Senghor : Nationhood and the African road to socialism . Translated by Mercer Cook. Présence Africaine, Paris 1962.
  • Léopold Sédar Senghor: On African Socialism . Translated by Mercer Cook. Praeger, New York 1964.
  • Léopold Sédar Senghor: The foundations of africanité or Négritude and arabité . Translated by Mercer Cook. Présence Africaine, Paris 1971.
  • Cheikh Anta Diop : The African origin of civilization. Myth or reality . Translated by Mercer Cook. Lawrence Hill, Westport 1974.
  • Jacques Roumain : Masters of the dew . Translated by Langston Hughes and Mercer Cook. Heinemann, London 1978, ISBN 0-435-98745-3 .
  • Djibi Thiam: My sister, the panther . Translated by Mercer Cook. Dodd, Mead, New York 1980.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Maurice A. Lubin: In memoriam: Dr Mercer Cook . In: Présence Africaine . No. 144 , 1987, pp. 156 .
  2. ^ A b c d Dwayne Mack: Cook, Will Mercer (1903-1987). In: BlackPast.org. Retrieved February 26, 2017 (English).
  3. ↑ Mercer Cook (1903-1987). Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, United States Department of State, accessed February 26, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Cook, Mercer
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cook, Will Mercer (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American Romance Studies, translator and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH March 30, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Washington, DC
DATE OF DEATH 4th October 1987
Place of death Washington, DC