Raphaël Louis Thomas Tardon born October 27, 1911 in Fort de France is a French poet and writer. He is the brother of the Resistant Manon Tardon and the father of the screenwriter Bruno Tardon. He is the son of Aston Tardon who was mayor of the municipality of Prêcheur and General Councilor of Martinique.
As a child, he lived in the family property of Anse Couleuvre whose house built in 1651 has been classified in the heritage inventory since 2006. He began his education in Fort de France with the Pères du Saint-Esprit where he obtained his baccalaureate. In 1929, his mother decided to take her children to finish their studies in France metropolis. Raphaël Tardon obtained a double degree in history and law.
In 1935, he married Paulette Jolly with whom he had a son named Bruno in 1942.
He worked at the Ministry of Finance from 1937 to 1939 as an inspector of taxes then after the Second World War, he made a career in the colonial administration and also journalism thus traveling in several countries. After several years of service at the French overseas departments and territories, while he was hoping for a position in Martinique, he was assigned to the Prefecture of Guadeloupe as Head of the information service of the Prefect.
He will then be assigned to Martinique for his greatest pleasure and that of his family before returning to the metropolis. He left the colonial administration for cooperation, but his state of health deteriorated. In 1964, he became chief of staff of the sub-prefect of Rambouillet.
He died on January 16, 1967 when he had become Technical Advisor to the President of Gabon Léon Mba. His origins, his years of experience around the world and his encounters with civilizations have forged his mind and helped him to understand the complexity of the human being, this is what emerges from all his works.
He will denounce in his work the horror of the slave system, will address the resistance of slaves but not adhere to the ideology of Negritude of Aimé Césaire considering that only the value of man was important and not by his color but by its existence. He also denounced all forms of racism.
Main published works:
1946: Bleu des Isles - Collection of tales about the Martinican microcosm
1947: Starkenfirst - Novel, 1948 West Indies Literary Grand Prize
1948: La Caldeira - Novel, reconstruction of Saint-Pierre before the eruption of 1902
1948: Le combat de Schoelcher (Schoelcher's fight) - Historical essay
1950: Christ au poing (Christ with the Fist) - Novel on Oceania
1951: Toussaint Louverture, le Napoléon noir (Toussaint Louverture, the Black Napoleon) - Historical essay
1961: Noirs et blancs, l'apartheid (Black and White, Apartheid) - Essay on South Africa
Filmography:
1998 : Victor Schœlcher, l'abolition, de Paul Vecchiali, TV movie based on his work and adapted by his son Bruno, with Jacques Perrin, Ludmila Mikaël, Pierre Santini, François Marthouret, Jean-Claude Drouot, etc...