Joseph Zobel (April 26, 1915 in Martinique – June 18, 2006 in Alès, France) is the author of several novels and short-stories in which social issues are at the forefront. Although his most famous novel, La Rue Cases-Nègres, was published some twenty years after the great authors of Negritude published their works, Zobel was once asked if he considered himself "the novelist of Negritude". Biography Literary beginnings and influences Joseph Zobel grew up with the support and unconditional love of his grandmother and his mother. His mother, Delia, was forced to work as a nanny for a Békés (white Creoles) family, the Des Grotte family, in Fort-de-France, the capital of Martinique. Young Zobel was a brilliant student, earning himself a scholarship that allowed him to pursue an education and finish high school. After finishing his high school studies, he had hoped to study architecture in Paris. Unfortunately, he did not have the funds or another scholarship to help pay for such endeavors. Instead, he got his first job with the Corps of Bridges, Waters and Forests which forced him to move closer to the water in South Martinique, specifically to the towns of Diamant and Saint-Esprit. His time in Diamant and Saint-Esprit allowed him to become well acquainted with the local fishermen and to learn more about their lifestyle, which would later influence his popular novel La Rue Cases-Nègres. Despite gaining an appreciation for the lifestyle on the coast, he couldn't forget the values he grew up with in the more rural inland of Martinique. During World War II, there was a blockade on the French West Indies preventing anybody, including Zobel, from leaving Martinique or traveling to France. While he was in Martinique, he worked as a teacher and then a school master of Lycée Victor-Schœlcher, a boarding school in Fort-de-France. In the meantime, he found ways to express himself by writing short stories. His friends would read the stories for him. One friend, a fellow physical education teacher, brought the stories to a newspaper called Le Sportif who published the stories with popular success. The Martiniquais appreciated Zobel’s stories because they accurately portrayed the habits and customs of the island and its people without exaggerating the exoticism of their lifestyle. Aimé Césaire, a young agrégé at the time, taught in the same high school as Zobel. He had an appreciation for Zobel’s writings and encouraged him to write