Martinique, a small island in the French Antilles, has been French territory since 1635, when the French first began establishing plantations on the island and enslaving many people. Martinique was the site of many uprisings until enslavement was eventually abolished in 1848 (partly in response to an abolitionist campaign led by Victor Schœlcher). The 20th century saw the rise of an anticolonial and independence movement on the island, one that was closely tied with anticolonial movements throughout the French colonial empire and the world. Today, Martinique is a department (district) of France. Although movements for independence remain ongoing in the territory, they have declined markedly since their height in the 1970s. An independence referendum held in 2010 was rejected by a majority of voters. Anticolonial writers and activists like Patrick Chamoiseau argue that a de facto French colonial system remains in place on the island.

Aimé Césaire and Frantz Fanon, two of the leading advocates and writers in the global anticolonial movement, came from Martinique, and their advocacy was shaped by their efforts to overthrow French colonialism on the island. Aimé Césaire (1913-2008) was born in Fort-de-France, the capital of Martinique and the setting of Solibo Magnificent. He studied in Paris. He is best known as the founder of the négritude movement, which advocated for and analyzed Black consciousness throughout the African diaspora. He is best known for his work Notebook of a Return to My Native Land, a mix of poetry and prose, his Discourse on Colonialism, and A Tempest, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s play. Césaire went on to become a leading politician in Martinique. Frantz Fanon (1925-1961) was born in Fort-de-France and studied psychiatry in Paris. He is best known for his works Black Skin, White Masks (1952) and The Wretched of the Earth (1961), both of which analyze how colonialism and its attendant racism, capitalist exploitation, and oppression shape the psychology, politics, and culture of the colonized and colonizer.

Author Patrick Chamoiseau (1953-) is inspired by these two Martinican anticolonial writers and leaders. His work is informed by their literary forms, political advocacy, and the mix of the two. For instance, Solibo Magnificent, like Notebook of a Return to My Native Land, incorporates both poetry and prose, and linguistically, they both emphasize the Creole language. Chamoiseau is a leading proponent of the créolite movement, or the advocacy for the preservation and use of Martinican Creole. Martinican Creole is a language that blends French with many other languages, including a variety of African languages, Indigenous American languages, Spanish, and others. It is largely a spoken language, hence the emphasis on oral storytelling in Solibo Magnificent.

Under the French (neo)colonial system, only French was and is permitted in official documents and schools. Thus, the French language was used as a tool of colonial power to marginalize and disempower colonized subjects in Martinique, Haiti, and elsewhere in the colonies. This is still largely the case throughout the French neocolonial system. However, due to the advocacy of Chamoiseau and other members of the créolite movement, there has been some incorporation of Martinican Creole into the educational system and official processes in Martinique. Chamoiseau believes, as is shown in Solibo Magnificent, that the preservation of the Martinican Creole language is essential to the preservation of cultural memory as a whole in the face of ongoing (neo)colonial repression.