Jean Verdi Salomon Razakandraina (1913–1978), commonly known as Dox, was a Malagasy writer and poet considered one of the most important literary figures in the country's history.

He is principally renowned for his poetry and plays, but was also a painter, wrote and performed musical compositions, and translated several major French and English language works into Malagasy.

His work during this period reflected the movement's aim to reaffirm the value of Malagasy identity, which had been eroded under the influence of the French colonial administration.

When a major nationalist uprising erupted in 1947, Dox rallied behind the Mouvement démocratique de la rénovation malgache and suffered a gunshot wound during a protest.

Throughout his career, he produced nine poem anthologies, numerous books in prose, and sixteen plays featuring folk tales, Biblical stories or Malagasy historical themes, in addition to countless privately commissioned works.

Throughout his life, Dox enjoyed strong popular support for his work, which combined elements of romanticism and the sensibilities of traditional Malagasy poetry and proverbs.

Jean Verdi Salomon Razakandraina was born on 13 January 1913 in Manankavaly, Madagascar, to an observant Christian family of the noble class.

This focus on reading allowed Razakandraina to discover a range of French novelists, among whom his favorites were Victor Hugo, Alfred de Musset, Charles Baudelaire, and Albert Samain.

[3] While enrolled at Paul Minault, Razakandraina was given two nicknames: Sorajavona ("colors of the clouds", an acronym formed from the initials of his name), and later Dox, from both the English "ox", and from "paradox".

These avenues provided Razakandraina the opportunity to publish his first works of poetry,[3] which were composed in the romantic genre,[1] and write and organize the performance of his first theatrical plays.

"[4] Although his first theater troupe also enjoyed popular success,[3] and performed in both Antananarivo at the Centre Culturel Albert Camus[1] and in the coastal city of Toamasina,[3] it was soon disbanded upon the insistence of his father, who wished his son to pursue a career in medicine as he had.

When the nationalist uprising erupted in 1947, Dox rallied behind the Mouvement démocratique de la rénovation malgache (for which his father was the secretary of the Antsirabe branch), and suffered a gunshot wound during a protest.

The second category consists of poems that offer philosophical musings on the nature of identity, and are rich with Malagasy proverbs and Madagascar's symbolic places and objects.

[2] Dox wrote prolifically over the course of his career, yielding nine poem anthologies, numerous books in prose, and sixteen plays along Biblical themes or Malagasy history and folk tales.

"[1] The works of Dox have formed part of the public school curriculum in Madagascar from primary to university level since independence in 1960.