Download or read book More written by Austin Clarke and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-09-15 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the news of her son BJ's involvement in gang crime, Idora Morrison, a maid at the local university, collapses in her basement apartment. For four days and nights she retreats into a vortex of memory, pain, and disappointment that becomes a riveting exposÉ of her life as a Caribbean immigrant living abroad. While she struggled to make ends meet, her deadbeat husband, Bertram, abandoned her for a better life in New York. Left alone to raise her son, Idora has done her best to survive against immense odds. But now that BJ has disappeared into a life of crime, she recoils from his loss and is unable to get out of bed, burdened by feelings of invisibility. As she summons the strength to investigate her son's troubles—and her own weaknesses—the book quietly builds to its crescendo. Eventually Idora finds her way back into the light with a courage that is both remarkable and unforgettable. More zeroes in, with laserlike intensity, on the interior life of an extraordinary "ordinary woman," showcasing Clarke's skill as a writer of inimitable force.
Download or read book Reviews and Essays of Austin Clarke written by Austin Clarke and published by Barnes & Noble. This book was released on 1992-01-01 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Polished Hoe written by Austin Clarke and published by Dundurn.com. This book was released on 2003-09-03 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 2002 Scotiabank Giller Prize and of the 2003 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize: Best Book (Canada and the Caribbean) When an elderly Bimshire village woman calls the police to confess to a murder, the result is a shattering all-night vigil that brings together elements of the African diaspora in one epic sweep. Set on the post-colonial West Indian island of Bimshire in 1952, The Polished Hoe unravels over the course of 24 hours but spans the lifetime of one woman and the collective experience of a society informed by slavery. As the novel opens, Mary Mathilda is giving confession to Sargeant, a police officer she has known all her life. The man she claims to have murdered is Mr. Belfeels, the village plantation owner for whom she has worked for more than thirty years. Mary has also been Mr. Belfeels’ mistress for most of that time and is the mother of his only son, Wilberforce, a successful doctor. What transpires through Mary’s words and recollections is a deep meditation about the power of memory and the indomitable strength of the human spirit. Infused with Joycean overtones, this is a literary masterpiece that evokes the sensuality of the tropics and the tragic richness of Island culture.
Download or read book Membering written by Austin Clarke and published by Dundurn. This book was released on 2015-08-15 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Giller Prize winner Austin Clarke’s memoirs provide insightful cultural observations by one of today’s most influential black writers.
Download or read book Where the Sun Shines Best written by Austin Clarke and published by Essential Poets (Ecco). This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Grade level: 9, 10, 11, 12, i, s.
Download or read book Choosing His Coffin written by Austin Clarke and published by Dundurn.com. This book was released on 2003-03-04 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of the Giller Award - winning novel The Polished Hoe comes a new collection of 20 of his best short stories. Choosing His Coffin is a selection of Austin Clarke’s finest work from more than 40 years of storytelling, drawing on his Caribbean roots and his years in Canada. These stories range in theme from growing up in West Indian society and what it means to be black in both the United States and Canada to surviving as an immigrant in a predominantly Anglo-Saxon culture. Clarke has become one of the most respected authors in North America and is one of Canada’s national literary treasures. He is a master of fictional invention.
Download or read book The Origin of Waves written by Austin Clarke and published by McClelland & Stewart. This book was released on 2011-02-18 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Austin Clarke’s luminous novel, written in vivid, hypnotic prose, reveals the dislocations of place and the nature of memory and the past. Two elderly Barbadian men, childhood friends who haven’t seen each other in fifty years, collide in a snowstorm on a Toronto street. In the warmth of a nearby bar, through the afternoon and into the night, they relate stories, exchange opinions, and share memories of a past in Barbados when, as children, neither could conceive any other place existed for them. As these two men confess to each other their innermost truths, their exploits and their love affairs, one tells the haunting story of a young Chinese woman, the other of the real reason for his visit to Toronto. Infused with pathos and humour, and with an affecting nostalgia for the idea of home, The Origin of Waves is a stunning and original novel by one of the country’s most gifted writers.
Download or read book Reviews and Essays of Austin Clarke written by Austin Clarke and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 1995 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Austin Clarke is widely regarded as one of 20th-century Ireland's most important poets. In this selection of nearly fifty essays and reviews written over Clarke's long career, he demonstrates that he is an astute and provocative literary critic as well. Having grown up in Dublin when the excitement of the Irish Literary Revival was still running high, Clarke knew many of the principal figures of that movement personally, and his readings of Yeats, Joyce, Synge, O'Casey, Lady Gregory, George Moore, and others enjoy the advantages of an insider's point of view. A selection of Clarke's writings on Yeats is followed by his writings on other Irish writers and the Irish Literary Revival, and on Modern English and American literature. Included as an appendix is an exhaustive list of Clarke's literary criticism published in periodicals.
Download or read book Growing Up Stupid Under the Union Jack written by Austin Clarke and published by Ian Randle Publishers. This book was released on 2003 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An autobiographical account of growing up in colonial Barbados during and after the Second World War.
Download or read book Pig Tails n Breadfruit Anniversary Edition written by Austin Clarke and published by Ian Randle Publishers. This book was released on 2014-07-02 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Growing up in Barbados, Austin Clarke was surrounded by women in the kitchen. Enveloped in the heavenly smells and smoke of their cooking, he listened to their talk about the food they were preparing. His mother; several aunts and numerous cousins always recited the steps they were taking as they cooked, and through them, he learned how to cook the traditional dishes of Barbados - food that has its origins in the days of slavery, of hardships and economic grief, when 'ingreasements' (ingredients) were scarce. The food was not just intended to 'full a hole in your stomach', according to Austin's mother, but to make you 'feel good', 'grow into a strong man' and give you 'big-big brains'. In Pig Tails 'n' Breadfruit, Austin Clarke shares his favourite recipes, including Smoked Ham Hocks with Lima Beans, Breadfruit Cou-Cou with Braising beef, Oxtails with Mushrooms, Pepperpot, and his renowned Chicken Austintacious. He reveals his method for choosing a 'nice piece o' pigtail from the brine barrel', demonstrates how to test an okra for freshness, outlines the essential characteristics of a real pork chop, and instructs us in the proper use of a cou-cou stick, that essential tool found in every Barbadian home. And all the while he reminisces about the food he ate as a boy and the rituals that went along with it. Whether it's a story about the village butcher whose qualifications were somewhat suspect, how to map a sure-fire route to a woman's heart through her stomach, or searching the streets of Durham, North Carolina, for fried chicken with Norman Mailer, Austin Clarke will make you hungry for 'hot cuisine' and the spirit of the island.
Download or read book Membering Austin Clarke written by Paul Barrett and published by Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. This book was released on 2020-11-24 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Membering Austin Clarke reflects on the life and writing of Austin Clarke, whose depictions of Black life in Canada enlarged our understanding of what Canadian literature looks like. Despite being one of Canada's most widely published, and most richly awarded writers, Austin Clarke (1934–2016) is not a household name. This collection addresses Clarke's marginalization in Canadian literature by demonstrating that his writing on Black diasporic life and the immigrant experience is a foundational, if untold, part of the story of CanLit. Novelist, short-story writer, poet, and essayist, Clarke was born in Barbados, moved to Canada in 1955 and went on to establish Black Studies programs at a number of universities in America. He returned to Canada and became one of Canadian literature’s most prolific authors and a public voice for Black people in Canada. Among his best-known works are the Giller Award–winning The Polished Hoe (2002) and his memoir ‘Membering (2015). This collection of essays from colleagues, scholars, friends, and fellow writers addresses Clarke's work in all its richness and complexity in order to understand how Clarke's legacy continues to transform Canadian writing. It includes previously unpublished poems and short stories from Clarke's archives as well as personal reflections from friends, histories of the publication of his works, essays, interviews, and short stories and poems inspired by Clarke.
Download or read book Carefree Black Girls written by Zeba Blay and published by St. Martin's Griffin. This book was released on 2021-10-19 with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of Kirkus Review's Best Books About Being Black in America "Powerful... Calling for Black women (in and out of the public eye) to be treated with empathy, Blay’s pivotal work will engage all readers, especially fans of Mikki Kendall’s Hood Feminism." —Kirkus (Starred) An empowering and celebratory portrait of Black women—from Josephine Baker to Aunt Viv to Cardi B. In 2013, film and culture critic Zeba Blay was one of the first people to coin the viral term #carefreeblackgirls on Twitter. As she says, it was “a way to carve out a space of celebration and freedom for Black women online.” In this collection of essays, Carefree Black Girls, Blay expands on this initial idea by delving into the work and lasting achievements of influential Black women in American culture--writers, artists, actresses, dancers, hip-hop stars--whose contributions often come in the face of bigotry, misogyny, and stereotypes. Blay celebrates the strength and fortitude of these Black women, while also examining the many stereotypes and rigid identities that have clung to them. In writing that is both luminous and sharp, expansive and intimate, Blay seeks a path forward to a culture and society in which Black women and their art are appreciated and celebrated.
Download or read book There are No Elders written by Austin Clarke and published by Exile Editions, Ltd.. This book was released on 2007 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A compelling collection that explores the lives of Afro-Caribbean immigrants living in Canada, these eight short stories delve into the experiences of displaced persons living in contemporary society--all with a richness of language and rhythm that is authentically urban.
Download or read book Storm of Fortune written by Austin Clarke and published by Vintage Canada. This book was released on 2012-08-07 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the second book in Austin Clarke’s groundbreaking Toronto Trilogy about the lives of black people in Canada. In Storm of Fortune, Clarke brings us into a circle of West Indian domestics—their friends, lovers, spouses, and employers—living in Toronto in the late 1950s. In lush, invigorating prose, Clarke illuminates the world of Bernice Leach—a world inhabited by earthy, garrulous, but terribly isolated people, all living, working, and struggling within an alien, white, Canadian culture. He brilliantly articulates the unsettled attitudes of his characters towards themselves, their community, and their fellow immigrants, exploring questions of status and social mobility. In turn, he unites these themes into a devastating commentary on the quest for success in North America. Dominated by warm, superbly drawn characters and pulsing with the nation language of Clarke’s characters’ speech, Storm of Fortune is a window into one of the most dynamic periods of Canadian history—one that has brought so much to bear on our present.
Download or read book In this City written by Austin Clarke and published by Exile Classics. This book was released on 2008 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In these eight masterful stories, Austin Clarke has caught the sorrowful and sometimes sweet longing for a home in the heart that torments the dislocated in any big city. These are private lives and intimate pains made public because the city itself is in exuberant upheaval, but the rawness of the moment is always redeemed by the elegance of Clarke's prose and the innate sympathy of his eye.
Download or read book The Survivors of the Crossing written by Austin Clarke and published by Caribbean Modern Classics. This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1961 Barbados a canecutter longing for a better life decides to take a stand against the colonial state but is undermined by his naivety, ignorance and misogyny.
Download or read book Amongst Thistles and Thorns written by Austin Clarke and published by New Canadian Library. This book was released on 1984 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Set in Barbados in the early 1950s, this uncompromising novel depicts the pain of childhood in a world where poverty and blackness are despised, and kids are treated as objects on which adults can take out their self-contempt and frustration. Milton Sobers is a nine-year-old on the run from a series of sadistic beatings from both his schoolmaster and his washer-woman mother. Dreaming of a life in Harlem, which is predominately black, open, and free, Milton encounters many comic and sad adventures that inevitably return him to the situation he was trying to escape. Originally published in 1965, this pertinent portrayal of the destruction of innocence explores the commonality of physical violence in the lives of Caribbean youth while offering hope for the intelligent child protagonist."--Goodreads
