Editions

Romance in Marseille

  • Imprint: Penguin Classics

  • ISBN: 9780143134220

  • Length: 208  Pages

  • Dimensions: 197mm x 15mm x 130mm

  • Weight: 179g

  • RRP: £12.99

Romance in Marseille

While stowed away on a transatlantic freighter, Lafala is discovered and locked away in an icy-cold closet, resulting in the loss of his frostbitten legs. When his successful lawsuit against the shipping company brings big bucks, Lafala returns to Marseille to resume his affair with Aslima, a Moroccan prostitute. With its scenes of black bodies seeking pleasure and fighting for freedom even when stolen, shipped, and sold for parts, Romance in Marseille explores the heritage of slavery amid a predatory modern economy.

  • Imprint: Penguin Classics

  • ISBN: 9780143134220

  • Length: 208  Pages

  • Dimensions: 197mm x 15mm x 130mm

  • Weight: 179g

  • RRP: £12.99

Reviews

  • Claude McKay's poetry was one of the great forces in bringing about what is often called the 'Negro Literary Renaissance'

    James Weldon Johnson

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About the Author

Claude McKay

Claude McKay was born in Jamaica, and moved to the U.S. in 1912 to study at the Tuskgee Institute. In 1928, he published his most famous novel, Home to Harlem, which won the Harmon Gold Award for Literature. He also published two other novels, Banjo and Banana Bottom, as well as a collection of short stories, Gingertown, two autobiographical books, A Long Way from Home and My Green Hills of Jamaica and a work of non-fiction, Harlem: Negro Metropolis. His Selected Poems was published posthumously, and in 1977 he was named the national poet of Jamaica.

Claude McKay

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Claude McKay's Romance in Marseille shows how human truths have been erased from history

Romance in Marseille challenges ableism, celebrates Queer love and places a working class, multicultural community at its heart – and took 80 years to be published. Johny Pitts explains its essential lessons.

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