Search results for ""author roger mais""

Bending and manipulating the linear narrative structures of conventional fiction, this stark and brutal novel--originally published in 1953--is a powerful reflection on colonial Jamaica and the condition of the urban poor, told through the voices and stories of several boldly drawn characters. Beginning with Surjue, a man arrested and imprisoned following a botched robbery, who struggles for survival within Jamaica's colonial prison, this tale bears an unflinching and distressing realism that combines poetic spirit, tragic vision, and prophetic rage, while offering an acute look at the reality the poor in 1950s Jamaica.

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Part of Peepal Tree's Caribbean Modern Classics series, Black Lightning is the third and final novel by Roger Mais, originally published in 1955, the year of his death.Set in the Jamaican countryside, it follows the story of Jack, a sculptor and blacksmith who idolises the biblical Samson as a figure of man's independence. Setting out to carve a tribute to Samson in mahogany, Jack is soon beset by the break-up of his marriage, and a lightning strike that leaves him blind. What follows is a heart-rending tale of humanity, of finding one's way, and of friendship in adversity.Roger Mais was born in Kingston, Jamaica. His 1944 critique of Churchill's imperialist ideology, Now We Know, saw him sentenced to six months in prison for sedition. His other novels are The Hills Were Joyful Together (1951), brought back into print by Peepal Tree in 2012, and Brother Man (1954), published by Macmillan Caribbean Writers in 2004. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Jamaica in 1978.

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