Novel
In the Castle of My Skin
George Lamming · 1953
Synopsis
In a village of colonial Barbados, from the thirties to the forties, a boy, G., grows up from his ninth birthday with his friends Trumper, Bob and Boy Blue. The village belongs to a white landowner, Creighton; there they live through the flood, the school where the Empire is celebrated, the strikes and riots, and the rise of Mr Slime, a former schoolteacher turned leader. The narrative passes from the boy's voice to those of two elders of the village, Pa and Ma, and to an external narrator.
Context
The novel appeared in London in 1953 from Michael Joseph; the American edition carried an introduction by Richard Wright. Lamming had written it in London, shortly after his arrival. A French translation appeared as early as 1954 from Julliard, in Maurice Nadeau's series Les Lettres nouvelles, under the title Les îles fortunées, by Colette Audry and Henriette Étienne. Britannica ranks it among the autobiographical novels of formation.
Who it is for
A novel of childhood in which the voices change without warning; demanding but short, it can also be read in French.
Prizes and reception
Its author's first novel, winner of the Somerset Maugham Award in 1957, it was championed from its publication by Richard Wright and Jean-Paul Sartre.
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