Raw, rough, heinous, carnal, political, emotional. These are the adjective I’d choose to describe Aimé Césaire’s anti-colonial long poem, “Return to My Native Land”. This aching poetic text is the emotional testimony of a man, the author, who starts to see his Country, Martinica, with new eyes, the ones of an individual who has (re)discovered his identity, the one of a racialised person, of an intellectual. He begins to notice the contradictions and the violence perpetrated by the White Man, which chokes every attempt of change, revolts and even of development; but also native citizens’ aspirations, hopes and resilience. This is a poem on bodied subjected by colonial domination, that find their expressions in life fervour, as well as in dance and singing; it’s the poetic manifest of Négritude. Vitality, freedom, emotional and political momentum. The beauties and uglinesses of a land which tried to free itself from foreign inferences, from white suprematism, from colonialism, to find its own definition and identity, to look out to the world.
I think that this new translation from Penguin Classics is perfect and Jason Allen-Paisant’s introduction a gem.
This is a book to read and read and read again to catch every details and shades that I’d recommend to read in schools as well.

My name is Bordeaux and Nantes and Liverpool and New York and San Fransisco
not a corner of this world but carries my thumbprint and my heel mark on the backs of skyscrapers
and my dirt in the glitter of jewels!

An essential read if you enjoy poetry! There's not much new that can be said about this work. I think you'll find it a little hard to follow if you're not familiar with the context - I think the introduction to this was okay but I had to do some background reading to get a fuller understanding.

Thank you Penguin and Netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This seemed to be something I'd really like and I appreciate the representation here, but I found the writing really hard to follow. I read another review in French that said the same, so I don't think it's the translation. Sadly, this didn't work for me, but I'm interested in learning more about the author

An invaluable entry into the canon, this book is perfect for any reader interested in the black struggle for independence and freedom. Perfectly preserved and presented in an easily-accessible form, I recommend this to anyone looking to expand their knowledge and appetite for otherwise marginalised perspectives.

There's little that can be said of this that wouldn't have been said already - simply a work of genius.