Claude McKay, Banana Bottom

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Claude McKay lived and wrote though major movements of the twentieth century: the First World War and its aftermath; the Russian Revolution (and the subsequent establishment of the Soviet Union); the Great Depression (which effectively ruined his literary career); and the Second World War, which eventually gave way to political independence for Europe’s colonies – independence for which McKay agitated but did not see in his lifetime. Throughout these movements McKay was forever a traveller, forever a foreigner, never quite re/finding the Jamaican peasant home he left behind in 1912, nor the Harlem from which he exiled himself in 1922 and to which he reluctantly returned in 1934.

Banana Bottom

, his final novel published during his lifetime, narrates a young Jamaican woman’s return…

3594 words

Citation: Rodriques, Janelle. "Banana Bottom". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 August 2019 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=19571, accessed 13 May 2024.]

19571 Banana Bottom 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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