FOCUS: An Anthology of Contemporary Jamaican Writing

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Suzanne Scafe (University of Brighton)

Ed. by Ronald Cummings, McMaster University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 4.1.1: Anglophone Writing and Culture of Central America and the Caribbean.
Vol. editors: Ronald Cummings (McMaster University), Delphine Munos (Université de Liège), Melanie Otto (Trinity College Dublin), Jak Peake (University of Essex), Abigail Ward (University of Nottingham)

Dates

Date of occurrence 1943-1960

Places

Jamaica (Location)

Genres and Modes

Anthology/ Collection

Resources

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The first edition of Focus: An Anthology of Contemporary Jamaican Writing, was published in 1943 by the City Printery in Kingston, Jamaica, and was edited by Edna Manley who is often referred to as the mother of modern Jamaican art (The Diaries: ix). Manley was a celebrated sculptor and artist, whose bronze and hardwood sculptures from the 1930s and 40s such as “Negro Aroused”, “Horse of the Morning”, “Pocomania”, “Strike” and many others, are now iconic emblems of an early nationalist sensibility. She was the wife of Norman Manley, one of the founders of Jamaica’s People’s National Party and mother of Michael Manley, Prime Minister of Jamaica from 1972-1980. Edna Manley was born in Cornwall, England in 1900; she met and married her husband, a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford…

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4042 words

Citation: Scafe, Suzanne. "FOCUS: An Anthology of Contemporary Jamaican Writing". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 January 2020 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19578, accessed 08 December 2023.]

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