C. L. R. James, Minty Alley

Janelle Rodriques (Auburn University)

Ed. by Melanie Otto, Trinity College Dublin, 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

First circulation or publication c. 1936

Places

England (Publication/ performance)
Trinidad & Tobago, Trinidad (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Minty Alley, published in London in 1936 – eight years after its completion in Port of Spain – is Cyril Lionel Robert James’ first and only novel. Upon reflection in 1963, in Beyond a Boundary, his ground breaking discussion of the intersections between cricket, class, culture and colonialism James referred to the novel as his “prentice hand”, in anticipation of “the real magnum opus” that was to be his second novel, which never came (2013: 115). Minty Alley tells the story of Haynes, a young member of Trinidad’s petite bourgeoisie who is forced, by the death of his mother and subsequent financial hardship, to take a room in a “barrack-yard” …

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4022 words

Citation: Rodriques, Janelle. "Minty Alley". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 August 2019 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=38900, accessed 29 September 2023.]

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