Journal of a Homecoming

“Césaire’s classic text, witnessing the performative contradiction of the postcolonial voice, has found its appropriate translator, a Caribbean classicist, as was the poet himself. The translator’s note is a rare teaching aid. This bilingual edition, introduced and annotated by a uniquely masterful critic from Africa, F. Abiola Irele, who did more to establish the Césaire canon than any other critic, brings Homecoming home. An invaluable book for student, teacher, scholar, indeed for the global citizen.”  —Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak

Originally published in 1939, Aimé Césaire’s Cahier d’un retour au pays natal is a landmark of modern French poetry and a founding text of the Négritude movement. This bilingual edition features a new authoritative translation, revised introduction, and extensive commentary, making it a magisterial edition of Césaire’s surrealist masterpiece.