'The undisputed masterpiece of négritude and a poetic milestone of anti-colonialism' Guardian
'We shall speak. We shall sing. We shall shout.' This blazing autobiographical poem by the
founder of the négritude movement became a rallying cry for decolonisation when it appeared in
1939. Following one man's return from Europe to his homeland of Martinique it is a reckoning
with the trauma of slavery and exploitation and a triumphant anthem for Black identity one
which reclaims and remakes language itself. 'Nothing less than the greatest lyrical monument
of this time' André Breton 'A Césaire poem explodes and whirls about itself like a rocket
suns burst forth whirling and exploding' Jean-Paul Sartre 'The most influential Francophone
Caribbean writer of his generation' Independent Translated by John Berger and Anna Bostock
