Product Description

In 1932 the young writer and political activist CLR James arrived in London from his native Trinidad. During his first weeks in the city he wrote a series of essays about his impressions and experiences for publication back home in the Port of Spain Gazette. Seventy years later, these pieces, newly transcribed from archives in the Caribbean, are published for the first time as a collection, with an extensive introduction and notes. Letters from London reveals CLR James' first encounter with the colonial metropolis and the values that had already shaped his intellectual development in Trinidad. Drawn to London's literary and political avant-garde, he describes life in Bloomsbury, arguments with Edith Sitwell, visits to theatres, museums and concert halls, and his seminal friendship with the great West Indies cricketer, Learie Constantine. Initially in awe of London, James soon develops a critical stance towards the city and its once mysterious people, analysing their drab architecture, shallow newspapers and repressed social relations. 'Londoners have had sixty years of compulsory education and all the advantages of a great modern city,' he writes. 'When you look at the intellectual quality of the people, you are astonished.' A resurrected classic of considerable importance, Letters from London provides a hitherto inaccessible picture of the young CLR James and his formative period. This collection will appeal not just to Jamesites, but to scholars of colonial and post-colonial history and those interested in London.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #633071 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 144 pages

Review
'The level of political debate among the middle classes appalled James; reflecting on the frivolity of the newspapers, he accuses the ruling classes of mental adolescence.' --Times Literary Supplement

About the Author
CLR JAMES (1901-1989) was one of the 20th century's most innovative and influential historians and political theorists. The author of books on the Haitian Revolution, African independence and cricket, he was also a life-long Marxist and political activist.

Customer Reviews

Read it
James, a young intellectual moves the West Indies, arrives in London and writes some wide-eyed and at points naive letters back to the local paper in Trinidad.
His excitement of mixing and talking to the students around Bloomsbury is obvious, and the discussions he has, I would love to have sat in on. The plunge he takes into a different culture has highs and lows and they all come through in this honest and enthusiastic collection of articles.
For me, though, the most sparkling feature of James little book is the way that he instantly sees (at that time, and it still applies now) that the wealth and 'development' London has experienced hasn't made life of a better quality than back in Trinidad. Infact the homes and boarding houses are pretty revolting. He puts this across, not in a condemnatory way, but in a manner that shows him to hold fast to the idea that people are more important than apparent 'progress', a driving force throughout his political life.
A refreshing and invigorating book.