The Young C.l.r. James: A Graphic Novelette

Description

This unique comic by Milton Knight illuminates the early years of C.L.R. James (1901-1989), known in much later years as the "last great Pan-Africanist." The son of a provincial school administrator in British-governed Trinidad, James disappointed his family by embracing the culture and passions of the colonial underclass, Carnival and cricket. He joined the literary avant-garde of the island before leaving for Britain. In the UK, James swiftly became a beloved cricket journalist, playwright for his close friend Paul Robeson, and a pathbreaking scholar of black history with The Black Jacobins (1938), the first history of the Haitian revolt. The artistic skills of Milton Knight, at once acute and provocative, bring out James's unique personality, how it arose, and how he became a world figure.

Paul Buhle introduced James's work to the New Left via Radical America in the later 1960s. Milton Knight's work has appeared in outlets such as Heavy Metal, High Times, and National Lampoon. Lawrence Ware writes and comments widely on race, sports, and culture in many publications, including New Black Man (In Exile), Counterpunch, Democratic Left, Huffington Post Live, and NPR.

"Though Knight's idiosyncratic 'Americanised' style is something of an acquired taste, and one can imagine many cricket purists in particular raising the odd eyebrow over depictions of cricket matches which resemble baseball games, nonetheless one is left wanting more. Given the success of Kate Evans's superb Red Rosa, about the life of Rosa Luxemburg, it is to be hoped that Knight might one day be inspired enough to return to his portrayal of James's revolutionary life, and give us 'Red C.L.R.'" --CHRISTIAN HOGSBJERG, Race & Class Journal "The Young C.L.R. James: A Graphic Novelette (PM Press) gives a new generation of readers a glimpse into the early years of the twentieth-century Pan-Africanist revolutionary writer C.L.R. James (1901-1989). Illustrated by Milton Knight and edited by Lawrence Ware and Paul Buhle, this small book recalls the early life of the Trinidadian activist, best known for his 1938 book Black Jacobins, a history of the Haitian revolution led by Toussaint L'Ouverture. Paul Buhle, himself a radical historian, is author of the classic 1988 biography of James, C.L.R. James: The Artist as Revolutionary (reissued last year in an expanded version with an afterword by Ware). Buhle has in recent years worked with other writers and artists to create a series of graphic or "comix" biographies of radical figures, including Rosa Luxemburg, Eugene Debs, Emma Goldman, Johnny Appleseed, Robin Hood, and even Jesus Christ (Radical Jesus: A Graphic History of Faith). The Young C.L.R. James is a worthy addition to this oeuvre. 'How could it be that James, the son of an obscure schoolteacher and a novel-reading mother, a rebellious and unwilling scholar, could grow into this stature?' Buhle and Ware ask in their introduction. 'There are many answers. But these comic pages provide clues nowhere else grasped.'" --The Progressive "The Young C.L.R. James is a worthy addition to this oeuvre. 'How could it be that James, the son of an obscure schoolteacher and a novel-reading mother, a rebellious and unwilling scholar, could grow into this stature?' Buhle and Ware ask in their introduction. There are many answers. But these comic pages provide clues nowhere else grasped.'" --Ed Rampell, The Progressive "THERE'S LITERALLY NO reason for any socialist to not pick up this illustrated novelette, even if you've already read all of C.L.R. James' writings and have read the biographies and studies of his works written by Paul Buhle (the novelette's co-editor), James D. Young, Kent Worcester, Frank Rosengarten and others. This pamphlet is a delight, a charming caricature drawn in a whimsical style by Milton Knight, an artist who's worked on everything from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics to World War 3 Illustrated." --Jason Schulman, https: //solidarity-us.org "Illustrated by Milton Knight and edited by political graphic novelist extraordinaire Paul Buhle and Lawrence Ware, the book traces the early years of a man born in 1901 whose most famous book was the 1938, The Black Jacobins, the first history of the Haitian revolt." --Randy Shaw, www.beyondchron.org/ "A vividly realized graphic biography that provides a delightful introduction to the early life and times of CLR James. Highly recommended." --Kent Worcester, author, C.L.R. James, a Political Biography