Song for Mumu

AuthorLindsay Barrett
LanguageEnglish
PublisherLongman
Publication date
1967; 57 years ago (1967)
Pages154 pp.

Song for Mumu is the debut novel of Jamaican-born writer Lindsay Barrett. Written between April 1962 and October 1966 while the author lived in Frankfurt, Germany, Paris, France, and Accra, Ghana,[1] it was published in 1967 by Longman in London, England, where Barrett participated in readings alongside writers associated with the Caribbean Artists Movement.[2]

Set on an unnamed Caribbean island, Song for Mumu is characterised as "an allegorical novel of desire, love, and loss".[1] It was favourably noticed on publication by such reviewers as Edward Baugh and Marina Maxwell (who respectively described it as "remarkable" and "significant").[3] It has also been called "a stylistic masterpiece of modern black fiction".[4]

  1. ^ a b "Barrett, Lindsay 1941–". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  2. ^ Walmsley, Anne (1992). The Caribbean Artists Movement 1966–1972: A Literary and Cultural Study. London/Port of Spain: New Beacon Books. pp. 126, 196.
  3. ^ Baugh, Eddie, "Confessions of a Critic" Archived 23 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Journal of West Indian Literature (15:1/2), November 2006, pp. 15–28.
  4. ^ Royster, Philip M. (Summer–Winter 1982). "The Narrative Line Of Song For Mumu". Obsidian (1975–1982). 8 (2–3): 57, 58. JSTOR 44491114.