C. L. R. James | |
|---|---|
 James in 1974 | |
| Born | Cyril Lionel Robert James 4 January 1901 Tunapuna, Colony of Trinidad and Tobago, British Empire |
| Died | 31 May 1989 (aged 88) |
| Other names | J. R. Johnson; Nello James |
| Occupation(s) | Historian, writer |
| Notable work | The Black Jacobins Beyond a Boundary Minty Alley Toussaint Louverture: The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History World Revolution |
| Spouses |
Juanita Young
(m. 1929; div. 1932)Constance Webb
(m. 1946; div. 1953) |
| Children | 1 |
Cyril Lionel Robert James (4 January 1901 – 31 May 1989),[1] who sometimes wrote under the pen-name J. R. Johnson, was a Trinidadian historian, journalist, Trotskyist activist and Marxist writer. His works are influential in various theoretical, social, and historiographical contexts. His work is a staple of Marxism, and he figures as a pioneering and influential voice in postcolonial literature.[2] A tireless political activist, James is the author of the 1937 work World Revolution outlining the history of the Communist International, which stirred debate in Trotskyist circles, and in 1938 he wrote on the Haitian Revolution, The Black Jacobins.[3]
Characterised by one literary critic as an "anti-Stalinist dialectician",[4] James was known for his autodidactism, for his occasional playwriting and fiction, and as an avid sportsman. The performance of his 1934 play Toussaint Louverture was the first time black professional actors featured in a production written by a black playwright in the UK. His 1936 book Minty Alley was the first novel by a black West Indian to be published in Britain.[5] He is also famed as a writer on cricket, and his 1963 book Beyond a Boundary, which he himself described as "neither cricket reminiscences nor autobiography",[6] is commonly named as the best single book on cricket, and even the best book about sports ever written.[7]
- ^ Fraser, C. Gerald, "C. L. R. James, Historian, Critic And Pan-Africanist, Is Dead at 88" Archived 21 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, 2 June 1989.
- ^ Said, Edward, Culture and Imperialism, London: Chatto & Windus, 1993, p. 54.
- ^ Segal, Ronald. The Black Diaspora, London: Faber, 1996, p. 275.
- ^ Said (1993), Culture and Imperialism. p. 253.
- ^ Gabrielle Bellot, "On the First Novel Published By a Black Caribbean Writer in England" Archived 11 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The Huffington Post, 19 May 2016.
- ^ James, Beyond a Boundary (1963), Preface.
- ^ Rosengarten: Urbane Revolutionary, p. 134.