Notebook of a Return to the Native Land (Wesleyan Poetry)

Rating:
Summary: ¿Pay no attention to my black skin: the sun did it¿.
Review: Notebook is so beautiful and awe-inspiring that I am loath to attempt a review for fear of failing to transmit how powerful a message it really has. That being said, it is a battle cry and a rallying point for the Negritude movement. Rejecting the roles of slave or victim, Cesaire pounds the reader with a repetition of painful and degrading symbols and words (i.e. the taboo: "nigger"). Using extended metaphors of slave-ships and plantations, Cesaire expresses the deep desire of modern Africans and African-Americans and Caribbeans to merely exist in the world, without any associated emotions of sympathy or messages of oppression. He attacks Christian dogma, concepts of white and/or European supremacy, and modern African-Americans "shaking themselves in various ways to get rid of their stripes." Scathing. Moving. Notebook is WELL worth the read.