Martin Carter Selected Poems / Poesías Escogidas
This dual language selection of Martin Carter's poems, edited by David Dabydeen, translated into Spanish by Salvador Ortiz-Carbonares and with an introduction by Gemma Robinson, will establish very clearly that Carter is a major South American poet, in the company of Valejo, Neruda and Paz.
Price
£8.99
Author(s)
Martin Carter
Salvador Ortiz-Carboneres
ISBN number
9781900715393
Pages
153
Price
£8.99
Classification
Spanish and English
Translation
Poetry
Country setting
Guyana
Publication date
01 Aug 1999

This dual language selection of Martin Carter's poems, edited by David Dabydeen, translated into Spanish by Salvador Ortiz-Carbonares and with an introduction by Gemma Robinson, will establish very clearly that Carter is a major South American poet, in the company of Valejo, Neruda and Paz.

As Ian McDonald writes: 'What we have is enough to prove, if proof has been needed... that Martin Carter is, without reservation, one of the finest poets to have emerged in the Caribbean region. And the varied subtlety and strength of his poetry carries him without any doubt into the first rank of world poets. Long after the politics which prompted a number of his poems have been forgotten, and long after the society which he often so scathingly indicted has been changed utterly the poetry will continue to strike a chord among new generations.' 

The late Martin Carter was without doubt one of the Caribbean's major poets, only less well known than Walcott and Brathwaite because he rarely left his native Guyana. He came to notice first for his Poems of Resistance (1954) written out of his experiences of the anti-colonial struggle which included his imprisonment by the British for his political activities. His work has been a major influence on the current generation of Caribbean poets as John Agard, David Dabydeen, Fred D'Aguiar, Kwame Dawes, Linton Kwesi Johnson and Grace Nichols among others have elsewhere testified.

Variations

Martin Carter

Martin Wylde Carter was born in 1927 in Georgetown, British Guiana. His family, of mixed African, Indian and European ancestry, was part of the coloured middle class. His father was a civil servant, a reader and discusser of philosophy and mother also a lover of books and reciting verse. Martin Carter attended the prestigious Queen’s College between 1939 and 1945. In that year he got a job in the civil service, first in the Post Office, then as secretary to the superintendent of prisons. By 1945, it seems likely that he had come into contact with the Marxist ideas of the Political Affairs Committee (the Jagans, Cheddi and Janet, and HJM Hubbard). A friendship with the Jagans began, with access to their extensive, radical library.
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