Crown Jewel - Hardcover

Boissiere, Ralph De

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0850312922 ISBN 13: 9780850312928

Publisher: Allison & Busby, 1981

Synopsis

In stock. Top outer edge dust-spotted, bottom edges of covers and pages slightly scuffed and affected by damp, owner's name and date of purchase inside front cover, in the dust-wrapper (which is scuffed at corners and damp-marked along bottom edge). Next day dispatch from United Kingdom. International delivery available. Please contact us with any queries.

About this title

Review

De Boissiere's best-known novels are Crown Jewel, set in the 1930s at the time of the Butler riots in the oilfields of south Trinidad--part of the general disturbances in the British Caribbean in the 1930s--and Rum and Coca Cola, which takes place during the Second World War when thousands of American soldiers came to Trinidad to build and man military bases. University of the West Indies Professor Ken Ramchand says "De Boissiere's work combines social realism and political commitment with a concern for the culture of the feeling within the individual in a way that is unique not only among West Indian writers but among writers with a social conscience anywhere in the world." Ramchand stresses that Crown Jewel and Rum and Coca Cola are essential reading for an understanding of the rich possibilities of young Trinidad in the 1930s and 1940s and the subtle makings of what renowned WI writer Sam Selvon called "the Trinidadian person." The book made its way to Eastern Europe, where it was translated into six or seven languages, and also found its way home to Trinidad. In 1982, it was published in Britain after Salman Rushdie praised it... and... it received a good review in the New York Review of Books." -- Anthony Milne. has worked as a journalist with Trinidad Express newspapers since July 1981, covering politics, parliament and just about everything else under the sun. --Anthony Milne, journalist - Trinidad Express

The Tribune declared, 'De Boissiere has created an art work.' The Voices described Crown Jewel as Trinidad's "most important political novel... the fundamental work of fiction in our society" --The Tribune, September 1957; Voices, 1973, p. 3. See p. 157 of Fifty Caribbean Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook.

... de Boissiere s work, 'combines social realism and political commitment with a concern for the culture of the feeling within the individual in a way that is unique not only among West Indian writers but among writers with a social conscience anywhere in the world.' Prof. Ramchand adds 'Crown Jewel is essential reading for an understanding of the rich possibilities of young Trinidad in the 1930s and 1940s and the subtle makings of what renowned West Indian writer, Sam Selvon, called "the Trinidadian.' --Professor, Ken Ramchand - University of the West Indies, renamed the University of Trinidad and Tobago.

About the Author

De Boissiere was born in Trinidad in 1907, the son of solicitor Armand de Boissiere and his English wife Maude Harper. He was educated at Queens Royal College. The injustices of society gradually came to dominate de Boissiere's thinking and writing. As a young man he found sympathetic attitudes in books among English and especially Russian writers. His sympathies were with the poor and he saw the ugliness of developing capitalism.

Edition details

• Publisher: Allison & Busby
• Publication date: 1981
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0850312922
• ISBN 13: 9780850312928
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 364