(1950), translated into English as
Black Shack Alley(1979), is Joseph Zobel’s seminal semi-autobiographical novel, and its publication established the Martinican author as a writer of international significance. The novel’s original 1950 print run in Paris was small, and the text faded into relative obscurity until its reissue with the leading Franco-African publishing house Présence Africaine in 1974. An award-winning film adaptation,
Rue Cases-Nègres, by Euzhan Palcy (1983), brought the work to new international audiences.
Zobel’s novel eschews the dominant literary forms of the time (abstract surrealist poetry, and the essay); instead, it depicts Martinican plantation life in prose, and from an intensely individual viewpoint. The narrative is divided into
3753 words
Citation: Hardwick, Louise . "La Rue Cases-Nègres". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 June 2016 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35765, accessed 25 November 2024.]
