Without Hatreds or Fears: Jorge Artel and the Struggle for Black Literary Expression in Colombia

Abstract

Prescott, desde hace muchos años el exégeta más fiel de Jorge Artel, presenta con este libro su gran estudio sobre el poeta negro. La siguiente cita está tomada de la presentación de la editorial en Internet: ""Without Hatreds or Fears is a study of Tambores en la noche (1940 ed.; 1955 ed.), two volumes of verse by Jorge Artel (1909-94), the principal poet of black expression in twentieth-century Colombia. Analyzing Artels work within the context of Colombian history and culture, modern Spanish American literature, and the poets own career, this study both elucidates the artistry and thematic concerns of a noted yet unjustifiably underrated writer and explains the various factors that have rendered Afro-Colombian authors virtually invisible in their homeland and excluded from the Spanish American literary canon. Laurence E. Prescott illuminates the impact of geography, regionalism, slavery, mestizaje, race relations, and the publishing industry on literary production in Colombia. His study uncovers the Afro-Colombian writers struggle to reclaim their African heritage, to affirm blackness, and to inscribe themselves -without enmity or apprehension- into the national culture""