Minty Alley, C.L.R. James

This is Minty Alley by C.L.R James.

This particular copy I have has been published by Penguin with a new introduction by Bernardine Evaristo. I really enjoyed this book; it was funny, well-written and expressed quite well the inner nosiness we are all guilty of, about other people's lives! I found out that this novel,  was the first novel by a black West Indian to be published in England. I think CLR James was better known for his quite famous play, The Black Jacobins though 

Plot 

The novel is set in the 1920's Trinidadian capital. It follows a young man called Haynes. Haynes' Mother has passed away and he realises he can no longer afford to keep up the running of the large family house, so decides to downsize and rent a room on the dodge and notorious barrack yard, Minty Alley. 

Haynes' maid and companion Ella is convinced this new place is not good enough  for the middle class highly educated Haynes, and that he should not be associated with this class of people.  He keeps saying he will leave, but eventually is drawn in and becomes engrossed in observing the drama of the house residents. The land lady, Mrs Rouse runs a chaotic household, constantly at war with her young niece Maisie and her adulterous partner of many years, Mr Benoit. There are countless other individuals that work, live, or have some connection to the house, there is basically never a dull moment. Haynes starts off as a casual observer the the drama and arguments, spying on the kitchen and courtyard through a crack in his bedroom window. But with his casual observations and education, he is slowly drawn into the household's dramas too! Far from as Ella believed 'slumming' it with the lower classes, Haynes life becomes enriched and infinitely more social because of them. 

This book, with its gossiping and arguments was like peeping through the net curtains to watch the neighbours drama. You are drawn in, as Haynes is to the drama of the household, feeding off one argument or drama to the next. I enjoyed also the focus on how old buildings old stories. Old buildings are given character by the lives that have passed through them, and this is certainly true of NO.2 Minty Alley.  

The Author

As the introduction explains, Cyril Lionel Robert James or CLR James led an incredibly interesting life. He was born in Trinidad in 1901 and attended the top school the country. He always dreamed of becoming a novelist and wrote many short stories in notable Trinidadian magazines and newspapers after school. A keen cricketer he moved to Britain in 1929 and became the Cricket correspondent for the Manchester Guardian. He was a strong advocate of anti-imperialism helping found many organisations with this cause at the route. He moved in London's top literary circles and brushed shoulders with Edith Sitwell and Virginia Woolf. 

Minty Alley, and its impact has not, according to Bernardine Evaristo been widely talked about. Samuel Selvon's novel, The Lonely Londoners is apparently indebted to the groundwork CLR's work laid, to make way for Caribbean voices in English Literary discourse. The Lonely Londoners tells the story of newly arrived Caribbean men to London, UK. Minty Alley differs, and shows a deeply vibrant Caribbean community living its ordinary lives. They are not foreign, in a new country, but are themselves, living their everyday, often dramatic lives.  

Publishing 

Although I had heard of CLR James because of his play, The Black Jacobins, I was particularly drawn to this book because it had been chosen and forwarded by Bernardine Evaristo, an author I really enjoy following. This new edition of Minty Alley, is part of a new series Evaristo and Penguin Random House have curated entitled, 'Black Britain: Writing Back'. It was created with the aim to correct historic bias in British Publishing and bring a wealth of lost writing back into circulation. While Evaristo, is keen not to dispute for her support regarding representation in the current publishing industry, she states that this particular project aimed to look back in to history in view to resurrect and reconfigure a Black British literary history.  They are not supposed to be a canon as they are all quite her own choice, but rather are meant to show a variety of preoccupations and genres that offer a diverse range of perspectives. 

Cover

I will probably get hounded for this but I really found the cover of this book enchanting, as it married so well with the books story. The House in Minty Alley really had a gravitational pull to it for drama the various ins and outs of working class life in the capital city. Even the little windows in the somewhat simple illustration visually represent the separate but also very intertwined little lives that all exist under one roof.