Mi Revalueshanary Fren (Penguin Modern Classics) [Paperback]

Linton Kwesi Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2, 2002 | Series: Penguin Modern Classics

A selection of Linton Kwesi Johnson's poems over three decades. Ranging from protests against police brutality to eulogies for departed friends and playful celebrations of urban life, Johnson's use of Jamaican dialect to tackle distinctly British subjects contributed to a revolution in the notion of literary English. Mi Revalueshanary Fren charts the unique literary talent of one of Britain's most influential poets and social critics.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With fiery verse and spellbinding, often reggae-backed, performances, the Jamaican-born, London-based Johnson helped create the hybrid genre of dub poetry in the late 1970s. Mixing militancy with pathos, ballad forms with subtler narrative modes; LKJ (as he's known) remains a leading voice of Afro-Caribbean Britain. He took a giant step toward canonicity in 2002 when he became the first contemporary black poet given his own volume in the British series of Penguin Classics, which this first American book reprints, with a new introduction from novelist Russell Banks. Using Jamaican Creole, rather than standard English, LKJ tries at once to speak for a nation within a nation and to craft a populist idiom with potentially universal appeal, drawing terms and attitudes from Jamaican culture, biblical teachings and Black Power: "All oppression/ can do is bring/ passion to di heights of eruption," he promises; "we're di forces af victri/ an wi comin rite through." Here are manifestos for the African Diaspora, reggae protests against police brutality and, toward the end of the volume, introspective, even erotic, verse. His lingo poses no barrier to comprehension; more problematic for Americans might be poems based on news events (such as the 1981 New Cross Massacre in London) poorly publicized here. Includes CD of Johnson reading his poems. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Review

"LKJ's lyrics remind me of how some things just have to be done..." -- Kingdom Books, November 24, 2006

"The lyrically enchanting Jamaican Creole he utilizes in his poetry...has made LKJ a serious literary figure in England." -- Orlando Weekly, August 31, 2006

"These grainy, darkly lit snapshots. . .(make) LKJ one of the preeminent documentarians of the African diaspora." -- SF Weekly, August 30, 2006

Like all consummate artists, Johnson writes about what he knows best - the double-edged sword that is colonial invasion. -- Blogcritics.org, October 5, 2006

You can just hear the reggae drumbeat as his verse vacillates among fire, anger, fear, profound loss, and victory." -- Savoy Magazine, January 2007 --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books (May 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0141186984
• ISBN-13: 978-0141186986
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,900,872 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction to dub poetry, January 24, 2009

By 

Darryl R. Morris "Kidzdoc" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mi Revalueshanary Fren (Paperback)

Linton Kwesi Johnson, also known as LKJ, is the most celebrated of the dub poets, and Mi Revalueshanary Fren is an excellent introduction to LKJ and dub poetry. He was born in Jamaica, and moved to Britain as a child in the early 1960s, a period in which thousands of Jamaicans and other West Indians migrated to the UK. The new arrivals experienced a great deal of culture shock and prejudice, and most had to work in menial and degrading jobs. During the Thatcher administration there were several notable clashes between the residents of Brixton, a London neighborhood that was home for many of these immigrants, and the police, including the 1981 Brixton Riot. LKJ describes the simmering tension in Brixton in "All Wi Doin Is Defendin", which was written before the Brixton riot.

Other poems in this volume provide a history and commentary of the experiences of West Indian immigrants in London, both good and bad. There is a great deal of humor and joy in LKJ's poetry, along with the anger and bitterness that the community experienced. "New Crass Massakah" describes the tragic New Cross fire of 1981, in which 13 young blacks died during a house party, which many in the community felt was an act of arson.

LKJ is widely admired in the UK, and he is the second living poet to be published in the Penguin Classics series.

In addition to writing poetry, LKJ, along with other dub poets, reads his work over reggae music, and has released several albums under his label LKJ Records. This book also includes a CD, "A Cappella Live", which includes 14 poems from this volume.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Palliticks ar the vowels `i,' `a,' and `e', February 12, 2008

By 

Jerome Titus "Peace" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mi Revalueshanary Fren (Paperback)

Linton Kwesi Johnson's work, My Revalueshanary Fren, beats with the rhythm of reggae and dub but rocks with the non-stop thrum of the real, down-to-earth, local politics of Afro-Caribbean life in urban "Ingland." Is it coincidence that Johnson chooses to rework the first letter and first vowel of the place name of his own personal diaspora? No, because Johnson's poetry is so local and personal that the "I-" shouts to be heard and the "In-" is the inclusiveness that the narrative voice demands, repeating "we are here to stay/inna Ingland/inna disya time yah . . . / (p. 23).

The repetition of the "in" sound makes the reader hear that Johnson is in England and yes, to stay. Johnson uses the sound and inflection of this initial vowel to convey purely political intention, not an easy task since a listener can easily miss the poetry amidst the sheer brutality of the events he recants in "Five Nights of Burning."

Another initial vowel sound that he employs is the use of the letter `a." Few other words delineate a Jamaican voice from another Carib voice than the way the simple preposition `or' is pronounced, and written by Johnson, as "ar." This hard, clipped semi-guttural usage of the letter a contrasts with the soft o sound of the long double `aa' of `waaking' or the softer, often used `pan.' These two words do not connote political overtones but rather infuse the poems with the melody of street voice, providing a much-needed counterbalance to the "showah every howah" of "people powah" (p. 67).

As the street voice blends with the politicized, the sections of the book meld. The sometime melancholy narrative of the last section reads as milder ballast against the shower of rage in the previous sections, notwithstanding the litany of fallen heroes in "Liesense Fi Kill." However, the power of Johnson's word-play to still polemicize in this more ruminant section is apparent by the addition of the letter `e.' Official proclamations surrounding these `sus' deaths turn the government's own use of the word `suspicion' upon itself, accentuating the `lie."