'From reading The Polished Hoe, people will glean the complicated history of gender, race, class and colour in the Americas,' Walcott said. Through Mary's recollections, Clarke sets out a deep meditation about the power of memory, the indomitable strength of the human spirit and the richness of Island culture.Ĭlarke's powerful work continues to resonate today, Walcott noted, particularly given discussions around race and inequality in North America and beyond. Set on the post-colonial West Indian island of Bimshire in 1952, the novel follows the murder confession of Mary Mathilda, who claims to have killed the plantation owner for whom she has worked for more than 30 years - and whose mistress she has been for most of that time, including becoming the mother of his only son. The Next Chapter 5:05 Austin Clarke 1934-2016

Listen | Austin Clarke takes The Next Chapter's version of the Proust Questionnaire: 'Clarke has left us a work - in fact bequeaths us a work - that demonstrates how fiction, in particular the novel, can do the necessary historical work of revealing and setting the conditions for coming to terms with the dreadful intimacies of life in the post-slavery Americas.' ' The Polished Hoe remains an important work because it continues the difficult work of Black art that grapples with the still unfolding consequences of slavery for Black people,' Walcott told CBC Books by email. Austin Clarke on what it takes to be a good writerĪcclaimed as one of Canada's most important novels examining the Black experience, The Polished Hoe unravels over the course of 24 hours but spans the lifetime of one woman and the collective experience of a society informed by slavery.(Dundurn Press)įirst published in 2002, The Polished Hoe went on to win the Giller Prize, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the Trillium Book Award. The new edition features cover art by Toronto artist Shawn Skeir.

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