Description
Finally available after three decades, a lost classic of the Harlem Renaissance that Langston Hughes acclaimed for its “hard poetic beauty.”
Eric Walrond (1898–1966), in his only book, injected a profound Caribbean sensibility into black literature. His work was closest to that of Jean Toomer and Zora Neale Hurston with its striking use of dialect and its insights into the daily lives of the people around him. Growing up in British Guiana, Barbados, and Panama, Walrond first published Tropic Death to great acclaim in 1926. This book of stories viscerally charts the days of men working stone quarries or building the Panama Canal, of women tending gardens and rearing needy children. Early on addressing issues of skin color and class, Walrond imbued his stories with a remarkable compassion for lives controlled by the whims of nature. Despite his early celebrity, he died in London in 1966 with minimal recognition given to his passing. Arnold Rampersad’s elegant introduction reclaims this classic work and positions Walrond alongside the prominent writers of his age.
Reviews
"Walrond finds splendor, which he captures in his alluring prose. . . . Stark yet gorgeous." — Oscar Villalon, NPR
"Takes rank with Jean Toomer’s Cane as a bravely beautiful collection of short stories." — New York Times Book Review
Also By: Arnold Rampersad 
Collected Poems
Paperback, 2013
An exquisite body of work celebrating the centennial of one of the most important African-American poets of the twentieth century.
Collected Poems
E Book, 2013
An exquisite body of work celebrating the centennial of one of the most important African-American poets of the twentieth century.