‘The undisputed masterpiece of n gritude and a poetic milestone of anti-colonialism’ Guardian’We shall speak. We shall sing. We shall shout.’This blazing autobiographical poem by the founder of the n gritude movement became a rallying cry for decolonisation when it appeared in 1939. Following one man’s return from Europe to his homeland of Martinique, it is a reckoning with the trauma of slavery and exploitation, and a triumphant anthem for Black identity, one which reclaims and remakes language itself.’Nothing less than the greatest lyrical monument of this time’ Andr Breton’A C saire poem explodes and whirls about itself like a rocket, suns burst forth whirling and exploding’ Jean-Paul Sartre’The most influential Francophone Caribbean writer of his generation’ Independent Translated by John Berger and Anna Bostock