Real and Imagined Worlds: Claude McKay’s Poetry and Prose
Charles Scruggs
University Press of Mississippi
Claude McKay (1890–1948) was a versatile Jamaican American writer and poet and a central figure in the Harlem Renaissance. In addition to two autobiographies and a documentary study of Harlem, McKay wrote poetry, novels, a short story collection, and a screenplay disguised as a novel.
McKay was deeply influenced by various literary and artistic sources that shaped his poetry and prose. Real and Imagined Worlds: Claude McKay’s Poetry and Prose attempts to make sense of the poet’s deep engagement with the literary and artistic influences that inspired his own writing.