Jean 'Binta' Breeze is a popular Jamaican Dub poet and storyteller whose performances are so powerful she has been called a 'one-woman festival'. "The Fifth Figure" is a book-length sequence mixing poetry and prose which chronicles the lives of five generations of Caribbean and Black British women of mixed ancestry. Part novel, part poem, part family memoir, its structure is based on the Jamaican quadrille, a hybrid version of the dance brought from Europe by the island's former colonial masters. Beginning in the late 19th century with her great-great grandmother's first quadrille, Breeze tells a many-layered tale of love and betrayal, innocence and suffering, hardship and joy over a hundred years as each mother sees her daughter join a dance which shapes her life. "The Fifth Figure" is her fifth book, and sees Breeze breathing new life into the dramatic monologue. Steeped in the history of Jamaica, the book develops the possibilities of narrative, voice and rhythm, offering an eloquent and empowering vision of Caribbean lives and culture.
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A major, perhaps even a great voice. For stature, Jean "Binta" Breeze invites a Caribbean comparison with Maya Angelou, except that her range is broader still. Her poetry shifts effortlessly through standard English to a native Jamaican which has no equal in its emotional depth. --Alexander Linklater, The Herald
Breeze sings of sisterhood and the private spirituality that keeps the head above water even when prejudice, and laundry, threaten to drag it down. Her work, and that of a great many other black women writers, affirms life in a way that the rest of the world might do well to emulate. --Tania Glyde, Independent
Breeze sings of sisterhood and the private spirituality that keeps the head above water even when prejudice, and laundry, threaten to drag it down. Her work, and that of a great many other black women writers, affirms life in a way that the rest of the world might do well to emulate. --Tania Glyde, Independent
About the Author
Jean 'Binta' Breeze is a poet, actress, dancer, choreographer, film writer and theatre director. She has released four other poetry books, Riddym Ravings (Race Today), Spring Cleaning (Virago), and On the Edge of an Island and The Arrival of Brighteye (both Bloodaxe), as well as several records, including Tracks with the Dennis Bovell Dub Band and Riding On De Riddym: selected spoken works (CD from 57 Productions). She has performed her work throughout the world, including tours of the Caribbean, North America, Europe, South East Asia and Africa, and now divides her time between Jamaica and Leicester. She received a NESTA Award in 2003.
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