Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.22210/ur.2025.070.1/07
The Journey of McKay’s Proletarian Sonnet and Its Cultural Network: From New York via London and Vienna to Ljubljana
Lilijana Burcar
orcid.org/0000-0002-1135-9671
; Sveučilište u Ljubljani
Abstract
Claude McKay was the first African-American poet to become renowned for writing socially-engaged sonnets, most of which he published between 1917 and 1923 at the peak of his poetic and writing career. McKay was the inventor of the so-called proletarian type of sonnet,
which brought to the fore Marxist analysis of systemic exploitation, capitalism, racism, and imperialism. This contribution explores the journey of McKay’s proletarian sonnet across the Atlantic via Sylvia Pankhurst’s newspaper "The Workers Dreadnought" in 1919 and via Anna
Nussbaum’s anthology "Afrika singt" in 1929. The latter turned out to be of significance for the Balkans, more specifically for the circle of the socialist literati gathered around the "Ljubljanski zvon" magazine. Through the endeavours and commitment of this group, including Mile Klopčič
and with the help of Louis Adamic, McKay’s proletarian sonnet entered the South Slavic cultural landscape in the early 1930s, only three years after Nussbaum’s publication of "Afrika singt".
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
349195
URI
Publication date:
13.7.2026.
Visits: 0 *