"It's mahself": Sounding Black Modernity through Claude McKay's Banjo

Claude McKay's position within the Harlem Renaissance and Black modernism is solidly assured; however, much of his broad understanding is as a poet leaving his prose and novels of the late 1920s understudied. This article uses the central figure of McKay's 1929 novel, Banjo , to follow the diasporas present within the instrument, main character, and the book itself. Through such an exploration a deeper understanding of the complexities of McKay's artistic endeavors within the Black Atlantic and the ways Black artists maneuver within the capillaries of modern capitalism can be achieved.