The motorcyclist

the long version

Inspired by the life of George Elliott Clarke's father, the novel tells the story of a black working-class man caught between the expectations of his times and gleaming possibilities of the open road. Carl Black is an intellectual and artist, a traveller, a reader and an unapologetic womanizer. As a motorcyclist, he burns for the bohemian life, but is trapped in a railway porter's prosaic - at times humiliating - existence. Taking place over one dramatic year in Halifax, Nova Scotia, this novel vividly recounts Carl's travels and romantic exploits as he tours the backroads of the east coast and the bedrooms of a series of beautiful women. In vibrant, energetic, sensual prose, Clarke brilliantly illuminates the life of a young black man striving for pleasure, success and, most of all, respect.