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Caribbean Literature: Writers
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Underlying Donnell’s re-reading of Caribbean literature and its criticism is her ongoing interest in the perspectives and positions that are marginalized in the process of establishing a canon and a critical practice. In each chapter she directs the reader’s attention to the voices that were quieted by the dominant discussion: colonial-era writers devalued by post-colonial politics; women writers sidelined by the masculine project of nationalism; Caribbean-based writers who stayed at home while others crossed the Black Atlantic; and Caribbean women of non-African ancestry “othered” by Afro-Caribbean feminism. Without diminishing the significance of any individual author’s argument, she provides alternatives to the critical practices they advance. In keeping with this awareness of what is silenced by standardized academic and political designations, she offers Anglocreole as an alternative term to the more widely used Anglophone. Modeled on Carolyn Cooper’s usage of creole/anglophone, the term acknowledges that Caribbean literature coming from the English-speaking tradition is composed in Creole, and even, variations of Creole, as well as Standard English. It captures the range of linguistic and cultural influences that have been creolized in the literature without privileging written language and spoken language.
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The Routledge Reader in Caribbean Literature is an outstanding compilation of over seventy primary and secondary texts of writing from the Caribbean. Locating key writers within a specifically Caribbean framework, the editors Alison Donnell and Sarah Lawson Welsh demonstrate that these singular voices have emerged not out of a cultural void or sparse literary background, but out of a wealth of literary tradition which until now was unknown or critically neglected. Writers from 1900 to the present, both famous and less well-known, are given a voice in this remarkable anthology which encompasses poetry, short stories, essays, articles and interviews. Amongst the many represented here are: * C.L.R. James * George Lamming * Jean Rhys * Benjamin Zephaniah * Claude McKay * Jamaica Kincaid * Sylvia Wynter * Derek Walcott * David Dabydeen * Grace Nichols The editors provide an accessible historical and cultural introduction to the writings, making this volume an ideal teaching tool as well as a fascinating collection for anyone interested in the literature of the Caribbean.
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Derek Walcott is not the first author of Caribbean origin to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. In 1960 the poet Saint-John Perse (the pseudonym for Marie Rene Auguste Alexis Saint-Leger) was the first literary writer from the Caribbean to be awarded this prestigious prize. Saint-John Perse was born in 1887 on the family-owned St.-Leger-Les Feuilles Island, across from Guadeloupe. He left the French Caribbean island for France just before the turn of the century. After he studied law, he entered the French diplomatic service and later worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Saint-John Perse is perhaps best known for his poetic cycle Eloges (literally Eulogies), an elaborate evocation of the small Caribbean islands of his youth.
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As part of its National Endowment for the Humanities programming, the Hartford Public Library is pleased to present its first annual "Festival of Caribbean Literature" on September 20 and 21. Edwidge Danticat, Colin Channer, Marianela Maldonaldo, and Nelly Rosario are among those writers and culture producers set to read and speak about their writing. Below please find additional information. In addition to a wealth of cultural activities, Hartford's North End is home to some of the most inimitable purveyors of Caribbean/West Indian cuisine. Spread the word!
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This course will introduce students to the vigorously growing literature of the English-speaking Caribbean since 1945. It will trace developments over the last fifty years through close readings of novels, short stories and poems (including performance poetry). Beginning with the older generation of writers such as George Lamming, Wilson Harris, V.S. Naipaul, Samuel Selvon, Jean Rhys and Derek Walcott, it will test from a post-colonial perspective the statement by West Indian critic Edward Baugh (in 1978) that ‘the literature of the West Indies is, first, last and essentially a colonial literature’.
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There are four kinds of written "African literature in the Caribbean." The first is rhetorical. The writer uses Africa as mask, signal or nomen. He doesn't know very much about African necessarily, although he reflects a deep desire to make connection. But he is only saying the word "Africa" or invoking a dream of the Congo, Senegal, Niger, the Zulu, Nile, or Zambesi. He is not necessarily celebrating or activating the African presence.
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