The Routledge Reader in Caribbean Literature

Book Cover......Page 1
Half-Title......Page 2
Dedication......Page 3
Title......Page 4
Copyright......Page 5
Contents......Page 6
Acknowledgements......Page 15
Sources......Page 16
A R/reader in the 1990s......Page 22
Notions of a Caribbean literature......Page 24
Locating a tradition......Page 26
Locating theory......Page 28
Language politics: defining the ground......Page 29
(i)  Literature before the boom......Page 32
(ii)  Accommodating women......Page 34
(iii)  Coolie connections......Page 36
(iv)  ‘The new orality’: towards a performance aesthetic......Page 39
New connections......Page 41
Introduction......Page 43
From plantation to barrackyard: voicing the working-class experience......Page 45
Colony and nation: a poetics of belonging......Page 48
Women subjects......Page 52
The Undertone......Page 54
Nana......Page 55
Busha’s song1......Page 56
My Beautiful Home......Page 57
O, Little Green Island Far Over the Sea......Page 58
Jamaica’s Coronation Ode......Page 59
The Fleet of the Empire......Page 60
My Country......Page 62
The Empire’s Flag......Page 64
A Plea......Page 66
The Spell of the Tropics......Page 68
Pocomania......Page 69
A Country Idyl......Page 71
One......Page 72
Epitaph......Page 73
My Native Land My Home......Page 74
A Midnight Woman to the Bobby......Page 75
NOTES......Page 77
The Apple-Woman’s Complaint......Page 78
In Bondage......Page 79
Flame-Heart......Page 80
I Shall Return......Page 81
Jane’s Career......Page 82
Those That Be in Bondage—A Tale of Indian Indentures and Sunlit Western Waters......Page 86
Triumph......Page 90
Ideas of Patriotism and National Dignity......Page 96
Miss Jamaica......Page 98
Claude McKay......Page 100
West Indian Poetry 1900–1970: A Study in Cultural Decolonisation......Page 101
Women as Leaders......Page 105
Creative disturbances......Page 107
Critical voices: towards an aesthetic of social engagement......Page 109
Traditional values......Page 113
Poetry and the people......Page 114
Poetic foremothers......Page 115
Politicizing the popular......Page 121
In Vain......Page 123
If......Page 124
Jamaica......Page 125
In Jamaica......Page 126
Quashie Comes To London......Page 127
Kinky Hair Blues......Page 133
Cinema Eyes......Page 134
Nigger......Page 136
Oh! You Build a House......Page 138
Jamaica Oman......Page 140
Proverbs......Page 142
Tan a Yuh Yard......Page 144
Beeny Bud (Mussirolinkina)......Page 145
Extract front ‘Listen, the Wind’......Page 146
Ancestor on the Auction Block......Page 149
Sun is a Shapely Fire......Page 151
Brain Drain......Page 152
Dan is the Man......Page 154
Discovering Literature in Trinidad......Page 156
Through a Maze of Colour......Page 157
Local Fiction......Page 162
The Challenge of Our Time......Page 163
The Cultural Revolution in Jamaica after 1938......Page 165
Where the Roots Lie......Page 169
We Want Books—But Do We Encourage Our Writers?......Page 171
Contradictory (W)omens?: Gender Consciousness in the Poetry of Una Marson......Page 172
On Reading Louise Bennett, Seriously......Page 177
FROM GAYELLE TO ROAD TO BARRACK ROOM......Page 181
THE INDIAN WOMAN AND THE INDIAN FEAST......Page 183
SUMMARY......Page 186
Finding West Indian identity in Britain......Page 188
Language and the ‘problem of idiom’......Page 190
Subject matter: strangeness and exotica......Page 191
‘The power of the provincial’......Page 192
The Caribbean Little Magazines......Page 194
BBC Caribbean Voices......Page 195
Establishing the canon and agendas for popular criticism......Page 196
Women writers and the canon......Page 198
University of Hunger......Page 200
I Come from the Nigger Yard......Page 202
I Am No Soldier......Page 204
Carnival in Martinique......Page 206
Waiting for Aunty to Cough......Page 209
The Day They Burnt the Books......Page 213
My Fathers before Me......Page 217
The Literary Situation in the Contemporary Caribbean......Page 222
NOTES......Page 224
The Occasion for Speaking......Page 225
New Wine in New Bottles: the Critical Reception of West Indian Writing in Britain in the 1950s and Early 1960s......Page 231
NOTE......Page 236
The Making of a Writer— a Conversation with George Lamming......Page 237
‘The Outsider’s Voice’: White Creole Women Novelists in the Caribbean Literary Tradition......Page 240
NOTES......Page 246
‘Post-Independence blues’: towards a Caribbean aesthetic......Page 247
Poetry: beyond Walcott vs. Brathwaite......Page 248
‘Dub and beat and us and dem’: journal activity and the 1970 Savacou ‘new writing’ anthology......Page 250
Matters of audience, the writer and society......Page 252
Caribbean criticism: some seminal moments......Page 254
Women writers and the beginnings of a gender-based analysis of Caribbean literature......Page 255
The beginnings of dub and a black British literature......Page 257
Squatter’s Rites......Page 259
Grampa......Page 260
Residue......Page 261
Elsa’s Version......Page 262
They Came in Ships......Page 263
Per Ajie—A Tribute to the First Immigrant Woman......Page 265
We Must Learn to Sit Down Together and Discuss a Little Culture—Reflections on West Indian Writing and Criticism......Page 268
NOTE......Page 274
West Indian Poetry: Some Problems of Assessment I......Page 275
West Indian Poetry: Some Problems of Assessment II......Page 279
Afterthoughts......Page 283
‘Review: Use Men Language’......Page 286
Jazz and the West Indian Novel, I, II and III......Page 289
Timehri......Page 295
I am a Coolie......Page 301
The Muse of History......Page 303
Introduction to Bluefoot Traveller......Page 307
Nation Language: New Soundings in Caribbean Poetry......Page 309
Anthologizing for the 1980s......Page 311
Critical concerns......Page 312
Beyond the ‘riddum prison’: new directions in dub......Page 313
Women’s writing in the 1980s......Page 315
Resistant subjects: Jamaica Kincaid’s ‘Columbus in Chains’......Page 317
Street 66......Page 319
Reggae fi Dada......Page 320
Black and White......Page 323
Lucy’s Letter......Page 324
From Lucy: Holiday Reflections......Page 325
Caribbean Proverb Poem 2......Page 327
Intercity Dub, for Jean......Page 328
One Continent/To Another......Page 331
Your Blessing......Page 333
On Houses......Page 336
My Late Friend......Page 337
Guyana Lovesong......Page 338
For My Mother (May I Inherit Half Her Strength)......Page 339
I Am Becoming My Mother......Page 342
‘Columbus in Chains’ from Annie John......Page 343
A Letter to the Prime Minister......Page 348
On Not Being Milton: Nigger Talk in England Today......Page 351
Experiments in Brokenness: The Creative Use of Creole in David Dabydeens’s......Page 356
The Invisible Woman in West Indian Fiction......Page 362
Delivering the Word: the Poetry of Lorna Goodison......Page 367
NOTES......Page 372
Introduction......Page 373
Theoretical debates......Page 375
Forging a Caribbean women’s poetics......Page 377
New cultural authorities......Page 382
Past, present and future......Page 384
Testament......Page 386
A Modem Slave Song......Page 391
dis poem......Page 392
The Counting House......Page 393
Mercy......Page 397
Beyond Miranda’s Meanings: Un/silencing the ‘Demonic Ground’ of Caliban’s ‘Woman’......Page 402
NOTES......Page 406
Writing Oral History: Sistren Theatre Collective’s Lionheart Gal......Page 407
Dreaming of Daffodils: Cultural Resistance to the Narratives of Theory......Page 410
Challenges of the Struggle for Sovereignty: Changing the World versus Writing Stories......Page 415
Can a Dub Poet be a Woman?......Page 418
‘By Word of Mouth’ -John Vidal Gets in Tune with Dub Poet, Benjamin Zephaniah......Page 420
The Antilles: Fragments of Epic Memory......Page 421
Bibliography......Page 425
Errata: Copyright acknowledgements......Page 449
Index......Page 453