The Routledge Reader in CARIBBEAN LITERATURE The Routledge Reader in Caribbean Literature is an outstanding compilation which stages some of the central debates about cultural and aesthetic value that have animated both writers and critics of Caribbean literature throughout the twentieth century. It brings previously unknown or inaccessible texts to greater attention and draws more familiar texts into a new range of contexts. The Reader offers new critical configurations, new connections, new ways of reading and new notions of Caribbean literary praxis. Both the renowned and the less well known are given a voice in this remarkable anthology which encompasses poetry, short stories, essays, articles and interviews. Amongst the many represented are the writers: C.L.R.James; George Lamming; Jean Rhys; Benjamin Zephaniah; Claude McKay; Jamaica Kincaid; Sylvia Wynter; Derek Walcott; David Dabydeen; and Grace Nichols. The editors probe some of the sore points of the Caribbean literary tradition, areas which previous publications have disavowed for varying reasons, particularly Creole writing, writing in Creole writing which works with (rather than against) colonial and eurocentric forms and early, especially early women’s, Caribbean literature. The Routledge Reader in Caribbean Literature provides an accessible historical and cultural framework to the texts through a series of introductions making the anthology an ideal teaching tool as well as a fascinating collection for anyone interested in the wealth of Caribbean literary traditions. Dr Alison Donnell lectures in post-colonial literatures at Nottingham Trent University, England. Dr Sarah Lawson Welsh lectures in English and post- colonial literatures at the University College of Ripon & York St John, England. In Memory of My Father Derrick Donnell (1933–1993) And For My Son Max Donnell Ford (b.1995) A.D. To My Parents And In Memory of My Grandmothers Frances Samler and Ivy Lawson S.L.W. The Routledge Reader in CARIBBEAN LITERATURE Edited by ALISON DONNELL and SARAH LAWSON WELSH LONDON AND NEW YORK First published 1996 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an International Thompson Publishing company This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 1996 Alison Donnell and Sarah Lawson Welsh All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data The Routledge reader in Caribbean literature/[compiled by] Alison Donnell and Sarah Lawson Welsh. p. cm. Includes biographical references and index. 1. Caribbean literature (English) 2. Caribbean Area—Literary collections. I. Donnell, Alison. II. Lawson Welsh, Sarah. PR9205.5.R68 1996 820.809729–dc20 95–48494 ISBN 0-203-43105-7 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-73929-9 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-12048-9 (hbk) ISBN 0-415-12049-7 (pbk). Contents Acknowledgements xiv Sources xv General Introduction 1 1900±29 Introduction 22 Poetry and prose TROPICA (MARY ADELLA WOLCOTT) The Undertone 33 Nana 34 Busha’s Song 35 TOM REDCAM (THOMAS MACDERMOT) My Beautiful Home 36 O, Little Green Island Far Over the Sea 37 Jamaica’s Coronation Ode 38 J.E.C.MCFARLANE The Fleet of the Empire 39 My Country 41 ALBINIA HUTTON The Empire’s Flag 43 A Plea 45 H.S.BUNBURY The Spell of the Tropics 47 ASTLEY CLERK vi Islets Mid Silver Seas 48 P.M.SHERLOCK Pocomania 48 EVA NICHOLAS A Country Idyl 50 CLARA MAUDE GARRETT One 51 H.D.CARBERRY Epitaph 52 CLAUDE MCKAY My Native Land My Home 53 A Midnight Woman to the Bobby 54 The Apple-Woman’s Complaint 57 In Bondage 58 Outcast 59 Flame-Heart 59 I Shall Return 60 H.G.DE LISSER Jane’s Career 61 A.R.F.WEBBER Those That Be in Bondage—A Tale of Indian Indentures and Sunlit 65 Western Waters C.L.R.JAMES Triumph 69 Non-fiction works LEO OAKLEY Ideas of Patriotism and National Dignity 75 HARVEY CLARKE Miss Jamaica 77 J.E.C.MCFARLANE vii Claude McKay 79 EDWARD BAUGH West Indian Poetry 1900–1970: A Study in Cultural Decolonisation 80 AMY J.GARVEY Women as Leaders 84 1930±49 Introduction 86 Poetry and prose UNA MARSON Renunciation 102 In Vain 102 If 103 Jamaica 104 In Jamaica 105 Quashie Comes to London 106 Kinky Hair Blues 112 Cinema Eyes 113 Nigger 115 GEORGE CAMPBELL Holy 117 Oh! You Build a House 117 LOUISE BENNETT Jamaica Oman 119 Bed-time Story 121 Proverbs 121 Tan a Yuh Yard 123 Beeny Bud (Mussirolinkina) 124 ROGER MAIS Listen, the Wind 125 viii VERA BELL Ancestor on the Auction Block 128 A.J.SEYMOUR Sun is a Shapely Fire 130 THE MIGHTY CHALKDUST Brain Drain 131 THE MIGHTY SPARROW Dan is the Man 133 Non-fiction works C.L.R JAMES Discovering Literature in Trinidad: The Nineteen Thirties 135 ALBERT GOMES Through a Maze of Colour 136 THE BEACON EDITORIALS Local Fiction 141 Local Poetry 142 J.E.C.MCFARLANE The Challenge of Our Time 142 VICTOR STAFFORD REID The Cultural Revolution in Jamaica after 1938 144 ROGER MAIS Where the Roots Lie 148 UNA MARSON We Want Books—But Do We Encourage Our Writers? 150 ALISON DONNELL Contradictory (W)omens?: Gender Consciousness in the Poetry of Una 151 Marson MERVYN MORRIS On Reading Louise Bennett, Seriously 156 GORDON ROHLEHR ix Images of Men and Women in 1930s Calypsoes 160 1950±65 Introduction 167 Poetry and prose MARTIN CARTER University of Hunger 179 I Come From the Nigger Yard 181 I Am No Soldier 183 ELMA NAPIER Carnival in Martinique 185 SAMUEL SELVON Waiting for Aunty to Cough 188 JEAN RHYS The Day They Burnt the Books 192 KARL SEALEY My Fathers before Me 196 Non-fiction works HENRY SWANZY The Literary Situation in the Contemporary Caribbean 201 GEORGE LAMMING The Occasion for Speaking 204 SARAH LAWSON WELSH New Wine in New Bottles: The Critical Reception of West Indian 210 Writing in Britain in the 1950s and Early 1960s REINHARD SANDER and IAN MUNRO The Making of a Writer—a Conversation with George Lamming 216 EVELYN O’CALLAGHAN The Outsider’s Voice: White Creole Women Novelists in the Caribbean219 Literary Tradition x 1966±1979 Introduction 226 Poetry and prose DENNIS SCOTT Squatter’s Rites 238 Grampa 239 ANTHONY MCNEILL Residue 240 CHRISTINE CRAIG Elsa’s Version 241 MAHADAI DAS They Came in Ships 242 RAJKUMARI SINGH Per Ajie—A Tribute to the First Immigrant Woman 244 Non-fiction works SYLVIA WYNTER We Must Learn to Sit Down Together and Discuss a Little Culture 247 GORDON ROHLEHR West Indian Poetry: Some Problems of Assessment I 254 West Indian Poetry: Some Problems of Assessment II 258 GORDON ROHLEHR Afterthoughts 262 GERALD MOORE Review: Use Men Language 265 KAMAU BRATHWAITE Jazz and the West Indian Novel I, II and III 268 KAMAU BRATHWAITE Timehri 274 RAJKUMARI SINGH xi I am a Coolie 280 DEREK WALCOTT The Muse of History 282 JAMES BERRY Introduction to Bluefoot Traveller 286 1980±1989 Introduction 288 Poetry and prose LINTON KWESI JOHNSON Street 66 298 Reggae fi Dada 299 MIKEY SMITH Black and White 302 JAMES BERRY Lucy’s Letter 303 From Lucy: Holiday Reflections 304 Caribbean Proverb Poem 1 306 Caribbean Proverb Poem 2 306 JANE KING Intercity Dub, For Jean 307 GRACE NICHOLS One Continent/To Another 310 Your Blessing 312 LORNA GOODISON On Houses 315 My Late Friend 316 Guyana Lovesong 317 For My Mother (May I Inherit Half Her Strength) 318 I Am Becoming My Mother 321 xii JAMAICA KINCAID Annie John 322 HARRY NARAIN A Letter to the Prime Minister 327 Non-fiction works DAVID DABYDEEN On Not Being Milton: Nigger Talk in England Today 330 SARAH LAWSON WELSH Experiments in Brokenness: The Creative Use of Creole in David 335 Dabydeen’s Slave Song RAMABAI ESPINET The Invisible Woman in West Indian Fiction 341 DENISE DECAIRES NARAIN Delivering the Word: The Poetry of Lorna Goodison 346 The 1990s Introduction 352 Poetry and prose JEAN BINTA BREEZE Testament 365 BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH A Modern Slave Song 370 MUTABARUKA dis poem 371 DAVID DABYDEEN The Counting House 372 LAWRENCE SCOTT Mercy 376 Non-fiction works SYLVIA WYNTER xiii Beyond Miranda’s Meanings: Un/silencing the ‘Demonic Ground’ of 381 Caliban’s ‘Woman’ CAROLYN COOPER Writing Oral History: Sistren Theatre Collective’s Lionheart Gal 386 ALISON DONNELL Dreaming of Daffodils: Cultural Resistance to the Narratives of Theory 389 MERLE HODGE Challenges of the Struggle for Sovereignty: Changing the World versus 394 Writing Stories JEAN BINTA BREEZE Can a Dub Poet be a Woman? 397 JOHN VIDAL By Word of Mouth—John Vidal Gets in Tune with Dub Poet, Benjamin399 Zephaniah DEREK WALCOTT The Antilles: Fragments of Epic Memory 400 Bibliography 404 Index 432 Acknowledgements We should like to offer our thanks to Professor John Thieme, Professor Roger Bromley, Dr David Dabydeen and Sue Hodges for their comments and practical support at different stages during the writing of the Reader. Thanks also go to Sue Hodges and Jenny Rogers for their help in typing the manuscript, and to those writers and critics who were generous in giving their work. Alison Donnell would like to thank her students of Caribbean Literature at Cheltenham, Leeds and Nottingham who have suffered my enthusiam and have helped to keep my ideas moving.