This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from Explore Bristol Research, http://research-information.bristol.ac.uk Author: Courtman, Sandra Elaine Title: 'Lost years' : West Indian women writing and publishing in Britain c.1960 to 1979. General rights Access to the thesis is subject to the Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International Public License. A copy of this may be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode This license sets out your rights and the restrictions that apply to your access to the thesis so it is important you read this before proceeding. Take down policy Some pages of this thesis may have been removed for copyright restrictions prior to having it been deposited in Explore Bristol Research. 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'LOST YEARS': WEST INDIAN WOMEN WRITING AND PUBLISHING [N BRITAIN C. 1960 TO 1979 VOLUME 1 by SANDRA ELAINE COURTMAN A thesis submitted to the University of Bristol through Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education in accordance with the requirements of the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Faculty of Arts and Education Department of Humanities and Religious Studies SEPTEMBER 1998 Total words (text only) 77,767 AB S TRACT This thesis seeks to construct a missing literary-cultural history of the 1 960s and 1 970s by forging connections between race, gender, class and literary form. The prime aim is to account for an apparent paucity of published writing by women from the anglophone West Indies between 1960-1979, and to recover 'lost' women writers, explore the modes of expression they chose, and why. Research reveals that the most significant genre of writing to emerge from women in this period was - not the novel - but autobiography, set both in the colonial West Indies and in post-war Britain. The research objectives of the thesis have been facilitated by dividing the work into two parts, and also by including original evidence for many of the thesis's fmdings in its volume of Appendices. The first part, 'Reconstructing the "Lost Years": Methods, Sources and Contexts', addresses the problems faced in attempting to reconstruct a 'hidden history'. The second part, 'Changing the World Versus Writing Stories', is divided into chapters which: account for the consequences of women's involvement in journalism, publishing and politics at this time; bring into view a sample of novels and poetry that have received virtually no critical attention; and discuss women's writing often ignored in literary histories, such as working-class writing, autobiography, recipes and songs. In the 1960s and 1970s, West Indian women writers experimented with new voices and forms which were under-valued at the time and, it is argued, that literary histories generally deal with the novel and poetry and privilege expressive spaces that largely excluded women in this period. The thesis will make available new writing for further analysis and it is hoped will contribute to the sociology of literature in explaining why some women writers continue to be 'lost' within conventional cultural history. DECLARATION I certify that the work contained in this thesis is solely that of the candidate and that the views expressed therein are those of the author and not of the university. This thesis does not incorporate without acknowledgement any material previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any university; and that to the best of my knowledge and belief it does not contain any material previously published, spoken or written by another person where due reference is not made in the text. TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE 1- iv PART 1 RECONSTRUCTING THE 'LOST YEARS': METHODOLOGIES, SOURCES AND CONTEXTS CHAPTER 1 'HIDDEN FROM HISTORY' Section 1.1 Introduction 1 Section 1.2 Recovering the 'Hidden History' 7 Notes 27 CHAPTER 2 WRITERS' ORGANISATIONS, NETWORKS 31 AND PATRONS IN BRITAIN, IN THE 1950s, 1960s AND 1970s Section 2.1 Post-war Patterns of Migration to Britain from 32 the West Indies Section 2.2 The BBC Radio Broadcasts of Caribbean Voices 37 Section 2.3 The Caribbean Artists Movement (CAM) 1966 - 1972, 40 and the Women's Contribution Section 2.4 'Blacks in Ivory Towers Can't Write about Ghettos': 48 West Indian Women and The Federation of Worker Writers and Community Publishers Section 2.5 West Indian Women Writers, Patrons and Publishers 55 Notes 59 PART 2 'CHANGING THE WORLD VERSUS WRITING STORIES' CHAPTER 3 'CHANGING THE WORLD VERSUS WRITING STORIES' Section 3.1 Issues of Form in West Indian Women's Writing 66 Section 3.2 Responses: Journalism and Publishing as 73 Cultural Activism Section 3.3 Women Writers and Political Activism in the Caribbean 87 Notes 90 CHAPTER 4 BOLD EXPERIMENTS IN FORM: NOVELS BY WEST INDIAN WOMEN PUBLISHED IN BRITAIN Section 4.1 Women Novelists and the Paradox of Their 94 Literary Legacy Section 4.2 Sylvia Wynter's The Hills of Hebron and the 101 Case for New Readings Section 4.3 Cultural Schizophrenia: Merle Hodg&s 111 Crick Crack, Monkey and For The Lfe of Laetitia Section 4.4 Locked in the Tower: The Lost Text of Hurricane Wake 122 Notes 132 CHAPTER 5 POETRY IN TRANSACTION: WOMEN'S POETRY, SONGS AND RECIPES IN THE LITERARY AND ORAL TRADITION Section 5.1 The Literary and the Oral Tradition 137 Section 5.2 Women Poets of the FWWCP Transfer the 154 Oral tradition into Writing Notes 164 CHAPTER 6 AUTOBIOGRAPHY: OUT OF THE SHADOWS Section 6.1 West Indian Women Writing in the Tradition 168 of Autobiography Section 6.2 'Child You Come at a Bad Time': Working-Class 172 Autobiography and Reminiscence Writing Section 6.3 The Recovery of Beryl Gilroy's Black Teacher 189 as Literature Section 6.4 The Spiritual Quest: Joyce Gladwell's Brown Face, 204 Big Master Section 6.5 Iremonger's 'Child in the Rubble': And His 223 Charming Lady and Yes, My Darling Daughter Notes 241 CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION: 'SHE WROTE IT, BUT...' 249 VOLUME 2 APPENDICES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY APPENDIX 1 LETTERS REQUESTING INTERVIEWS AND INFORMATION 258 Appendix 1.1 Explanatory notes 259 Appendix 1.2 Letter requesting informationlinterview 260 Appendix 1.3 Modified letter requesting information 261 APPENDIX 2 AUTHOR'S INTERVIEWS AND SIGNIFICANT 263 DISCUSSIONS; AND NOTES ON ANNE WALMSLEY'S TRANSCRIPTS CITED IN THE TEXT Appendix 2.1 Details of author's interviews and significant 264 discussions Appendix 2.2 Anne Wahnsley's transcripts of interviews conducted 268 as part of her research for the history of The Caribbean Artists Movement APPENDIX 3 LETTER OF PERMISSION AND INTERVIEW 273 TRANSCRIPTS Appendix 3.1 Explanatory notes 274 Appendix 3.2 A reply from Dr Wahnsley as evidence of her 276 response to my request letter Appendix 3.3 Transcript of the interview with Dr Anne Walmsley 278 and Professor Louis James Appendix 3.4 Transcript of the interview with Nick Pollard 307 Appendix 3.5 Transcript of the interview with Barbara Ferland 346 APPENDIX 4 RAMCHAND'S YEAR-BY-YEAR BIBLIOGRAPHY 373 OF NOVELS, REPRODUCED FROM HIS FIRST AND SECOND EDITIONS OF THE WEST INDIAN NO VEL AND ITS BA CKGROUND Appendix 4.1 Explanatory notes 374 Appendix 4.2 Ramchand's list of West Indian novels organised 375 by year (first edition) Appendix 4.3 Ramchand's list of West Indian novels organised 378 by year (second edition) APPENDIX 5 BIBLIOGRAPHIES OF PROSE WORKS AND 384 PLAYS PUBLISHED IN ENGLISH BY WEST INDIAN WOMEN Appendix 5.1 Explanatory note to Appendix 5.2 385 Appendix 5.2 A year-by-year bibliography of prose works and plays 387 in the English language published between 1948-1979 in Britain by West Indian Women Appendix 5.3 A bibliography of West Indian Women's prose works 393 and plays in the English language first published between 1948-1979, organised alphabetically by author Appendix 5.4 A bibliography of British community published 405 material authored by or edited by women writers of Caribbean origin or containing contributions from Caribbean women writers and which have been consulted for the purposes of this research APPENDIX 6 WHAT IS MISSING FROM THE PICTURE? 410 READING DESIRE IN THE DYCHE STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE WINDRUSH GENERATION BIBLIOGRAPHY 434 LIST OF PLATES The following plates appear in Appendix 6: 'What is Missing from the Picture? Reading Desire in the Dyche Studio Photographs of the Windrush Generation'. PLATE 1 Woman with Dolly Bag 411 2 Woman with Pleated Dress 413 3 Casual Threesome 415 4 Threesome, Man with Pen 417 5 WomaninSuit 419 6 Nurse 421 7 Group Photograph 424 PREFACE The thesis that follows has come on a long journey since the project was first discussed some four years ago, and has taken some unexpected trails. To explain its present place of arrival, it seems appropriate to give a brief account of its original inception, together with a recognition of its indebtedness to many of those who helped it along the way and who, after all, it is about. Inspired by reading Fredric Jameson's essay, 'Periodising the 60s', this project began life with an interest in the construction of the 1 960s and was originally conceived as a kind of general 'period' study.