Caribbean Literature in Transition, 1970–2020: Volume 3

Challenges canonical accounts with writings and critical perspectives that emphasize the social complexity and cultural multiplicity of Caribbean writings.

Ronald Cummings (Edited by), Alison Donnell (Edited by)

9781108474009, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 14 January 2021

486 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 3.2 cm, 0.81 kg

'Caribbean Literature in Transition, 1970–2020 will remain a rich source for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and scholars within Caribbean studies, diaspora studies, postcolonial studies, and performance studies who are interested in the political, cultural, and social life of the literary imagination … this volume functions as a necessary reflection on some of the major developments in Caribbean literary production over the past fifty years.' Jovante Anderson, Journal of West Indian Literature

The period from the 1970s to the present day has produced an extraordinarily rich and diverse body of Caribbean writing that has been widely acclaimed. Caribbean Literature in Transition, 1970-2020 traces the region's contemporary writings across the established genres of prose, poetry, fiction and drama into emerging areas of creative non-fiction, memoir and speculative fiction with a particular attention on challenging the narrow canon of Anglophone male writers. It maps shifts and continuities between late twentieth century and early twenty-first century Caribbean literature in terms of innovations in literary form and style, the changing role and place of the writer, and shifts in our understandings of what constitutes the political terrain of the literary and its sites of struggle. Whilst reaching across language divides and multiple diasporas, it shows how contemporary Caribbean Literature has focused its attentions on social complexity and ongoing marginalizations in its continued preoccupations with identity, belonging and freedoms.

Introduction. Caribbean Assemblages: 1970s-2020 Alison Donnell and Ronald Cummings
Part I. Literary and Generic Transitions: 1. Writing and the Responsibility to Memory: The Role of White Female Planters in Contemporary Caribbean Novels Tanya L. Shields
2. Caribbean Identities and Diversifying the Creole Mix Shivanee Ramlochan
3. Carnival, Calypso, and Dancehall Cultures: Making the Popular Political in Contemporary Caribbean Writing Emily Zobel Marshall
4. Life Writing, Gender and Caribbean Narrative 1970-2015: Itinerant Self-Making in the Postcolonial Caribbean Denise Decaires Narain
5. Forwarding Dubpoetry in this Generation: A Grassroots Performance and Neo-Literary Genre in Transition Susan Gingell
6. Postcolonial Ruins, Reconstructive Poetics: Caribbean Urban Imaginaries Christopher Winks
7. Reimagining Caribbean Time and Space: Speculative Fiction Rebecca Romdhani
8. Drama and Performance Justine Mcconnell
9. Here are the Others: Caribbean Creative Nonfiction Kei Miller
10. 'Let every child run wild': Cultural Identity and the Role of the Child in Caribbean Children's and Young Adult Fiction Aisha Takiyah Spencer
Part II. Cultural and Political Transitions: 11. Caribbean Feminist Criticism: Towards a New Canon of Caribbean Feminist Theory and Theorizing Simone A. James Alexander
12. Writing of and for a Revolution Alison Donnell and Nalini Mohabir
12. Digital Yards: Caribbean Writing on Social Media and Other Digital Platforms Kelly Baker Josephs
13. Developing and Sustaining Literary Publics: Prizes, Festivals, and New Writing Ifeona Fulani
Part III. The Caribbean Region in Transition: 14. The Caribbean and Britain Sarah Lawson Welsh
15. Acts of Trespass and Collapsing Borders: Alternate Landscapes in Contemporary Caribbean-Canadian Literature Camille A. Isaacs
16. The Caribbean and the United States Jocelyn Fenton Stitt
17. The Caribbean and the Tourist Gaze Supriya M. Nair
18. Caribbean Subjects in the World Kezia A. Page
Part IV. Critical Transitions: 19. Visuality in Caribbean Literature and Visual Culture Marta Fernández Campa
20. From Counter-Textuality to Intertextuality: Continuing the Caribbean Canon Emily L. Taylor
21. Caribbean Eco-Poetics: The Categorial Imperative and Indifference in the Caribbean Environment Keja L. Valens
22. Sexual Subjects Faizal Deen and Ronald Cummings
23. Caribbean Literature and Literary Studies: Past, Present, and Future Alison Donnell
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Gay & Lesbian studies [JFSK], Gender studies, gender groups [JFSJ], Literary reference works [DSR], Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers [DSK], Literary studies: plays & playwrights [DSG], Literary studies: poetry & poets [DSC], Literary studies: post-colonial literature [DSBH5]