University Press of America
Pages: 100
Trim: 6 x 9
978-0-7618-4112-8 • Paperback • June 2008 • $46.99 • (£36.00)
Lucy Wilson is Professor of English at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
Chapter 1 Acknowledgements
Chapter 2 Forward
Chapter 3 Introduction: In Due Season: Coming of Age in Caribbean Literature
Part 4 Part I: Stages of Female Development
Chapter 5 Dialogic Interplay in Coming-of-Age Novels by West Indian Women Writers
Chapter 6 The Novel of Relational Autonomy: West Indian Writers and the Evolution of Genre
Chapter 7 Aging and Ageism in Paule Marshall's Praisesong for the Widow and Beryl Gilroy's Frangipani House
Chapter 8 Reading Kincaid's The Autobiography of My Mother
Part 9 Part II: Jean Rhys's West Indian Outcasts
Chapter 10 'Women Must Have Spunks': Jean Rhys's West Indian Outcasts
Chapter 11 European or Caribbean: Jean Rhys and the Language of Exile
Chapter 12 Helen of the Culture Wars: Jean Rhys and the Critics
An illuminating discussion of some of the principal thematic and stylistic elements which define a genre and distinguish an important cluster of contemporary West Indian women writers. Wilson deftly examines and clarifies the sometimes complex issues and positions involved in the surrounding theoretical debates, while not losing sight of the relationship between literature and society, literature and women's lives, and the aesthetic, cultural, and historical aspects which differentiate European women's writings from African diasporan women's works — something which often befuddles less informed critics. A significant contribution to the critical canon.
— Roland E. Bush, Ph. D., Review Editor, Journal of Caribbean Studies
Admirably lucid and readable, these essays explore and illuminate areas of literature too little known by American readers. Lucy Wilson's subtle and intelligent book is the perfect place for readers to begin broadening their horizon to include in the canon of the Americas the overlooked wonders of Caribbean fiction.
— Alan Wilde, author of Horizons of Assent and Middle Grounds
This collection of essays attests to the clarity of Dr. Wilson's literary observations and to her ability to shape and refine her vision over a number of years as a scholar with a keen interest in Anglophone Caribbean women's writing. These fresh perspectives will be of great value to serious students and readers with an interest in Caribbean literature.
— Avis G. McDonald, Independent Scholar, Sydney, Australia
This choice collection of influential essays provides the definitive account of how life narration in the Caribbean and its Diaspora is modulated by gender. A must-read for scholars and students of English, Women's Studies, and Caribbean Studies.
— Roberto Strongman, Black Studies, UCSB