Writing in Limbo: Modernism and Caribbean Literature

In Simon Gikandi's View, Caribbean Literature And Postcolonial Literature More Generally Negotiate An Uneasy Relationship With The Concepts Of Modernism And Modernity-a Relationship In Which The Caribbean Writer, Unable To Escape A History Encoded By Europe, Accepts The Challenge Of Rewriting It. Drawing On Contemporary Deconstructionist Theory, Gikandi Looks At How Such Caribbean Writers As George Lamming, Samuel Selvon, Alejo Carpentier, C. L. R. James, Paule Marshall, Merle Hodge, Zee Edgell, And Michelle Cliff Have Attempted To Confront European Modernism. Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction. Modernism And The Origins Of Caribbean Literature -- 1. Caribbean Modernist Discourse : Writing, Exile, And Tradition -- 2. From Exile To Nationalism: The Early Novels Of George Lamming -- 3. Beyond The Kala-pani: The Trinidad Novels Of Samuel Selvon -- 4. The Deformation Of Modernism: The Allegory Of History In Carpentier's El Siglo De Las Luces -- 5. Modernism And The Masks Of History: The Novels Of Paule Marshall -- 6. Writing After Colonialism: Crick Crack, Monkey And Beka Lamb -- 7. Narration At The Postcolonial Moment: History And Representation In Abeng -- Conclusion -- Index Simon Gikandi. Includes Index. In English.