Caribbean Literature in Transition, 1920–1970: Volume 2
Caribbean Literature in Transition Series

The years between the 1920s and 1970s are key for the development of Caribbean literature, producing the founding canonical literary texts of the Anglophone Caribbean. This volume features essays by major scholars as well as emerging voices revisiting important moments from that era to open up new perspectives. Caribbean contributions to the Harlem Renaissance, to the Windrush generation publishing in England after World War II, and to the regional reverberations of the Cuban Revolution all feature prominently in this story. At the same time, we uncover lesser known stories of writers publishing in regional newspapers and journals, of pioneering women writers, and of exchanges with Canada and the African continent. From major writers like Derek Walcott, V.S. Naipaul, George Lamming, and Jean Rhys to recently recuperated figures like Eric Walrond, Una Marson, Sylvia Wynter, and Ismith Khan, this volume sets a course for the future study of Caribbean literature.

Introduction Raphael Dalleo and Curdella Forbes; Part I. Literary and Generic Transitions: 1. Writing at the end of empire Erin M. Fehskens; 2. Questioning Modernism: the 1950s—1960s Mary Lou Emery; 3. Daily decolonization: poetry, periodicals, and newspaper publishing Ben Etherington; 4. Towards a national theatre Jason Allen-Paisant; 5. Orature, performance, and the oral-scribal interface Carol Bailey; 6. Explorations of the self Merle Collins; Part II. Cultural and Political Transitions: 7. Debating language Carolyn Cooper; 8. Periodical culture Claire Irving; 9. Decolonizing education: literature, the school system, and the imperatives of political independence Ian Robertson; 10. Imaginaries of citizenship and the state Michael Niblett; 11. Postcolonial stirrings: the crisis of nationalism Laurie R. Lambert; Part III. The Caribbean Region in Transition: 12. A moving centre: the Caribbean in Britain J. Dillon Brown; 13. Canadian routes Michael A. Bucknor; 14. New empires: the Caribbean and the United States Imani D. Owens; 15. Africa and the Caribbean: recrossing the Atlantic Simon Gikandi; 16. Cross-Caribbean dialogues I: Hispanophone Amanda T. Perry; 17. Cross-Caribbean dialogues II: Francophone Raphael Dalleo; Part IV. Critical Transitions: 18. Forging the critical canon Glyne Griffith; 19. Forgotten trailblazers Antonia Macdonald; 20. Recuperating women writers Anthea Morrison; 21. Rhizomatic genealogies: Jean Rhys as literary foremother Reed Caswell Aiken; 22. Writing Indo-Caribbean masculinity Lisa Outar; 23. Writing and reading sex and sexuality Margaret Grace Love.

Raphael Dalleo is Professor of English at Bucknell University. His most recent book, American Imperialism's Undead: The Occupation of Haiti and the Rise of Caribbean Anticolonialism (2016), won the Caribbean Studies Association's 2017 Gordon K. and Sibyl Lewis Award for best book about the Caribbean. He is author of Caribbean Literature and the Public Sphere (2011), editor of Bourdieu and Postcolonial Studies (2016), coeditor of Haiti and the Americas (2013), and coauthor of The Latino/a Canon and the Emergence of Post-Sixties Literature (2007). He serves on the editorial advisory board of the Journal of West Indian Literature.
Curdella Forbes is Professor of Caribbean Literature at Howard University. She is also a fiction writer. Her academic publications include From Nation to Diaspora: Samuel Selvon, George Lamming and the Cultural Performance of Gender (2005), which won the University of the West Indies prize for Best Research Book (2006). She has published book chapters and essays in journals including Small Axe, Journal of West Indian Literature, Anthurium, Postcolonial Text, Ariel, and Journal of Literature and Psychology. She serves on the editorial advisory board of JWIL and Anthurium, and has authored major works of fiction including A Tall History of Sugar (Akashic 2019, Canongate 2020).