Representations of the Island in Caribbean Literature: Caribbean Women Redefine Their Homelands

Jurney follows the advice of Maryse Condé in that she describes what she senses and sees, and refrains from setting arbitrary definitional boundaries for her investigation. A wealth of original material results from this approach, as Jurney provides a seminal study that reveals to the reader the complex relationship of Caribbean space to global engagement in contemporary Caribbean women’s writing.” – Prof. Mark Andrews, Vassar College

“. . . reveals often neglected connections between Francophone, Hispanophone, and Anglophone Caribbean traditions, as well as the ways in which exile and globalization call into question the linguistic boundaries often viewed as defining Caribbean communities and used to determine membership in them.” – Prof. Nicole Simek, Whitman College

“This in-depth comparative analysis of West-Indian literature provides provides a transnational vision of Caribbean literature too rarely examined beyond linguistic divides.” – Prof. Valérie Loichet, Emory University

Acknowledgments
Foreword by Mark Andrews
Introduction. Representing the Caribbean Island: Women and the Relationship to the Land Diaspora
From Diaspora to Globalization
Representations of the Caribbean Island
Chapter 1. (Re)Writing (Hi)Story
1. Creating Postcolonial (Hi)Story in Works by Michelle Cliff and Jamaica Kincaid
2. Rewriting Colonial History in Writings by Maryse Condé, Suzanne Dracius, and Gisèle Pineau
3. Weaving Stories and History: The Voices of Marie-Célie Agnant and Rosario Ferré
Chapter 2. Negotiating Exile
1. Nostalgia and the Reality of Exile in Novels by Cristina García
2. Telling the Return in Writings by Edwidge Danticat and Velma Pollard
3. Diasporic Identities in Works by Julia Alvarez and Paule Marshall
Chapter 3. Caribbean Diaspora, Globalization and Literature
1. Writing Global Connections in Works by Maryse Condé, Marie-Célie Agnant, Gisèle Pineau, and Dionne Brand
2. Diasporic Representations of the Island of Origin in Novels by Gisèle Pineau and Marie-Célie Agnant
3. The New Global Caribbean Novel: The Voices of Dionne Brand and Julia Alvarez
Afterword. Charting New Territories
Bibliography
Index