Between the Bocas : a literary geography of Western Trinidad / Jak Peake.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Peake, Jak, author.

Series:

American tropics

American tropics: towards a literary geography

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Trinidadian and Tobagonian literature--History.

Trinidadian and Tobagonian literature.

History.

Trinidad and Tobago--History--20th century.

Trinidad and Tobago.

Ethnicity in literature.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xii, 326 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Other Title:

Literary geography of Western Trinidad

Place of Publication:

Liverpool : Liverpool University Press, [2015]

Summary:

Situated opposite the mouth of the Orinoco River, western Trinidad has long been considered an entrepôt to mainland South America. Trinidad's geographic position - seen as strategic by various imperial governments - led to many heterogeneous peoples from across the region and globe settling or being relocated there. The calm waters around the Gulf of Paria on the western fringes of Trinidad induced settlers to construct a harbour, Port of Spain, around which the modern capital was formed. From its colonial roots into the postcolonial era, western Trinidad has played an special part in the shaping of the island's literature. Viewed from one perspective, western Trinidad might be deemed as narrating the heart of the modern state's national literature. Alternatively, the political threats posed around San Fernando in Trinidad's southwest in the 1930s and from within the capital in the 1970s present a different picture of western Trinidad - one in which the fractures of Trinidad and Tobago's projected nationalism are prevalent. While sugar remains a dominant narrative in Caribbean literary studies, this book offers a unique literary perspective on matters too often perceived as the sole preserve of sociological, anthropological or geographical studies. The legacy of the oil industry and the development of the suburban commuter belt of East-West Corridor, therefore, form considerable discursive nodes, alongside other key Trinidadian sites, such as Woodford Square, colonial houses and the urban yards of Port of Spain. This study places works by well-known authors such as V. S. Naipaul and Samuel Selvon, alongside writing by Michel Maxwell Philip, Marcella Fanny Wilkins, E. L. Joseph, Earl Lovelace, Ismith Khan, Monique Roffey, Arthur Calder-Marshall, Zenga Longmore and the largely neglected Yseult Bridges, who is almost entirely forgotten today. Using fiction, calypso, history, memoir, legal accounts, poetry, essays and journalism, this study opens with an analysis of Trinidad's nineteenth century literature and offers twentieth-century and more contemporary readings of the island in successive chapters. Chapters are arranged in roughly chronological order around particular sites and topoi, and present writing from a variety of authors of British, Caribbean, Irish and Jewish descent. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Traversing Trinidad's Wild West (1783-1907) 35

Charting the Terrain: Three Maps 35

Mapping the Conquest and the Myth of Terra Cognita 37

Uncultivated Lands and Wild Frontiers 42

Conquistadors of Sense and Sensibilities 57

The Wandering, Innocent Eye/I in the Tropical Picturesque 63

Pirates, Revolution and Creole Consciousness 76

2 Peeping Through the Partition (1927-1936) 99

Modernist Visions, Porous Barrack-Yard Boundaries 99

Privacy, Private Property and Rent 113

The Gynocentric Yard 116

Dangerous Transgressions 122

Resisting Patriarchy and Colonialism 128

3 Dark Thresholds in the Colonial House (1934) 138

Setting Boundaries, Crossing Borders 138

Policing the Perimeter 145

Playing House in the Community 161

4 Challenge from the South (1935-1945) 171

Oil, Possession, Labour and the Yankee Dollar 171

Oil 175

Possession 182

Labour 190

The Yankee Dollar 203

5 The Sub-Urban Expansion (1940s-1950s) 213

Views of the Port, City and Country 213

Waterside Relations: The Port, Saga and Steel Band 217

Myths of City and Country 226

6 From the Grass Roots to Woodford Square (1962-2010) 248

Community, Nationhood and the Politics of the Location 248

From the University of Woodfood Square to the People's Parliament 257.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 297-315) and index.

ISBN:

9781781382882

1781382883

OCLC:

1001313616

Publisher Number:

99976225377