Phonographic memories : popular music and the contemporary Caribbean novel / Njelle W. Hamilton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hamilton, Njelle W., 1977- author.

Series:

Critical Caribbean studies.

Critical Caribbean studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Caribbean fiction (English)--20th century--History and criticism.

Caribbean fiction (English).

Music and literature--Caribbean Area--History--20th century.

Music and literature.

Popular music in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 222 pages).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, New Jersey : Rutgers University Press, [2019]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Phonographic Memories is the first book to perform a sustained analysis of the narrative and thematic influence of Caribbean popular music on the Caribbean novel. Tracing a region-wide attention to the deep connections between music and memory in the work of Lawrence Scott, Oscar Hijuelos, Colin Channer, Daniel Maximin, and Ramabai Espinet, Njelle Hamilton tunes in to each novel's soundtrack while considering the broader listening cultures that sustain collective memory and situate Caribbean subjects in specific localities. These "musical fictions" depict Caribbean people turning to calypso, bolero, reggae, gwoka, and dub to record, retrieve, and replay personal and cultural memories. Offering a fresh perspective on musical nationalism and nostalgic memory in the era of globalization, Phonographic Memories affirms the continued importance of Caribbean music in providing contemporary novelists ethical narrative models for sounding marginalized memories and voices. Njelle W. Hamilton's Spotify playlist to accompany Phonotgraphic Memories: https://spoti.fi/2tCQRm8

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface

Introduction

1. Phonographic Memory: Tracing the Calypsonian's Work in Lawrence Scott's Night Calypso

2. "Record Your Memories": The Bolero Aesthetic in Oscar Hijuelos's The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love

3. Re-membering "Body and Soul": Gender, Jazz, and Gwoka in Daniel Maximin's Lone Sun

4. Roots, Romance, Reggae: (Dis)Placing Memory in Colin Channer's Waiting in Vain

5. Memory as Mixtape: The Dub Aesthetic in Ramabai Espinet's The Swinging Bridge

Coda

Acknowledgments

Notes

Works Cited

Index

Notes:

Revision of author's thesis (doctoral)--Brandeis University, 2012, titled Sound writing : popular music in the contemporary Caribbean novel.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 201-214) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-8135-9663-7

OCLC:

1114971186