Hmm . . . I don't know how "Out Island Doctor" might be classified.  Social commentary?  Possibly.  It was written by an American who moved to the Bahamas.  Old publication. You probably already know about it.

Also, some mentioned Krik Krak which I think is an excellent work.  This same author, Edwidge Danticat, also wrote "Breath, Eyes, Memory".  Coming of age / Migration / Bi-cultural (?) issues explored.  

Mon, 26 Jun 2000  6:11:55 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Buslik <[log in to unmask]> writes:

<< Hello there --

With regard to social commentaries ...

Anything by Anthony Winkler (Jamaican, living in Atlanta), but
particularly "Going Home to Teach" Kingston Publishers 1995, which,
while making you cry with frustration, includes the funniest page ever
written in the English language (you'll know it when you get there).

His other works are just as worthwhile:  "The Great Yacht Race" 1992
(for an example of pre-independence racial hilarity - does that make any
sense?), "The Lunatic" 1987, "The Duppy" 1997, all published by Kingston
Publishers.  And "The Painted Canoe" published in 1986 by Lyle Stuart of
New Jersey, and also published by the University of Chicago Press in
1989. In the U. of C.'s words:  a rare weave of humor and sadness.

If you can't find these in a library, go to
www.jamaica-netlink.com/caribooks

Do you know "Sonny Jim of Sandy Point" by S. B. Jones-Hendrickson, St.
Kitts-born, currently living in St. Croix?  It was published by the
Eastern Caribbean Institute of St. Croix in 1991 and should be
available.

Not so laden with humor, but outstanding works from other islands are:

anything by John Wickham of Barbados, who is generally out-of-print, but
whose "World Without End" (New Beacon Books 1982), if you can find it,
is 134 pages of being there.

"The Boy from Popeshead" by Rev. Leon H. Matthias, Antigua born, but
possibly living now in St. Croix.  I believe it was published by the
Reverend himself, Frederiksted, St. Croix, USVI.

"Dusk to Dawn" (Kingston Publishers 1995) by Hugo Vanterpool of Tortola.

And, no humor here but, how about something like Edwidge Danticat's
"Krik? Krak!" (Soho Press, New York)?  Her stories of Haiti could make
Kincaid's "Small Place" seem a little like heaven.

With regard to the Naipaul quote: coincidentally, I was at a talk by
George Lamming about two weeks ago at the University of
Illinois-Chicago.  I believe he referred to that very quote while
speaking of Voudou's Ceremony of the Souls, which he characterised as a
sort of collaboration between the dead (the slave dead, suffering dead?)
and the living, on the "settling of the matter."  He said the dead are
dependent on the living for liberation, and the living are dependent on
the dead for forgiveness.  As he spoke of this drama of redemption and
cleansing, he used the words "imaginative imperative for the Caribbean
artist."  My understanding (whether I understood him correctly or not, I
don't know) was that the Caribbean writer should look to and address the
soul-searching turmoil of Haiti to contribute to the "settling of the
matter."  I am a scholarly layperson, not a professional, and hope I
have not misrepresented Mr. Lamming's words.  These are my own thoughts
which I noted while listening to him.

I guess I haven't answered your question ...  Ask Mr. Lamming?

Hope any part of this helps.

Janice Buslik



 


Virgil Storr wrote:
> 
> 1. where/when did naipaul say "the future of the Caribbean is Haiti". I seen
> it quoted abunch of places without anyone giving it a hard reference (i.e.
> one i could track down)????
> 
> 2. i'm also trying to find works by authors from other west indian islands
> like kincaid's "a small place". by "like", i mean social commentaries, laden
> with humor, written like fiction. the closest i've found is (Bahamian)
> Miecholas-Glinton's "99 cent breakfast". Any others????
> 
> thankyou for your help,
> kihika
> 
> ************************************************************************
> Virgil Henry Storr
> Department of Economics
> George Mason University
> Fairfax, VA 22030-4444
> Email: [log in to unmask]
> ************************************************************************
 >>




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