Caribbean Women Novelists: An Annotated Critical Bibliography

by Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert (Editor), Olga Torres-Seda (Editor)

Overview

This comprehensive, annotated bibliography of works by and about Caribbean women novelists from 1950 to the present covers novelists from all Caribbean islands and Surinam writing in English, Spanish, French, Dutch, and their dialects. Entries on some 150 individual writers are organized alphabetically and comprise a biographical sketch, data on novels with plot synopses, a listing of other known publications in all genres, as well as annotated criticism and reviews. Included are translations, interviews, recorded materials, and broadcast literature. Sources range from publications of major presses and jourbanals in various countries and languages to dissertations and items from local newspapers and small presses. Preceding the author entries is a Bibliography of General Works covering criticism; bibliographies, both regional and for individual countries; and bio-bibliographical reference books. Alternative means of access are provided by a List of Authors by Country and indexes of novels, critics, and themes and key words. A guide to resources on literature of the Netherlands Antilles is included as an appendix.

Caribbean literature—and Caribbean women writers in particular—is one of the fastest growing fields of literary study. Additionally, the Caribbean presents an ideal laboratory for other areas of intense research: comparative literatures and post-colonial studies. This bibliography serves these interests, placing special emphasis on common themes and techniques that transcend national boundaries and linguistic differences.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313283420
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/26/1993
Series:	Bibliographies and Indexes in World Literature , #36
Pages:	448
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

LIZABETH PARAVISINI-GEBERT is Associate Professor at Vassar College, and former Chair of the Puerto Rican Studies Department at Lehman College, City University of New York. She is coeditor of an anthology of short stories by Caribbean women, Green Cane and Juicy Flotsam, and an anthology of erotic writings by Latin American women published in Spanish and English. Her other publications inclue critical editions of works of Ana Rogue and Phyllis Shand Allfrey, dozens of book chapters, jourbanal articles, and reviews in English and Spanish, and English-Spanish and Spanish-English translations.

OLGA TORRES-SEDA is Assistant Professor and Reference Librarian at Lehman College, City University of New York. She has published several bibliographies in reference books, critical studies, and anthologies, including Green Cane and Juicy Flotsam, coedited by Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert, and is a contributor to the annual Bibliography of Caribbean Bibliographies. She is presently working on an annotated bibliography of contemporary Puerto Rican novelists and short story writers and an index to Puerto Rican poetry.

Table of Contents

Preface
Bibliography of General Works
Author Bibliographies
List of Authors by Country
Index of Novels
Index of Critics
Index of Themes and Key Words
Appendix: Literature in the Netherlands Antilles: A Guide to Resources by Hilda van Neck-Yoder

Editorial Reviews

Out of the depths of silence is an emerging interest in women writers, including those from all spectra of the African diaspora. In this work--a title in the Bibliographies and Indexes in World Literature series--female writers of the Caribbean are the focus of scholarship. For the purpose of this book, the Caribbean represents the geographic area encompassing the islands of the Caribbean Sea, Belize, Guyana, and Surinam. Entries include "both writers born and raised in the region and those who, regardless of their place of residence or birth, have identified themselves as Caribbean." In this ambitious and painstaking study, women writers who have composed at least one novel since 1950 are treated. Included is a critical bibliographic review of the works by and about 149 women writers, such as Rosa Guy, Jamaica Kincaid, Paule Marshall, Miriam Zito, Jean D'Costa, Beatrice Archer, and many more Writers are arranged alphabetically, and the entries range in length from less than one page ("Gladys "Marel" Garcia") to more than 50 ("Jean Rhys"). Each profiled author is briefly identified with basic biographical information. The compilers' objective was to prepare as comprehensive a list as possible of each writer's works as well as all relative critical reactions from journals, newspapers, occasional papers, and such academic studies as theses and conference papers. The listings of the works authored by the profiled individuals include not only their novels, but also short stories, poetry, essays, translations they prepared, interviews they conducted, stage adaptations, and any other types of literary endeavors that could be identified. The compilers obtained copies of every item cited except in a few cases noted as "unavailable." A few items have annotations, primarily the entries for novels. The citations reflect the complex linguistic traditions of the area, with many of the titles written in languages other than English, but works available in translation are clearly noted Opening the book is a list of general reference works that feature various aspects of the subject, and an appendix discusses resources available for literature in the Netherlands Antilles. Closing the study are a list of authors by country and three indexes: titles of novels, names of critics, and one for themes and keywords. It would have been useful for quick lookups had an alphabetical list of the profiled authors been included, either as an index or on a contents page. This is especially true since no cross-references are provided in the work for individuals with compound surnames Even though the Caribbean region has common historical experiences, it is marked by fragmentation produced by colonial control. This led to four distinct linguistic traditions (French, Spanish, English, Dutch), and most previous research has focused on one of these languages or a particular nationality. Likewise, most previous reference tools have focused on the literature of one specific tradition. One title that includes brief listings for more than 400 writers of the entire region, regardless of language or time period, is "Caribbean Writers: Bio-Bibliographical Critical Encyclopedia" ["RSBR" Mr 1 81]. However, that book is now more than 12 years old, and most of the citations in the work under review are to materials published since that date The challenge for the compilers of "Caribbean Women Novelists" was to produce a comprehensive and up-to-date resource on its subject, encompassing the diversity of languages and traditions, in order "to provide a useful tool for the comparative study of women's literature." They have succeeded with this comprehensive critical bibliographic study. In large public libraries and in academic institutions, this resource will help fill an information void. It is recommended for specialized collections in literary, ethnic, and women's studies.

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This comprehensive, annotated bibliography of works by and about Caribbean women novelists from 1950 to the present covers writings in English, Spanish, French, Dutch, and their dialects. Entries on some 150 individual writers are organized alphabetically and comprise a biographical sketch, data on novels with plot synopses, a listing of other known publications in all genres, as well as annotated criticism and reviews. Preceding the author entries is a bibliography of general works. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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