Trinidad Noir: The Classics

by Robert Antoni, C.I.R. James, Earl Lovelace

Overview

Two of Trinidad's top literary writers masterfully curate this retrospective of the nation's best writing over the past century.

“Trinidad Noir: The Classics asks readers to reconsider the postcolonial condition in the fifty-five years after independence.” —SX Salon

 “Each story is magnetic.” —New York Journal of Books

Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each book comprises all new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the geographic area of the book. Now, two of Trinidad’s top writers masterfully curate this literary retrospective of the nation’s best writing over the past century.

Reprints of classic stories (and poems) by: C.L.R. James, Derek Walcott, Samuel Selvon, Eric Roach, V.S. Naipaul, Harold Sonny Ladoo, Michael Anthony, Willi Chen, Earl Lovelace, Robert Antoni, Elizabeth Nunez, Ismith Khan, Lawrence Scott, Wayne Brown, Jennifer Rahim, Elizabeth Walcott-Hackshaw, Sharon Millar, Barbara Jenkins, and Shani Mootoo.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781617754357
Publisher:	Akashic Books, Ltd.
Publication date:	05/02/2017
Series:	Akashic Noir Series
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

ROBERT ANTONI is equal parts Trinbagonian, Bahamian, and US citizen. He is the author of five novels, most recently As Flies to Whatless Boys. He is the recipient of a NALIS Lifetime Literary Award from the Trinidad & Tobago National Library. He is the coeditor of Trinidad Noir: The Classics.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part I: Country
“Pot Luck” by Lisa Allen-Agostini (Sans Souci)
“The Rape” by Kevin Baldeosingh (Couva)
“The Funeral Party” by Shani Mootoo (San Fernando)
“Dougla” by Reena Andrea Manickchand (Caroni Swamp)
“Nowarian Blues” by Ramabai Espinet (Santa Cruz)
“Betrayal” by Willi Chen (Godineau)
“Bury Your Mother” by Jaime Lee Loy (Palmiste)
“Standing on Thin Skin” by Oonya Kempadoo (Maracas)

Part II: Town
“Woman Is Boss” by Elisha Efua Bartels (Diego Martin)
“Prophet” by Lawrence Scott (Maraval)
“How to Make Photocopies in theTrinidad & Tobago National Archives” by Robert Antoni (Uptown Port-of-Spain)
“The Best Laid Plans” by Darby Maloney (San Juan)
“The Jaguar” by Keith Jardim (Emperor Valley Zoo)
“Eric’s Turn” by Rian Marie Extavour (Tunapuna)
“Lucille” by Elizabeth Nunez (St. James)
“Peacock Blue” by Vahni Capildeo (Fort George)
“Dark Nights” by Judith Theodore (East Dry River)
“Gita Pinky Manachandi” by Tiphanie Yanique (Chaguaramas)

Editorial Reviews

★ 03/27/2017
To travel through the 19 works of poetry and prose in this remarkable anthology is to experience Trinidad and Tobago through a kaleidoscopic lens. The writings are grouped into four historically significant periods (“Leaving Colonialism,” “Facing Independence,” “Looking In,” and “Losing Control”). It’s an effective construct; the reader experiences island culture and history as a part of its time, formed by a pastiche of nationality, culture, and social class. Standouts abound. The central character in V.S. Naipul’s “Man-man” is a reputedly mad man in a community whose reactions to him move between bemused and violent. Harold Sonny Ladoo tells, in “The Quiet Peasant,” of an impoverished farmer who unwittingly digs his own grave. An island lilt and sharp humor spice Robert Antoni’s “Hindsight,” about a doctor confronting a singular medical condition. This is not a noir collection in the traditional crime-based sense. Instead, as noted in the introduction, the selections “direct attention to the violence of a society that has not quite settled accounts with the casualties of enslavement and indentureship.” (May)

Publishers Weekly

"Every story speaks to you . . . Trinidad Noir is an inimitable work of art, a classical expose of the island’s literary giants. For all its color it never falls short on its singular statement that the Caribbean people remain a distinctively creative force, a force that has ensured their survival."

Kaieteur News (Guyana)

"There can be little doubt . . . that this represents a good range of literary snapshots of Trinidad, giving clues to its distinct character."

Crime Review (UK)

"Trinidad Noir: The Classics asks readers to reconsider the postcolonial condition in the forty-five years after independence."
—SX Salon

"There can be little doubt...that this represents a good range of literary shapshots of Trinidad, giving clues to its distinct character."
—Crime Review

"Each story is magnetic."
—New York Journal of Books

"A dazzling sample of the talent that makes Trinidad and Tobago so unique...The book is a display of wide-ranging styles and great talents, giving a sense of the remarkable diversity of such a small island."
—Pif Magazine

"The first installment of Trinidad Noir (2008) revealed a dark, incessant heart beating beneath the public and private carapaces of contemporary T&T. This second offering delivers nineteen stories from a cadre of writers, the majority of whom emerged as established voices in the republic's march towards Independence...These stories sing of a fractured, fascinating land."
—Caribbean Beat Magazine

"There is enough cynicism, fatalism, and ambiguity in most of these stories to satisfy the most dedicated of noir aficionados; if some of them lack hard-boiled cynical characters, they make up for it in bleak settings, and vice versa. Most if not all of the stories deal either directly or indirectly with the legacies of slavery, indenture, and colonialism."
—The Caribbean Writer

"Every story speaks to you...Trinidad Noir is an inimitable work of art, a classical expose of the island's literary giants. For all its color it never falls short on its singular statement that the Caribbean people remain a distinctively creative force, a force that has ensured their survival."
—Kaieteur News (Guyana)

From the Publisher

04/01/2017
Pairing nicely with 2008's Trinidad Noir, this retrospective collection features classic stories from writers who were part of the literary wave that crested with Trinidadian independence in 1962. Notable authors include Derek Walcott, V.S. Naipaul, Elizabeth Nunez, Shani Mootoo, and the volume's editors. Holds strong appeal for fans of noir and literary writing.—ACT

Library Journal

2017-03-07
Lovelace and Antoni offer a "subversive" take on island culture to complement the 21st-century look at Trinidad offered by Lisa Allen-Agostini and Jeanne Mason's Trinidad Noir (2008).The editors take what at first blush looks like a historical perspective, starting with stories out of Trinidad's colonial past, like C.L.R. James' "La Divina Pastora," Michael Anthony's "The Valley of Cocoa," and Harold Sonny Ladoo's "The Quiet Peasant," which emphasize the rural landscape. But Trinidadians are eager to stray from their pastoral roots. In editor Lovelace's "Joebell and America," a gambler yearns to seek his fortune in the States. In Ismith Khan's "Uncle Zoltan," an expat returns to Port of Spain only to be confronted by his father's formidable brother. In "The Cricket Match," Samuel Selvon shows what happens when Trinidadians bring the island's favorite game to London. As their nation moves from colonial rule, Trinidadians discover that what's new is old again. They work hard for scant gain, as Jennifer Rahim shows in "Songster." Too often, their efforts come up empty, as in Willi Chen's "Assam's Iron Chest." And in the end, the madness of Barbara Jenkins' contemporary "Ghost Story" harks back to V.S. Naipaul's chilling colonial-era "Man-man." Whether history repeats itself or progress is stalled by people's infinite capacity to get in their own ways, these 19 reprinted tales offer a bittersweet perspective on the cussedness of human nature.

Kirkus Reviews