Nobody's nation
Subtitle: reading Derek Walcott
By: Paul Breslin.
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2001
Place of publication: Chicago
Language: eng
Number of pages: 333
Subjects: Walcott, Derek -- Knowledge -- History; Literature and history -- West Indies -- History -- 20th century; Postcolonialism -- West Indies; Decolonization in literature; West Indies -- In literature
Description: This study grounds Walcott's work firmly in the context of West Indian history. The book argues that Walcott's poems and plays are bound up with an effort to re-imagine West Indian society since its emergence from colonial rule, its ill-fated attempt at political unity, and its subsequent dispersal into tiny nation-states. According to this book, Walcott's work is centrally concerned with the West Indies' imputed absence from history and lack of cohesive national identity or cultural tradition. Walcott sees this lack not as impoverishment but as an open space for creation.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 297-322) and index.