Caribbean contemporary literature

[HarryK]

As my interest in rum developes, so does my interest in the part of the world where the spirit origins.
Therefore I have started my search for literarture, that portrays the social, political and contemporary life in the Caribbean from Cuba to Antigua. So I can broaden my knowlegde of this specific part of our planet.

An example of this would be Mario Vargas Lopez - Fiesta of the Goat - about the fall of the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic in the early 1960s.

In my part of the world (Scandinavia) literature about and from the Caribbean is hard to come by. So I appreciate all the help I can get.

Names of authors and books (in english) would be appreciated. Fiction as well as non-fiction titles are welcome.

Thank you in advance

[RonJames]

Fiesta of the Goat...very interesting in that the male goat in spanish is a VERY bad swear word (insult) to call someone. I like you Harry have been very interested in the caribbean history, which is great because each island has a different history. For me, I usually read on wikipedia or wikitravel about the history, culture, info etc... Mostly because although not peer reviewed or published its a nice short read. And in the end...the only way to actually get the history is to ask someone living it. For example, my father in law is Puerto Rican and was telling me how when the US troops came ashore the Puerto Rican actually helped guide them through the island because they were so sick of spanish rule. A little fact that never made it into my school's history books Grab a glass and I hope you enjoy the reading, I know I have (do)

[Berbician]

Here's a few to get you started:

The Middle Passage by V S Naipaul* (non-fiction)

A House for Mr Biswas by V S Naipaul* (fiction set in Trinidad)

The Autobiography of Paras P by Kevin Baldeosingh (fiction set in Trinidad)

Virgin's Triangle by Kevin Baldeosingh (fiction set in Trinidad)

The Traveller's Tree by Patrick Leigh Fermor (non-fiction)

Touch the Happy Isles by Quentin Crewe (non-fiction)

The Last English Plantation by Jan Lo Shinebourne (fiction set in Guyana)

A Rotten Person Travels the Caribbean by Gary Buslik (non-fiction and very funny)

The West Indies and the Spanish Main by Anthony Trollope (over 100 years old and probably out of print)

A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid (non-fiction about Antigua)

Buxton Spice by Oonya Kempadoo (fiction set in Guyana)

An Embarrassment of Mangoes by Ann Vanderhoof (non-fiction)

The Humming-Bird Tree by Ian McDonald (fiction set in Trinidad)

Sweetening Bitter Sugar - Jock Campbell the Booker Reformer by Clem Seecharan (non-fiction about the sugar industry in Guyana)

The White Minority in the Caribbean edited by Howard Johnson and Karl Watson

The Bishop of San Fernando by David McLaurin (fiction set in Trinidad)

A Morning at the Office by Edgar Mittelholzer (fiction set in Trinidad and probably out of print)

*V S Naipaul is probably the best writer ever to emerge from the English speaking Caribbean - he won the Nobel Literature Prize a few years ago.

[HarryK]

Thank you for your suggestions Berbician. So far I haven´t been able to track any of the titles down where Im at, somy next move is Google/Amazon :-)

[anax44]

Hey, @Berbician, by chance do you have any of these in mobi format?

[Naptown_Jim]

The West Indies and the Spanish Main by Anthony Trollope is available through the Internet Archive... archive.org... for download in a variety of formats including Kindle

[Edward Hamilton]

Caribbean Time Bomb by Robert Coram is an interesting chronicle of the politics of Antigua and the English Caribbean Islands.

[Berbician]

anax44,

Sorry for the delay in replying to your question. I've just returned from a holiday in Dominica. Yes, I know it's a hard life .

I'm not quite sure what "mobi format" is; so the answer to your question is probably no .

[anax44]

Originally Posted by Berbician

anax44,

Sorry for the delay in replying to your question. I've just returned from a holiday in Dominica. Yes, I know it's a hard life .

I'm not quite sure what "mobi format" is; so the answer to your question is probably no .

Hey, mobi format is the format used for kindle e-readers.

How was Dominica? Is there anything rum-related there worth doing?
I was there last year and did two articles for my website; How to experience the hot springs for free and hiking to Emerald Pool.

I'll be there again this summer.

[Berbician]

Dominica was great.

There is only one distillery - Shillingford's - and it was badly damaged by Tropical Storm Erika last year and they are not making any rum at the moment. I was given a tour, but there obviously wasn't a great deal to see and what there was was very dilapidated. They are hoping to restart production in August this year, but I feel that that may be rather optimistic.

All their rums are made from sugar cane juice and not molasses, and you can still buy all their products in the shops in Dominica. Their premium rum - Macoucherie - is only aged for eighteen months but is very good.

There used to be a second distillery - Belfast - near Canefield Airport, but they stopped distilling a long time ago, and now only blend and bottle imported rum. I didn't try any of their products.

Macoucherie - which incidentally means "Come into my bed, darling" in Dominican Creole - retails at about EC$30.00 in the shops. As far as I know, no Dominican rum is exported.

I did try some home-made cinnamon infused rum in a rum shop not far from Emerald Pool and it, also, was very good.