{"product_id":"between-the-bocas-a-literary-geography-of-western-trinidad-9781800855762","title":"Between the Bocas: A Literary Geography of","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSituated opposite the mouth of the Orinoco River, western Trinidad has long been considered an entrepôt to mainland South America. Trinidad’s geographic position—seen as strategic by various imperial governments—led to many heterogeneous peoples from across the region and globe settling or being relocated there. The calm waters around the Gulf of Paria on the western fringes of Trinidad induced settlers to construct a harbour, Port of Spain, around which the modern capital has been formed. From its colonial roots into the postcolonial era, western Trinidad therefore has played an especial part in the shaping of the island’s literature. Viewed from one perspective, western Trinidad might be deemed as narrating the heart of the modern state’s national literature. Alternatively, the political threats posed around San Fernando in Trinidad’s southwest in the 1930s and from within the capital in the 1970s present a different picture of western Trinidad—one in which the fractures of Trinidad and Tobago’s projected nationalism are prevalent.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhile sugar remains a dominant narrative in Caribbean literary studies, this book offers a unique literary perspective on matters too often perceived as the sole preserve of sociological, anthropological or geographical studies. The legacy of the oil industry and the development of the suburban commuter belt of East-West Corridor, therefore, form considerable discursive nodes, alongside other key Trinidadian sites, such as Woodford Square, colonial houses and the urban yards of Port of Spain. This study places works by well-known authors such as V. S. Naipaul and Samuel Selvon, alongside writing by Michel Maxwell Philip, Marcella Fanny Wilkins, E. L. Joseph, Earl Lovelace, Ismith Khan, Monique Roffey, Arthur Calder-Marshall and the largely neglected novelist, Yseult Bridges, who is almost entirely forgotten today. Using fiction, calypso, history, memoir, legal accounts, poetry, essays and journalism, this study opens with an analysis of Trinidad’s nineteenth century literature and offers twentieth century and more contemporary readings of the island in successive chapters. Chapters are roughly arranged in chronological order around particular sites and topoi, while literature from a variety of authors of British, Caribbean, Irish and Jewish descent is represented.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eIntroduction\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA Geographic Reading of Trinidad’s West\u003cbr\u003eTracing a Caribbean Literary Past and the Role of the Local\u003cbr\u003eDecoupling the Literary Map from the Modern State\u003cbr\u003eBeyond Sugar: Remapping Trinidad’s Literary History\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 1 Traversing Trinidad’s Wild West (1783-1907)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCharting the Terrain: Three Maps\u003cbr\u003eMapping the Conquest and the Myth of Terra Cognita\u003cbr\u003eUncultivated Lands and Wild Frontiers\u003cbr\u003eConquistadors of Sense and Sensibilities\u003cbr\u003eThe Wandering, Innocent Eye\/I in the Tropical Picturesque\u003cbr\u003ePirates, Revolution and Creole Consciousness\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 2 Peeping Through the Partition (1927-1936)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eModernist Visions, Porous Barrack-Yard Boundaries\u003cbr\u003ePrivacy, Private Property and Rent\u003cbr\u003eThe Gynocentric Yard\u003cbr\u003eDangerous Transgressions\u003cbr\u003eResisting Patriarchy and Colonialism\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 3 Dark Thresholds in the Colonial House (1934)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSetting Boundaries, Crossing Borders\u003cbr\u003ePolicing the Perimeter\u003cbr\u003ePlaying House in the Community\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 4 Challenge from the South (1935-45)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOil, Possession, Labour and the Yankee Dollar\u003cbr\u003eOil\u003cbr\u003ePossession\u003cbr\u003eLabour\u003cbr\u003eThe Yankee Dollar\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 5 The Sub-Urban Expansion (1940s-50s)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eViews of the Port, City and Country\u003cbr\u003eWaterside Relations: the Port, Saga and Steelband\u003cbr\u003eMyths of City and Country\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 6 From the Grassroots to Woodford Square (1962-2010)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCommunity, Nationhood and the Politics of the Location\u003cbr\u003eFrom the University of Woodfood Square to the People’s Parliament\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eConclusion\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBibliography\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Liverpool University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50470071206231,"sku":"9781800855762","price":32.95,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/between-the-bocas-a-literary-geography-of-western-trinidad-9781800855762","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}