Description
Book SynopsisThe first anthology of lesbian and gay writing from the Caribbean.
Trade Review“With excerpts from the work of luminaries like Audre Lorde, Reinaldo Arenas, Michelle Cliff, Assotto Saint, Achy Obejas, and Aldo Alvarez, there's no question this anthology has serious literary heft, beyond its import as a first-of-a-kind collection. But it's the lesser-known (and, in some cases, never-before translated) contributors who add value. . . . everal contributions are emphatically academic, footnotes and all, but these provide ballast for Glave's authentic, eclectic collection.” -
Richard Labonte“Glave has given us a valuable record of the real beauty and brutality that lurks behind the travel posters.” -
Harry E. Baldwin,
Frontiers“
Our Caribbean will likely become a classic compilation and a must-read for anyone who wants to learn more about what it means to be from the Antilles region of the world and to find a home in the LGBT community.” -
Rachel Pepper,
Curve“You need to take time with this collection. It is a delicious gathering of voices, all different, but with interweaving themes. You cannot rush this experience. From the luscious, sexy racy prose to the cutting edge politics, every line has shape and depth and plays upon you long after the reading. This book will rock you, rock within you, like
This Bridge Called My Back, edited by Cherie Moraga, did in the 1970’s”. -
Cathie Koa Dunsford, Asia and Pacific Writers Network
“[An] important and amazing collection. . . . All of the essays, fiction, and poems in this collection impress, and with this text, Glave has created a very important addition to the growing shelf of international GLBT literature.” - Michael G. Cornelius,
Bloomsbury Review“You don’t have to be gay, lesbian, or Caribbean . . . to appreciate this anthology, though it is certainly a seminal contribution to the fields of Caribbean literature and gay and lesbian studies. Most of its contents are worth reading for the drama, sensitivity, and complexity required of such identities.” - Emily Raboteau,
American Book Review“
Our Caribbean is a superb anthology. Thomas Glave does not exaggerate when he writes that this is ‘a book that I and others have been waiting for and have wanted for all our lives.’ Here we have a book that makes literal the ongoing necessity to write ‘against silence.’”—
Elizabeth Alexander, author of
American Blue: Selected Poems“Traversing boundaries of geography, history, language, and desire, Thomas Glave has assembled a poignant testament of how we dare to love differently and yearn for justice in the same breath...Necessary and timely.”—
M. Jacqui Alexander, author of
Pedagogies of Crossing: Meditations on Feminism, Sexual Politics, Memory, and the Sacred“
Our Caribbean will likely become a classic compilation and a must-read for anyone who wants to learn more about what it means to be from the Antilles region of the world and to find a home in the LGBT community.” -- Rachel Pepper * Curve *
“[An] important and amazing collection. . . . All of the essays, fiction, and poems in this collection impress, and with this text, Glave has created a very important addition to the growing shelf of international GLBT literature.” -- Michael G. Cornelius * Bloomsbury Review *
“Glave has given us a valuable record of the real beauty and brutality that lurks behind the travel posters.” -- Harry E. Baldwin * Frontiers *
“With excerpts from the work of luminaries like Audre Lorde, Reinaldo Arenas, Michelle Cliff, Assotto Saint, Achy Obejas, and Aldo Alvarez, there's no question this anthology has serious literary heft, beyond its import as a first-of-a-kind collection. But it's the lesser-known (and, in some cases, never-before translated) contributors who add value. . . . everal contributions are emphatically academic, footnotes and all, but these provide ballast for Glave's authentic, eclectic collection.” -- Richard Labonte
“You don’t have to be gay, lesbian, or Caribbean . . . to appreciate this anthology, though it is certainly a seminal contribution to the fields of Caribbean literature and gay and lesbian studies. Most of its contents are worth reading for the drama, sensitivity, and complexity required of such identities.” -- Emily Raboteau * American Book Review *
“You need to take time with this collection. It is a delicious gathering of voices, all different, but with interweaving themes. You cannot rush this experience. From the luscious, sexy racy prose to the cutting edge politics, every line has shape and depth and plays upon you long after the reading. This book will rock you, rock within you, like
This Bridge Called My Back, edited by Cherie Moraga, did in the 1970’s”. -- Cathie Koa Dunsford * Asia and Pacific Writers Network *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix
Introduction: Desire through the Archipelago / Thomas Glave 1
Lulú or the Metamorphosis (1995) / José Alcántara Almánzar, Dominican Republic 13
Property Values (2001) / Aldo Alvarez, Puerto Rico 21
Eroticism (1992) / Reinaldo Arenas, Cuba 34
Three Poems: Saturday Night in San Juan with the Right Sailors (2004), Almost a Revolution for Two in Bed (2004), Tropical Fever (2003) / Rane Arroyo, Puerto Rico/US 51
Three Poems: Transactions (2001), San Francisco - New Orleans (2001), The Image Saves (1994) / Jesús J. Barquet, Cuba 53
Somebody Has to Cry (1998) / Marilyn Bobes, Cuba 57
Elizere, Beckoned (1996) / Dionne Brand, Trinidad 70
"Bullers" and "Battymen": Contesting Homophobia in Black Popular Culture and Contemporary Caribbean Literature (1997) / Timothy S. Chin, Jamaica 78
Ecce Homo (2002) / Michelle Cliff, Jamaica 97
History, (Re)Memory, Testimony, and Biomythography: Charting a Buller Man's Trinidadian Past (2004) / Wesley E. A. Crichlow, Trinidad 101
Other Islanders on Lesbos: A Retrospective Look at the History of Lesbians in Cuba (2004) / Mabel Cuesta, Cuba 132
Autonomy in Lesbian-Feminist Politics (2004) / Ochy Curiel, Dominican Republic 142
Three Poems: Young Faggot (2003), The Magical Real (2003), Surrender (2003) / Faizal Deen, Guyana/Trinidad 153
The Portrait (1998) / Pero de Jesús, Cuba 158
Tante Merle (1999) / R. Erica Doyle, Trinidad/U.S. 173
Whose Caribbean? An Allegory in Part (2005) / Thomas Glave, Jamaica/U.S. 177
More Notes on the Invisibility of Caribbean Lesbians (2005) / Rosamond S. King, Trinidad 191
Independence Day Letter (2004) / Helen Klonaris, Babamas 197
De un pájaro las dos alas: Travel Notes of a Queer Puerto Rican in Havana (2002) / Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes, Puerto Rico 202
Of Generators and Survival: Hugo Letter (1990), From Zami: A New Spelling of My Name (1982) / Audre Lorde, Grenada/Barbados/U.S. 233
Out on Main Street (1993) / Shani Mootoo, Trinidad/Ireland 252
Time and Tide (2002) / Anton Nimblett, Trinidad 261
We Came All the Way from Cuba So You Could Dress Like This? (1994) / Achy Obejas, Cuba 268
The Hunter (1999) / Leonardo Padura Fuentes, Cuba 281
The Face (1956) / Virgilio Piñera, Cuba 290
Dale and Ian (1994) / Patricia Powell, Jamaica 296
Genesis (2003) / Kevin Everod Quashie, St. Kitts 304
Bayamón, Brooklyn y yo (1987) / Juanita Ramos, Puerto Rico 308
The Mechanic (1998) / Colin Robinson, Trinidad 316
Haiti: A Memory Journey (1996) / Assotto Saint, Haiti 320
Johnnie, London, 1960 (1960) / Andrew Salkey, Jamaica/Panama 325
I Want to Follow My Friend (1994) / Lawrence Scott, Trinidad 336
Man Royals and Sodomites: Some Thoughts on the Invisibility of Afro-Caribbean Lesbians / Makeda Silvera, Jamaica 344
Jerome (1993) / H. Nigel Thomas, St. Vincent 355
Fragments of Toronto's Black Queer Community: From a Life Still Being Lived (2005) / Rinaldo Walcott, Barbados/Canada 360
Mati-ism and Black Lesbianism:; Two Idealtypical Expressions of Female Homosexuality in Black Communities of the Diaspora (1996) / Gloria Wekker, Suriname 368
On Homophobia and Gay Rights Activism in Jamaica (2000) / Lawson Williams, Jamaica 382
Glossary 389
Contributors 393
