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Reflections on Jamaica
by Joanne C. Hillhouse
“Is Jamaica Kincaid from here?” An acquaintance asked innocently enough. It can be a loaded question in the Antiguan author’s home country. If her critical and critically-acclaimed book, A Small Place, wasn’t enough, Kincaid’s caustic comments about a controversial investor and co-honouree* following Antigua’s 2006 Independence awards certainly underscored that the author hadn’t mellowed with time. Suddenly, even those who’d never read a single word of her writing had an opinion about her perceived island bashing.
Up to and since meeting her for the first time in 2005, when I was invited to introduce her ahead of a political and artistic conference in Antigua, I’m often cast as lawyer for the defense in the not uncommon debates about Jamaica. No unthinking sheep, I have and do disagree with some opinions espoused by the creator of one of my admitted literary heroines Annie John.
But for the young dreamer I once was, the trail blazed by Jamaica Kincaid was among the ripples in a quiet river of hope.
To read the rest of this article, originally published in 2006, go to http://wadadlipen.wordpress.com/2010/09/19/reflections-on-jamaica
“Is Jamaica Kincaid from here?” An acquaintance asked innocently enough. It can be a loaded question in the Antiguan author’s home country. If her critical and critically-acclaimed book, A Small Place, wasn’t enough, Kincaid’s caustic comments about a controversial investor and co-honouree* following Antigua’s 2006 Independence awards certainly underscored that the author hadn’t mellowed with time. Suddenly, even those who’d never read a single word of her writing had an opinion about her perceived island bashing.
Up to and since meeting her for the first time in 2005, when I was invited to introduce her ahead of a political and artistic conference in Antigua, I’m often cast as lawyer for the defense in the not uncommon debates about Jamaica. No unthinking sheep, I have and do disagree with some opinions espoused by the creator of one of my admitted literary heroines Annie John.
But for the young dreamer I once was, the trail blazed by Jamaica Kincaid was among the ripples in a quiet river of hope.
To read the rest of this article, originally published in 2006, go to http://wadadlipen.wordpress.com/2010/09/19/reflections-on-jamaica
Comment
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Comment by David B. Dacosta on December 23, 2010 at 10:58pm -
Hey, Joanne. It seems you've broken the unwritten rule and mentioned non-Caribbean authors.
Just teasin'. Thanks for sharing.
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Comment by Kim Howard on October 24, 2010 at 2:56pm -
Now I HAVE to read My Brother. :) I don't hold West Indian authors' love/hate relationship towards the region against them. At least not any more. I remember when I was studying Lamming's In the Castle of My Skin, I read some where that he felt it necessary to live outside of the islands in order to better write about them. I felt incensed at the time, young and overly island loyal as I was. Now I understand entirely how these island spaces can feel like you're choking a bit.
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Comment by Joanne C. Hillhouse on September 20, 2010 at 2:03am -
Hm, it's been a while since I read My Brother...but I remember liking it, actually...and the fact that it tackled an issue the Caribbean still did not (does not) want to take on - the taboos surrounding AIDS and homosexuality.
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Comment by Therese Pennell on September 19, 2010 at 7:22pm -
It sure is a very important question. I am not from Antigua, but some of Kincaid's work seem to attack the entire Caribbean . I can't help but feel she intends to draw blood with her criticisms. I gave up defending her after reading My Brother.
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