Robert D. Hamner, editor

Derek Walcott, winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize for literature, has risen from obscure colonial origins to lay claim to a rich cultural heritage. The progeny of Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas come together in his work as they populate his native Caribbean islands; his poetry and plays record their struggles to overcome the ironies of their lives, to establish their authentic "new  More >

Pierrette M. Frickey, editor

Rhys, acclaimed author of Wide Sargasso Sea, Quartet, and other novels treating the alienation of a woman from the Caribbean living in European settings, has been a focus of interest both as a feminist writer and in the context of Caribbean literature. She was honored with the W. H. Smith Award in 1967 and the Council of Great Britain Award for Writers in 1979.  More >

Keith Q. Warner, editor

Poet, storyteller, scholar, teacher, and statesman, Léon Gontran Damas, born in French Guiana, was a founding father of the negritude movement. This collection offers a wide range of essays on the life and career of Damas from his schooling at home and later in Martinique, through his creative years in Paris as a student, writer, and member of the French Chambres du Deputés, to his  More >

Donald Burness, editor

The struggle for liberation from colonial rule in lusophone Africa, which culminated in the creation of several independent nations, has produced a vigorous body of works that are innovative in both theme and language. This collection of critical essays, accompanied by more than 30 illustrations and photographs, covers a range of literary forms (both oral and written) and also discusses the  More >

Stephen H. Arnold, editor

Mongo Beti is the most prolific and widely read author from Cameroon, and his writings have called world attention to political corruption in his native country. These essays cover the three distinct periods of Beti’s greatest activity as a writer—the first, which ran from 1953 to 1958; the re-emergence that began in 1974; and the third phase, which Arnold traces to Beti’s brief  More >

Trevor Le Gassick, editor

Eleven essays by Western and Middle Eastern scholars evaluate the work of Naguib Mahfouz, arguably Egypt's greatest novelist, and the winner of the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature. The first such comprehensive, critical treatment in English, the book considers Mahfouz's short stories and screenplays, as well as his novels. The contributors pay particular attention to the sociocultural  More >

Susheila Nasta, editor

This groundbreaking study of prolific Trinidadian writer Sam Selvon includes background essays, interviews with Selvon, and critical assessments of his ten novels and collected short stories. An extensive bibliography and notes on the contributors are included. In addition to Sam Selvon, the contributors to the work include Whitney Balliett, Harold Barratt, Edward Baugh, Frank Birbalsingh, E.K.  More >

Robert D. Hamner, editor

This collection combines articles by Naipaul himself, reflecting his developing ideas from 1958 through the mid-1970s, with fourteen perceptive essays representing his reception among critics.  More >

James Gibbs, editor

Distinguished scholars analyze the plays, poetry, and prose of Soyinka, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1986. Introductory essays trace Soyinka’s career and place his work in the general context of African literature; the book also includes a definitive bibliography of his work and a chronology of his publications.  More >

Roger Allen, editor

Yusuf Idris is considered by many to be the greatest contemporary short-story writer working in Arabic. The 17 critical essays in this collection—some by critics in the Arab world and others by Western specialists on modern Arabic fiction and drama—are organized in sections devoted to Idris's short stories, novels, and plays. Each section includes studies that adopt a general  More >