Afro-Greeks
Dialogues between Anglophone Caribbean Literature and Classics in the Twentieth Century
ISBN13: 9780199575244ISBN10: 019957524X
Hardback,
320 pages
Mar 2010,
In Stock
Price:
$99.00 (06)See more from the series
Description
Afro-Greeks examines the reception of Classics in the English-speaking Caribbean, from about 1920 to the beginning of the 21st century. Emily Greenwood focuses on the ways in which Greco-Roman antiquity has been put to creative use in Anglophone Caribbean literature, and relates this regional classical tradition to the educational context, specifically the way in which Classics was taught in the colonial school curriculum. Discussions of Caribbean literature tend to assume an antagonistic relationship between Classics, which is treated as a legacy of empire, and Caribbean literature. While acknowledging this imperial and colonial backstory, Greenwood argues that Caribbean writers such as Kamau Brathwaite, C. L. R. James, V. S. Naipaul, and Derek Walcott have successfully appropriated Classics and adapted it to the cultural context of the Caribbean, creating a distinctive, regional tradition.Features
- Challenges simplistic notions of `decolonization' by addressing the creative appropriation of Classics by Caribbean authors
- Includes insightful readings of works by important authors such as Kamau Brathwaite, C. L. R. James, V. S. Naipaul and Derek Walcott
