About Caribbean Literature
1.About the Database
Caribbean Literature brings together 100,000 pages of poetry and fiction by hundreds of authors. All texts in this collection are presented in their original languages.
Starting with the literature produced in Spanish and French colonies in the 1800s, the collection offers an extensive selection of 19th- and 20th-century works from every Caribbean country. Among the authors featured are Wilson Harris, Kwane Dawes, Lorna Goodison, Cyryl Dabydeen, Earl Lovelace, Samuel Selvon, Derek Walcott, Corly Verlooghen, Diana Lebacs, Hubert Booi, Maryse Condé, André Paradis, Phillipe Thoby-Marcelin, José Martí, Julian de Casal, José de Diego, and Salomé Ureña de Henríquez.
Along with the novels, short stories, and poems of these artists are reference works, including dictionaries of various Creole languages, such as Rastafari Lexicon, edited by Yasus Afari; Dictionary of Caribbean English Use, by Richard Allsopp; Dictionaire Guyanais-Francais, by Georges Barthelemy; Sa moun ka di expressions et Proverbes creoles, by Sonia Catalan; Dictionaire creole martiniquais-francais, Raphael Confiant; Diksyone Kreyol Vilsen (Haitian Creole Dictionary), by F. Vilsaint; among others. We hope that this material will give students and scholars alike a deeper appreciation of the context and central themes of this important and diverse body of literature.
Caribbean Literature is part of the Alexander Street Literature package, which enables researchers to explore the rich literary heritage of diverse cultures from across the globe.
Isabel Lacerda
Editor
2. Editorial Policy
We consulted many critical works to create this collection, including the following bibliographies:
- A History of Literature in the Caribbean vv. I and II, ed. A. James Arnold (Philadelphia/Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2001).
- Writers of the Caribbean and Central America vv. I and II, by M. J. Fenwick (New York/London: Garland Publishing, 1992).
- Caribbean Literature: a bibliography, by Marian Goslinga (Lanham, MD/London: Scarecrow Press, 1998).
- Fifty Caribbean Writers, ed. Daryl Cumber Dance (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1986).
- A Bibliography of Women Writers from the Caribbean, by Brenda Berrian (Washington D. C.: Three Continents Press, 1989).
- Anglophone Caribbean Poetry, 1970-2001: an Annotated Bibliography, by Emily Allen Williams (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002).
- Diccionario de Autores Latinoamericanos, by Cesar Aira (Buenos Aires: Emece, 2001).
Our Editorial Advisor:
Dr. Elaine Savory is presently Chair of Literature at Eugene Lang College, New School University, New York City. Born and largely educated in the UK, she has taught at universities in Ghana, the Caribbean and the US, and held visiting positions or fellowships in India and the US. She has written widely on Caribbean and African literatures, especially on women's writing, poetry, and drama. She also wrote the chapter on Anglophone Caribbean literature for the Cambridge History of African and Caribbean Literature (2004), as well as numerous entries on Caribbean drama and theater for the Oxford Companion to Theatre and Performance (2003).
3. Acknowledgements
I'd like to thank the many individuals who are participating in the creation of the database. I'd like to acknowledge Angela Carreño from the New York University Library for introducing us to Elaine Savory, who has been giving us wonderful advice. At Alexander Street Press, the following people have been instrumental in the development of the collection:
- Pat Carlson
- Niki Dowdell
- Andrea Eastman-Mullins
- Michael Kangal
- Christina Keller
- Stephen Rhind-Tutt
- John G. West III
- Will Whalen
- Ning Zhu
4. Subscription and Free Trial Information
Caribbean Literature is available for one-time purchase of perpetual access, or as an annual subscription. Please contact us at sales@alexanderstreet.com if you wish to begin a subscription or to request a free 30-day trial.
5. How to Contribute Materials or Comments
Our goal is to create a unique archive according to the editorial criteria expressed above. We welcome contributions from organizations and individuals, especially if you have materials that are unpublished or of unique interest. Submitting materials to our editors is easy and without obligation on your part.
- To submit materials for inclusion in Caribbean Literature, please contact the Editor at editor@astreetpress.com.
- If you are a commercial publisher who would like to discuss licensing materials for inclusion in the database, please contact the Editor at editor@astreetpress.com.
- To report content errors or to suggest improvements, please email us at editor@astreetpress.com. Please include the author, the document, and the page number. Please also include your email address, so that we can let you know the status of your correction.
6. Copyright
All materials in the database are protected under U.S. and International Copyright Law. Fair use under the law permits reproduction of single copies for personal research and private use. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of protected items requires the written permission of the copyright owners.
7. Cataloging Records
MARC records are available for this collection.