Jamaica Kincaid , livre ebook

254

pages

English

Ebooks

2012

Écrit par
J. Brooks Bouson

Publié par
State University of New York Press

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254

pages

English

Ebooks

2012

Lire un extrait

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne En savoir plus

Publié par

State University of New York Press

Date de parution

01 février 2012

EAN13

9780791482926

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

3 Mo

Haunted by the memories of her powerfully destructive mother, Jamaica Kincaid is a writer out of necessity. Born Elaine Potter Richardson, Kincaid grew up in the West Indies in the shadow of her deeply contemptuous and abusive mother, Annie Drew. Drawing heavily on Kincaid's many remarks on the autobiographical sources of her writings, J. Brooks Bouson investigates the ongoing construction of Kincaid's autobiographical and political identities. She focuses attention on what many critics find so enigmatic and what lies at the heart of Kincaid's fiction and nonfiction work: the "mother mystery." Bouson demonstrates, through careful readings, how Kincaid uses her writing to transform her feelings of shame into pride as she wins the praise of an admiring critical establishment and an ever-growing reading public.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. "When You Think of Me, Think of My Life"

Part I. In the Shadow of the Mother

2. "I Had Embarked on Something Called Self-Invention" Artistic Beginnings in "Antigua Crossings" and At the Bottom of the River

3. "The Way I Became a Writer Was That My Mother Wrote My Life for Me and Told It to Me": Living in the Shadow of the Mother in Annie John

4. "As I Looked at This Sentence a Great Wave of Shame Came over Me and I Wept and Wept": The Art of Memory, Anger, and Despair in Lucy

Part II. A Very Personal Politics

5. "Imagine the Bitterness and the Shame in Me as I Tell You This": The Political Is Personal in A Small Place and "On Seeing England for the First Time"

Part III. Family Portraits

6."I Would Bear Children, but I Would Never Be a Mother to Them": Writing Back to the Contemptuous Mother in The Autobiography of My Mother

7. "I Shall Never Forget Him Because His Life Is the One I Did Not Have": Remembering Her Brother's Failed Life in My Brother

8. "Like Him and His Own Father before Him, I Have a Line Drawn through Me": Imagining the Life of the Absent Father in Mr. Potter

9. Conclusion. "I Am Writing for Solace": Seeking Solace in Writing, Gardening, and Domestic Life

Notes

Works Cited

Index

Voir

Publié par

State University of New York Press

Date de parution

01 février 2012

EAN13

9780791482926

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

3 Mo

Jamaica Kincaid

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Jamaica Kincaid

Writing Memory, Writing Back to the Mother

J. Brooks Bouson

State University of New York Press

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 194 Washington Avenue, Suite 305, Albany, NY 12210-2365

Production by Judith Block Marketing by Michael Campochiaro

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Bouson, J. Brooks. Jamaica Kincaid : writing memory, writing back to the mother / J. Brooks Bouson. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-6523-3 (alk. paper) 1. Kincaid, Jamaica—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Women and literature—Antigua— History—20th century. 3. Mothers and daughters in literature. 4. Antigua—In literature. 5. Memory in literature. I. Title.

PR9275.A583K564 2005 813'.54—dc22

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2004027305

Acknowledgments

Contents

Chapter 1. Introduction: “When You Think of Me, Think of My Life”

Part I. In the Shadow of the Mother

Chapter 2 “I Had Embarked on Something Called Self-Invention”: Artistic Beginnings in “Antigua Crossings” and At the Bottom of the River

Chapter 3 “The Way I Became a Writer Was That My Mother Wrote My Life for Me and Told It to Me”: Living in the Shadow of the Mother inAnnie John

Chapter 4 “As I Looked at This Sentence a Great Wave of Shame Came over Me and I Wept and Wept”: The Art of Memory, Anger, and Despair inLucy

Part II. A Very Personal Politics

Chapter 5 “Imagine the Bitterness and the Shame in Me as I Tell You This”: The Political Is Personal inA Small Placeand “On Seeing England for the First Time”

Jamaica Kincaid

Part III. Family Portraits

Chapter 6 “I Would Bear Children, but I Would Never Be a Mother to Them”: Writing Back to the Contemptuous Mother in The Autobiography of My Mother115

Chapter 7 “I Shall Never Forget Him Because His Life Is the One I Did Not Have”: Remembering Her Brother’s Failed Life inMy Brother

Chapter 8 “Like Him and His Own Father before Him, I Have a Line Drawn through Me”: Imagining the Life of the Absent Father inMr. Potter

Chapter 9. Conclusion: “I Am Writing for Solace”: Seeking Solace in Writing, Gardening, and Domestic Life

Notes

Works Cited

Index

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165

181

191

221

233

For Roberts

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Acknowledgments

During the time I have spent working on this project, I have been heart-ened by the good will, enthusiasm, and support of others. I would like to express my appreciation to the many students that I have had the good fortune to teach in my Women in Literature and Studies in Women Writers classes at Loyola University of Chicago. Their spirited and at times combative responses to Kincaid and their eagerness to think and talk about—and indeed, talk back to—Kincaid inspired me to investi-gate the emotionally charged world of Kincaid’s writings and sustained me as I labored on this book. I am also grateful to Frank Fennell, the chair of Loyola’s English department, for encouraging and cheering me on; to the administration of Loyola University, for granting me a research leave during the early stages of my work on this project and for providing Research Services funds as I was preparing the book for pub-lication; to Jon Weidler, my graduate assistant, for aiding me in the arduous task of checking sources in the final stages of my work; and to Shelly Jarenski, for assisting me in the equally arduous tasks of proof-reading and indexing. Special thanks are due to Joseph Adamson, whose scholarship on shame in literature has been a continuing source of inspi-ration to me, and to James Peltz, the editor-in-chief of State University of New York Press, and Judith Block, the production editor, for their good-natured and generous support of my project. And finally, I want to thank my husband, Roberts, a true friend of my mind, for his abiding and affectionate interest in my work.

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