Caryl Phillips, David Dabydeen and Fred D'Aguiar: Representations of slavery (Contemporary World Writers)

Slavery is a recurring subject in works by the contemporary black writers in Britain Caryl Phillips, David Dabydeen and Fred D'Aguiar, yet their return to this past arises from an urgent need to understand the racial anxieties of twentieth- and twenty-first-century Britain. Now available in paperback, this book examines the ways in which their literary explorations of slavery may shed light on current issues in Britain today, or what might be thought of as the continuing legacies of the UK's largely forgotten slave past. In this highly original study of contemporary postcolonial literature, Ward explores a range of novels, poetry and non-fictional works in order to investigate their creative responses to the slave past. This is the first study to focus exclusively on British literary representations of slavery, and thoughtfully engages with such notions as the ethics of exploring slavery, the memory and trauma of this past, and the problems of taking a purely historical approach to Britain's involvement in slavery or Indian indenture. Although all three authors are concerned with the problem of how to commence representing slavery, their approaches to this problem vary immensely, and this book investigates these differences. Slavery is a recurring subject in works by the contemporary black writers in Britain Caryl Phillips, David Dabydeen and Fred D'Aguiar, yet their return to this past arises from an urgent need to understand the racial anxieties of twentieth- and twenty-first-century Britain. This book examines the ways in which their literary explorations of slavery may shed light on current issues in Britain today, or what might be thought of as the continuing legacies of the UK's largely forgotten slave past. In this highly original study of contemporary postcolonial literature, Abigail Ward explores a range of novels, poetry and non-fictional works by these authors in order to investigate their creative responses to the slave past. This is the first study to focus exclusively on British literary representations of slavery, and thoughtfully engages with such notions as the ethics of exploring slavery, the memory and trauma of this past, and the problems of taking a purely historical approach to Britain's involvement in slavery or Indian indenture. Although all three authors are concerned with the problem of how to commence representing slavery, their approaches to this problem vary immensely, and this book investigates these differences. Slavery is a recurring subject in works by the contemporary British writers Caryl Phillips, David Dabydeen and Fred D’Aguiar, yet their return to this past arises from an urgent need to understand the racial anxieties of twentieth- and twenty-first-century Britain. This book examines the ways in which their literary explorations of slavery may shed light on current issues in Britain today, or what might be thought of as the continuing legacies of the UK’s largely forgotten slave past. In this highly original study, Abigail Ward looks at a range of novels, poetry and non-fictional works by Phillips, Dabydeen and D’Aguiar in order to consider their creative responses to slavery. This is the first study to focus exclusively on contemporary British literary representations of slavery, and thoughtfully engages with such notions as the history, memory and trauma of slavery and the ethics of writing about this past. Written for students, academics and the general reader interested in contemporary British or Caribbean writing, this authoritative work offers a clear, accessible and interesting guide to the ways in which the transatlantic slave trade is represented in recent postcolonial literature Copyright 5 Contents 8 Acknowledgements 9 Series editor’s foreword 10 List of abbreviations 11 Chronology 12 1. Contexts and intertexts 16 2. Caryl Phillips and the absent voices of history 40 3. David Dabydeen and the ethics of narration 97 4. Fred D’Aguiar and the memorialisation of slavery 146 5. Critical overview and conclusion 195 Notes 206 Select bibliography 234 Index 242 This book focuses on representations of slavery in the works of contemporary British authors Caryl Phillips, David Dabydeen and Fred D'Aguiar, specifically exploring how racial anxieties in twenty-first century Britain may be seen as legacies of this largely ignored, but deeply significant, past