Jamaica Kincaid Summary

Biography Essay"As I go on writing, I feel less and less interested in the approval of the First World, and I never had the approval of the world I came from, so now I don't know where I am. I've exil... Read more

Jamaica Kincaid gained wide acclaim with her first two works, At the Bottom of the River and Annie John. In these and other books about life on the Caribbean island of Antigua, where she was born, Kin... Read more

"As I go on writing, I feel less and less interested in the approval of the First World, and I never had the approval of the world I came from, so now I don't know where I am. I've exiled myself yet a... Read more

In the following review, Salkey discusses the defining characteristics of the stories comprising At the Bottom of the River. Jamaica Kincaid's ten stories in At the Bottom of the River are not ... Read more

In the following excerpt, Ferguson views colonialism as a central theme of the stories in At the Bottom of the River. I can see the great danger in what I am—a defenseless and pitiful child. He... Read more

In the following essay, Ahearn provides feminist interpretations of At the Bottom of the River and Monique Wittig's Les Guérillères. The [chapters of Visionary Fictions] have trac... Read more

In the following essay, Paravisini-Gebert offers a thematic and stylistic analysis of the stories in At the Bottom of the River. At the Bottom of the River, Kincaid's first book, gathers most o... Read more

In the following essay, Byerman examines the significance of anger, resentment, and resistance in Kincaid's fiction as a response to colonial oppression and cultural loss in Antiguan society, p... Read more

In the following review, Eder offers a favorable evaluation of The Autobiography of My Mother. Her mother was a foundling left near the door of a convent on the island of Dominica. And when Xuela, nar... Read more

In the following review, Segal offers a favorable evaluation of The Autobiography of My Mother. The heroine of Jamaica Kincaid's new novel [The Autobiography of My Mother] is Xuela Claudette Ri... Read more

In the following essay, Canton examines the complex process of female maturation and identity formation in Annie John. According to Canton, the novel embodies an integration of traditionally male-cent... Read more

In the following essay, Chick discusses the inescapable burden of the past in Lucy, and the way in which the novel's female protagonist finally confronts her childhood through the act of autobi... Read more

In the following essay, James discusses Kincaid's place in contemporary Caribbean literature and issues of self-awareness, alienation, and female identity in At the Bottom of the River and Anni... Read more

In the following review of My Brother, Wachman praises Kincaid's narrative voice and understated clarity, but finds shortcomings in Kincaid's understanding of homosexuality. To read Jama... Read more

In the following review, Plant offers a positive assessment of The Autobiography of My Mother. “[T]he name of any one person is at once her history recapitulated and abbreviated,” declar... Read more

In the following review of Lucy, Moore commends Kincaid's powerful prose, but finds shortcomings in the book's detached protagonist. Jamaica Kincaid's second novel, Lucy, is cool ... Read more

In the following review of Lucy, Adisa discusses Kincaid's portrayal of Caribbean life and continuities between Annie John and Lucy, concluding that the latter's protagonist is less like... Read more

In the following review, Hawthorne discusses issues of racial identity and cultural displacement in Lucy, concluding that such themes are treated with more complexity in this book than in Kincaid�... Read more

In the following essay, Simmons discusses the recurring themes of loss and betrayal in Kincaid's fiction, specifically addressing the author's use of repetitive language and litanies in ... Read more