SOURCE: "Tales of the 'Other,'" in Belle Lettres, Vol. 6, No. 2, Winter, 1991, p. 15.

In the excerpt below, Ricks focuses on Cliff's representation of isolation, alienation, and loss in several stories of Bodies of Water.

Michelle Cliff and Jamaica Kincaid, two writers from the Caribbean islands of Jamaica and Antigua, respectively, have crafted works that expertly and eloquently address themes of isolation, alienation, and loss. Kincaid's novel Lucy and Cliff's collection of short stories Bodies of Water adeptly introduce the life of the "other" navigating the customs, attitudes, and social contracts that define life in America. Included are the anonymous brown women seen on urban streets handling white children; the displaced Vietnam veterans, forced back into a society that no longer welcomes nor accommodates them; or a carnival's self-styled Hottentot Venus.

In Bodies of Water, Michelle Cliff draws from both historical and modern sources to zoom in on the...