SOURCE: “George Lamming in Conversation with Frank Birbalsingh,” in Journal of Commonwealth Literature, Vol. 23, No. 1, 1988, pp. 182-88.

In the following interview, conducted November 12, 1985, Birbalsingh and Lamming converse about African and Caribbean literature and the effects of national experience on a writer.

[Birbalsingh:] Let me start with a general question about the place of Africa in Caribbean consciousness. In the 1950s we had many colonial hang ups, and Africa was a place that all West Indians—including those of African descent—were very mixed up about. Since then we've had many commentators, in particular Edward Brathwaite,¹ the historian and poet, who have greatly illuminated the African past of the Caribbean. I'd like to ask you about the subject of Africa in Caribbean consciousness, and how it may have affected Caribbean literature.

[Lamming:] I think one always has to look at these influences as evolving forces. I would say that...