Jamaica Kincaid (1949- ) is an American writer who was born Elaine Potter in Antigua. She wrote for the New Yorker magazine from 1975 to 1995. The “Talk of the Town” part was hers.
She has written many books of her own – about her mother, her father, her brother, her garden, her old country, her new country and so on. But whatever her books seem to be about, they are in fact about her and how life has double-crossed her: Her mother has failed her, her father has failed her, Antigua has failed her, England has failed her.
Much of her writing, therefore, is bitter and biting. But it is good. So good that I would like to read about her garden even though I do not care for gardening.
“A Small Place” is about the small island of Antigua where she is from, how it was under British rule and after. It is the best book about empire I have read outside of Thucydides. At university we were taught to speak about how unjust the world is in long Marxist words – as if we were talking about the inner workings of a butterfly wing. But she talks about it in simple language. Because she sees it straight, because her mind cuts through all the long-winded lies. It is a joy to read. I fell in love with her from that moment. (The New Yorker refused to print any of it because it was too angry.)
Her writing flows like a river, on and on, not stopping, with bits of sentences coming back up again and again. Her sentences are long, some as long as two pages, but her words are mostly simple, short and everyday.
She writes slowly, carefully crafting each sentence. Sometimes it takes days for the right words to come to her.
She writes because she has to, she writes to save herself. It is her passion, she cannot imagine doing anything else. She loves reading and she loves writing and she loves words.
She went to school in Antigua and wrote for the New Yorker when both still cared about fine writing. She did not understand her good fortune till years later when she saw both go to the dogs.
As a girl she did very well in school and read and read and read. But, despite her promise, her education was cut short at 17: her father became very sick so she was sent to America to help support her family. She came to New York and worked “as one of those many ladies you see with little blonde children”. But she did not send any money home and she did not read any of the letters her mother had sent.
She began to write under the name of Jamaica Kincaid so that no one back home would know it was her. In time she met George Trow of the New Yorker through a friend and so she was “discovered.”
See also:
wow! i am so excited to look her up and read her books not…i wonder why she never sent money back home and read her mother’s letter…(from personal experience I know that it takes money to send a person to America) so I would assume that she was her family’s last hope… she must have gone through a lot to do that to her family…
LikeLike
She wrote a book about that whole experience: Lucy.
LikeLike
This woman is the worst author I have ever read! Because of the boring books that she wrote, I suffered through English Literature class. Annie John was terrible-who could ever want to publish it? And if what I read above is true-she is selfish. Many homes in the West Indies, at that time, were extended families and relied on the eldest to help- especially financially. How can she be proud to say that she sent no money home-why would she want her family to suffer? I wonder how it feels now that she is older and realized her cruelty? I would never support her by buying her books if that is how she treats family!
Also, I think it is very bad technique to have one sentence taking up two pages in a book. What happened to the examples set by Hemingway and William Strunk’s ‘The Element of Style’?
LikeLike
I do not remember her being proud of not helping her family, but I agree that it was a low move.
I have been told several times by people whose opinion I trust that Dickens was a good writer, but since I was forced to read him at school I cannot stand him.
LikeLike
Didn’t she have the one short story about a minister cheating on his young wife? If so, that piece of hers was a good read.
LikeLike
^Bulanik,
Hey i get ya. I’m just saying one of her stories was in a book of short stories that i read–and probably should have not been reading cause i was like 13. But it was ok
LikeLike
“At university we were taught to speak about how unjust the world is in long Marxist words – as if we were talking about the inner workings of a butterfly wing”….. Oh wow. Truer words….
LikeLike
I have a very old yellow copy of the book Annie John that i purchased in the late 1980’s.
LikeLike
Abagond i guess what you and Kincaid have in common is a passion for words and writing. Annie John was a huge yawn for me back in the late 80’s but i was much younger then. Maybe i will give it another try. I forgot about this book until i read this thread post. Reading the BBC Her Story she seemed angry and bitter.
LikeLike