Comrade Sister: Caribbean Feminist Revisions of the Grenada Revolution

by Laurie R. Lambert

Overview

In 1979, the Marxist-Leninist New Jewel Movement under Maurice Bishop overthrew the government of the Caribbean island country of Grenada, establishing the People’s Revolutionary Government. The United States under President Reagan infamously invaded Grenada in 1983, staying until the New National Party won election, effectively dealing a death blow to socialism in Grenada.

With Comrade Sister, Laurie Lambert offers the first comprehensive study of how gender and sexuality produced different narratives of the Grenada Revolution. Reimagining this period with women at its center, Laurie Lambert shows how the revolution must be recognized for its both productive and corrosive tendencies. Lambert argues that the literature of the Grenada Revolution exposes how the more harmful aspects of revolution are visited on, and are therefore more apparent to, women. Calling attention to the mark of black feminism on the literary output of Caribbean writers of this period, Lambert addresses the gap between women’s active participation in Caribbean revolution versus the lack of recognition they continue to receive.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813944265
Publisher:	University of Virginia Press
Publication date:	06/08/2020
Series:	New World Studies
Pages:	242
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.25(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Laurie R. Lambert is Assistant Professor of African and African American Studies at Fordham University.

Editorial Reviews

"The Grenada Revolution is a watershed moment in Caribbean history and one with a continuing and underdocumented aftermath. Lambert’s is the first book-length work of literary criticism to focus centrally on gender in the revolution, treating gender and sexuality as crucial dimensions of world making as well as of analysis, critique, remembrance, and rebuilding. Lambert brings into the mainstream discussion several unpublished, important, and understudied texts—notably those by Walcott, Salkey, and Purcell—the significance of which is hard to overstate. "—Shalini Puri, University of Pittsburgh, author of The Grenada Revolution in the Caribbean Present

"This important book is the first to study the Grenadian Revolution through a consistent and critical engagement with literary texts and writers "—Brian Meeks, Brown University, author of Critical Interventions in Caribbean Politics and Theory

" Comrade Sister illustrates the need to pass down to future generations the lessons of the revolution in a way that releases its traumatic aspects and allows Grenadians and other Black radicals to believe in the possibility of a better future.

Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. "—author of CHOICE

" Comrade Sister allows us to see feminist points of solidarity between people whose perspectives might otherwise have been obscured by a hard line between progressive and conservative, a line that does not always map neatly onto Caribbean politics. "—author of Public Books

"In this feminist literary analysis of works by Caribbean writers, Laurie Lambertfocuses primarily on the way women writers depict gender, as they remember the Grenada Revolution. She also considers commentary on the Revolutionby four West Indian men—Derek Walcott, V.S. Naipaul, George Lamming, andAndrew Salkey—though here the role of women does not figure centrally "—author of New West Indian Gudie

From the Publisher

The Grenada Revolution is a watershed moment in Caribbean history and one with a continuing and underdocumented aftermath. Lambert’s is the first book-length work of literary criticism to focus centrally on gender in the revolution, treating gender and sexuality as crucial dimensions of world making as well as of analysis, critique, remembrance, and rebuilding. Lambert brings into the mainstream discussion several unpublished, important, and understudied texts—notably those by Walcott, Salkey, and Purcell—the significance of which is hard to overstate.

Shalini Puri

This important book is the first to study the Grenadian Revolution through a consistent and critical engagement with literary texts and writers

Brian Meeks

Comrade Sister illustrates the need to pass down to future generations the lessons of the revolution in a way that releases its traumatic aspects and allows Grenadians and other Black radicals to believe in the possibility of a better future.

Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

CHOICE

In this feminist literary analysis of works by Caribbean writers, Laurie Lambertfocuses primarily on the way women writers depict gender, as they remember the Grenada Revolution. She also considers commentary on the Revolutionby four West Indian men—Derek Walcott, V.S. Naipaul, George Lamming, andAndrew Salkey—though here the role of women does not figure centrally

New West Indian Gudie

Comrade Sister allows us to see feminist points of solidarity between people whose perspectives might otherwise have been obscured by a hard line between progressive and conservative, a line that does not always map neatly onto Caribbean politics.

Public Books