Limestone is the epic poem of Barbados and a major development in an
indigenous Caribbean poetics. Drawing on the folk music of Tuk, Anthony
Kellman invents his own forms of Tuk verse to write the story of his
island from the destruction of the Amerindians to the present day.
Part one uses both invented characters and actual historical persons
such as Bussa and Nanny Grigg, the leaders of the 1816 slave revolt, to
explore the epic of loss, survival and reinvention in the lives of the
African slaves.
Part two is set in the post-emancipation period up to the twenty-first
year of independence. Through the voices of those who led the struggle
against colonialism -- Samuel Jackman Prescod, Charles O'Neal, Clement
Payne, Grantley Adams and Errol Barrow -- Kellman explores their inner
anguish over the slow pace of advance and the inevitable compromises
with external power. And as the queues of would-be emigrants at the
American consulate lengthen, the island asks: when a White business
class still dominates the economy, who has benefited from the people's
struggles of the past?
Part three is set at the end of the twentieth century and tells the
stories of Livingston, a young musician, and Levinia, an Indian-African
Barbadian schoolteacher who has migrated to the USA. Their stories
explore the complex relationship of contemporary Barbadians to their
homeland: deep attachment and an equal frustration over the absence of
opportunities.
Limestone constructs a vision of Barbados that encompasses suffering
and achievement, heroic struggle and the setbacks of born of
self-interest and timorous compromise. Above all, Limestone is never
other than a poem: a vast treasure house of images, sounds and rhythms
that move, entertain and absorb the reader in its world.
Anthony Kellman was born in Barbados. He currently teaches at
Augusta College, Georgia.
