This book analyses cricket's place in Anglophone Caribbean literature.
It examines works by canonical authors - Brathwaite, Lamming, Lovelace,
Naipaul, Phillips and Selvon - and by understudied writers - including
Agard, Fergus, John, Keens-Douglas, Khan and Markham. It tackles short
stories, novels, poetry, drama and film from the Caribbean and its
diaspora. Its literary readings are couched in the history of Caribbean
cricket and studies by Hilary Beckles and Gordon Rohlehr. C.L.R James'
foundational Beyond a Boundary provides its theoretical grounding.
Literary depictions of iconic West Indies players - including
Constantine, Headley, Worrell, Walcott, Sobers, Richards, and Lara -
feature throughout. The discussion focuses on masculinity, heroism,
father-son dynamics, physical performativity and aesthetic style.
Attention is also paid to mother-daughter relations and female
engagement with cricket, with examples from Anim-Addo, Breeze, Wynter
and others. Cricket holds a prominent place in the history, culture,
politics and popular imaginary of the Caribbean. This book demonstrates
that it also holds a significant and complicated place in Anglophone
Caribbean literature.