Imagining London: Postcolonial Fiction and the Transnational Metropolis (review)
Kincaid's work as it explores the desire for a self-definition that is separate from the larger community, an aspect of Kincaid's work that receives less critical attention than, for example, Kincaid's critique of colonialism and her treatment of mother-daughter relationships. Despite the relatively fresh insight into Kincaid's work that she offers, John's reading of Lucy seems more concerned with understating Kincaid's contribution to the body of Caribbean women's writing, particularly her critique of colonialism. For example John points out that Kincaid's work on "migration and coming of age in the Caribbean is not new" (79). While this is true, it seems an unwarranted remark that does very little to advance John's argument. Similarly, the negative comparison of Lucy to Hodge's Crick Crack Monkey betrays John's unwillingness to analyze Lucy more extensively. For example, John's reading of Kincaid's description of her childhood attitude toward Britain misses the critique of West Indians' (including Kincaid's) submission to colonialism implicit in Kincaid's description. John's treatment of Kincaid's use of language in Lucy and her view that the oral tradition is not a feature of this novel also offer an incomplete representation of both this novel and Kincaid's oeuvre. The author's analyses of the works of Simone Schwarz-Bart, Audre Lorde, and Leon Damas are commendable, and the range of writers she includes goes a far way in continuing conversations that affirm the presence of African culture in the Caribbean and throughout the African diaspora. John's text is elegantly written and accessible and certainly has a place among other postcolonial writings.