Introduction to Literature in English in the Dutch Windward Islands

Abstract

The very definition of the geographical location of the three islands that comprise the socalled Dutch Windward Islands indicates that things are not what they seem to be. This is true also for the literature that is produced in the three territories-Saba, St. Eustatius, and St. Martin. The three tiny islands actually lie leeward and should thus have been known as the Leeward Islands, but with the Dutch West Indian Company headquartered in Curacao, the view from that vantage point was different. Similarly, the fact that they are Dutch territories would lead to the assumption that the literature produced there would be in the Dutch language. In actual fact, literature in Dutch on the three islands is virtually non-existent, with no current writer of any standing writing in Dutch. The language issue, as we shall see shortly, plays a dominant role in the creative output of those engaged in any form of literary production on the islands.