Introduction

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter identifies and defines key concepts in the literary history of Caribbean Creole (or dialect) literature. It theorizes the concept of literary miscegenation, or the relationship between orality and literature, often coded racially as black (orality) and white (literature). It lays the groundwork for the book’s argument that Creole language itself is not just a characteristic of black populations but has origins in white creole speech. The chapter investigates Noise theory, Kamau Brathwaite’s concept of nation language as it relates to Caribbean Creole, and the roles of violence and blackface minstrelsy in the emergence of Creole literature. Nineteenth-century Caribbean Creole grammar books by early Caribbean grammarians John Jacob Thomas and Thomas Russell are discussed. It explains the interchangeable use of the terms “dialect,” “Creole,” and “vernacular.” The chapter links the emergence of Creole literature in the eighteenth century with today’s popular Creole grammar books and novels.