Abstract
This submission is a review of the 2008 publication, A Permanent Freedom, by Jamaican author Curdella Forbes. It accords particular attention to the importance of the journey motif in this sequence of stories - which relates the adventures of West Indians primarily migrating to or resident in North America, and addresses issues of identity, familial and national history and individual trauma. The review also highlights Forbes' characteristic gift of exploiting the full continuum of Jamaican language.
Highlights
Curdella Forbes’ 2008 volume A Permanent Freedom constitutes a sequence of nine texts which offer varying experiences and perspectives of West Indians, traveling both to and within the United States, choosing to live “in exile” - a term which one should use cautiously, respecting the sense of nuance and contradiction which one would expect of this writer
Suggestive of the peregrinations of diasporic peoples moving from country to town, from “small island” to continental city, A Permanent Freedom traces both literal and metaphoric complex itineraries with outcomes frequently lacking in finality, though never completely devoid of a sense of possibility
In one of the longest stories in the collection, “Macóné, Macóné, or, “Of Age and Innocence,” the displacement experienced by Jamaicans making a new life in North America is memorably evoked from the point of view of different generations, and through a text that seamlessly juxtaposes first and third person narrative, Jamaican Creole and Standard English
Summary
(2018) "Tales of Loss and Resilience: Review of A Permanent Freedom," Anthurium: A Caribbean Studies Journal: Vol 14 : Iss. 2 , Article 6. Curdella Forbes’ 2008 volume A Permanent Freedom constitutes a sequence of nine texts which offer varying experiences and perspectives of West Indians, traveling both to and within the United States, choosing to live “in exile” - a term which one should use cautiously, respecting the sense of nuance and contradiction which one would expect of this writer.
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