Commonwealth Writers Research Articles

Solomon Gursky Was Here

WINNER OF THE 1990 COMMONWEALTH WRITERS PRIZE, SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 1990. Since the age of eleven Moses Berger has been obsessed with the Gursky clan, an insanely wealthy, profoundly seductive family of Jewish-Canadian descent. Now a 52-year-old alcoholic boigrapher, Berger is desperately trying to chronicle the stories of their lives, especially that of the mysterious Solomon Gursky, who may or may not have died in a plane crash. A rich, irreverent and exuberant comic masterpiece from the author of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and St Urbain's Horseman.

Arrival of the Snake Woman and Other Stories

The second collection from Olive Senior, winner of the Commonwealth Writer's Prize in 1987 for Summer Lightning. Set again in Jamaica, these new stories continue to explore the child as an isolated individual coming to terms with the strange, harsh ways of the adult world.

Flowers and Shadows

Set in hustle of Lagos, a series of disturbing events strip young Jeffia Okwe of his innocence and reveal ruthlessness of his own father. The tragic climax of tale leaves Jeffia cleansed of the sins of his father, ready for adult life and optimistic about future. The author has also written Incidents at a Shrine which won African Region section in Commonwealth Writers Prize 1987.

The trouble with Babangida

Last year's winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize talks to Index about his government's poor record on human rights and the background to his own detention.

Language Issues Facing Commonwealth Writers: A reply to D'Costa

Language Issues Facing Commonwealth Writers: A reply to D'Costa

A Symposium of Articles on Neglected Commonwealth Writers: Catherine Spence, John Edward Jenkins, A. Madhaviah and Ismith Khan

A Symposium of Articles on Neglected Commonwealth Writers: Catherine Spence, John Edward Jenkins, A. Madhaviah and Ismith Khan

Twin perspectives and multi‐ecosystems: tradition for a commonwealth writer

ABSTRACT: The use of English by writers in non‐Anglo‐Saxon areas such as India, Africa, and the West Indies is expanding and has led to an astounding growth of new literatures in English. This paper discusses the issue of multiple literary traditions, each of which is marked by particular linguistic, literary, and aesthetic preoccupations that constitute what can be conveniently called a literary ecology. In a crucial sense, the writer of the new literatures is enveloped by multi‐ecosystems. He inhabits two cultures, is exposed to twin perspectives which he has to reconcile and use creatively. To understand, appreciate and assess the new literatures in English, it is necessary to examine the differences between the total ecosystem which formed and nourished the writer and the new literary sub‐ecosystem he enters into when he enters a language such as English which is relatively new to his society. In this context, it is possible to respond appropriately to the way different writers relate to their societies and embody the texture of thought and feeling in particular ecosystems.