Precarious Passages University Press of Florida Florida A&M University, Tallahassee Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers Florida International University, Miami Florida State University, Tallahassee New College of Florida, Sarasota University of Central Florida, Orlando University of Florida, Gainesville University of North Florida, Jacksonville University of South Florida, Tampa University of West Florida, Pensacola P r e c a r i o u s Pa s s a g e s b The Diasporic Imagination in Contemporary Black Anglophone Fiction Tuire Valkeakari University Press of Florida Gainesville · Tallahassee · Tampa · Boca Raton Pensacola · Orlando · Miami · Jacksonville · Ft. Myers · Sarasota Copyright 2017 by Tuire Valkeakari All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper This book may be available in an electronic edition. 22 21 20 19 18 17 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Valkeakari, Tuire, author. Title: Precarious passages : the diasporic imagination in contemporary Black  Anglophone fiction / Tuire Valkeakari. Description: Gainesville : University Press of Florida, 2016. | Includes  bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016049594 | ISBN 9780813062471 (cloth) Subjects: LCSH: English literature—Black authors—History and criticism. |  Caribbean literature—Black authors—History and criticism. | American  fiction—Black authors—History and criticism. | Blacks in literature. Classification: LCC PR120.B55 V35 2016 | DDC 820.9/896041—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016049594 The University Press of Florida is the scholarly publishing agency for the State University System of Florida, comprising Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida International University, Florida State University, New College of Florida, University of Central Florida, University of Florida, University of North Florida, University of South Florida, and University of West Florida. University Press of Florida 15 Northwest 15th Street Gainesville, FL 32611-2079 http://upress.ufl.edu Contents Note on Usage vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Passages to (Be)Longing 1 1. An African American Journey to Black Diasporic Consciousness: Charles Johnson’s Middle Passage 33 2. Early Black Atlantic Crossings: Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes 62 3. War, Trauma, Displacement, Diaspora: Toni Morrison’s and Caryl Phillips’s African American Soldiers 99 4. Journeys to the Heart of Empire after World War II: George Lamming’s, Caryl Phillips’s, and Andrea Levy’s Caribbean Migrants 131 5. Roots, Routes, and Returns: Caryl Phillips’s, Cecil Foster’s, and Edwidge Danticat’s Caribbean Returnees 177 Epilogue 222 Notes 229 Bibliography 291 Index 321 Note on Usage This book, which discusses the diasporic imagination in post–World War II and contemporary black Anglophone fiction, uses the terms “African di- aspora” and “black diaspora” interchangeably. Some academics pick one of these options and stick to it, choosing either the former to stress the impor- tance of the African continent for their interpretive frameworks or the latter to highlight “blackness” as a sociocultural construct developed in the Western world. Although this distinction can be very useful, I do not find it systemati- cally sustainable in this book. The two meanings overlap frequently both in the materials that I examine and in my discussions of them; hence my prefer- ence for interchangeability. English vocabulary about “blackness” and black ethnicities is not the same everywhere; terminological preferences vary from region to region and from individual to individual. For example, should one use “African Caribbean” or “Afro-Caribbean” as a synonym for “black Caribbean”? As I was writing this book, I started out with “Afro-Caribbean,” which US scholars employ frequently, but I ran into problems when I began to think about black Ca- ribbean immigrants to Canada. “Afro-Caribbean” seems antiquated in Cana- dian contexts—as does “Afro-Canadian,” for that matter. In studies of British culture and society, “Afro-Caribbean,” “African Caribbean,” “West Indian” (a designation that has not died, contrary to what one might have expected), and the more comprehensive “black British” are all in use. In transnation- ally oriented academic texts, “African Caribbean,” following the example of “[US] African American,” is an increasingly common choice. I recognize the possible ambiguity inherent in “African Caribbean” (its suggestion, to some, of “African-born”—the same problem that many initially had with “African American,” before the term achieved its current standard status), as well as the difficulty caused by the different terminological preferences in different regional and national contexts. However, since I could not reasonably opt for viii · Note on Usage “Afro-Caribbean” in some chapters and for “African Caribbean” in others, I chose one variant, the latter, while also frequently employing “black Carib- bean” and, at times, “West Indian.” Whenever the term “West Indian” appears in this study, it means the same as “Anglophone Caribbean.” In chapter 4—more specifically, in the discus- sion of collective West Indian identity formation among Caribbean individu- als and groups living in Britain during and after World War II—the adjective “West Indian” has, for contextual reasons, at times been a more natural choice than the somewhat unwieldy “Anglophone African Caribbean” or “Anglo- phone black Caribbean,” in part because the chapter includes a reference to the short-lived political entity known as the West Indies Federation. I use the word “black” rather often (a practice that resonates particularly well with British usage) because it is a practical term in comparative con- texts—for example, in discussing black British, black Caribbean, black US, and black Canadian writing in the same breath. Also, since there is no termi- nological alternative for the socially and culturally constructed abstraction ar- ticulated by the noun “blackness,” it hardly makes sense to shy away from the adjective either. I should add that particularly in the 1970s and 1980s, “black,” in addition to meaning “of African descent,” was also used by Britons to refer to various Asian immigrant groups living in Britain. This usage can still be found in many theorizations of “black British literature,” especially in studies that focus on the legacies of Empire and highlight interracial solidarity among the decolonized. However, although this book is attuned to the intersection- ality of postcolonial and diaspora studies, I consistently use “black” synony- mously with “of African descent,” regardless of national context. Ethnoracial terminologies are constantly changing and evolving, both na- tionally and transnationally. Choices that seem appropriate today may appear outdated tomorrow. However, regardless of such provisionalities of language use, this book places a set of Anglophone novels originating in various African diasporic contexts in dialogue with each other. In so doing, it seeks to make a contribution to scholarly discussions about postwar and contemporary liter- ary representations of black diasporic identity formation. Acknowledgments I am deeply indebted to the Department of African American Studies and the Program in American Studies at Yale University for providing me with the intellectual inspiration, instruction, and resources that made this project possible. I had the good fortune to be mentored by two extraordinary schol- ars, Robert Stepto and Hazel Carby. I am extremely grateful for their expert guidance and their wonderful generosity and kindness. My heartfelt thanks are also due to Elizabeth Alexander, Paul Gilroy, and Matthew Jacobson. The opportunity to train under them was a transformative experience that will always stay with me. I am, moreover, truly thankful to the Department of American Studies at Brown University, especially Robert G. Lee, then chair, for allowing me to use Brown’s excellent libraries as a visiting scholar in fall 2012. I benefited im- mensely not only from the library privileges but also from conversations with fellow scholars in literary studies and beyond. Beverly Haviland, for example, did me a wonderful favor by discussing trauma theory with me from an angle I had not considered previously. I thank warmly all my colleagues in my current academic home, the Depart- ment of English at Providence College, for camaraderie, intellectual sparring, and good cheer. Friends in American Studies (especially Jeff Johnson, Peggy Reid, Margaret Manchester, Keith Morton, and Eric Bennett), History, Black Studies, Global Studies, and Women’s Studies have graciously included me in a broader, interdisciplinary community of passionate and dedicated teacher- scholars. To single out just a few particularly enthusiastic and knowledgeable fellow travelers, at various stages of this project Bruce Graver, John Scanlan, Adrian Weimer, Ted Andrews, Bob Reeder, and Elliott Stevens kindly read portions of this work or took the time to discuss the changing world of aca- demic writing and publishing with me. Jamie Warren, whom I met when he was a visiting scholar at Brown, selflessly did the same.