Extravagant Strangers A Literature of

Extravagant Strangers is renowned author Caryl Phillips's very personal response to the popular idea that "outsiders" in Britain are currently reinvigorating the literary canon. Phillips shows that in fact English literature has never been homogenous: it has been shaped and influenced by outsiders for at least two hundred years. Included in Extravagant Strangers are slave writers, such as Olaudah Equiano and Ignatius Sancho; Britons born in the colonies, such as Thackeray, Kipling, and Orwell; "subject writers", such as C.L.R. James and V. S. Naipaul; and "postcolonial" observers of Britain, such as Ben Okri, Salman Rushdie, Timothy Mo, and Anita Desai. With this eloquent and often inspiring collection, Caryl Phillips proves, if proof be needed, that the greatest literature is often born out of irreconcilable tensions between a writer and his or her society.

Caryl Phillips was born in St. Kitts, West Indies. Brought up in England, he has written for television, radio, theater, and cinema. He is the author of one book of nonfiction, The European Tribe, and six novels, The Final Passage, A State of Independence, Higher Ground, Cambridge, Crossing the River, and The Nature of Blood. His awards include the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a James Tait Black Memorial Prize. He divides his time between London and New York.

Editor's Note

xi

(2)

Preface

xiii

UKAWSAW GRONNIOSAW

The Shortcomings of Christian England [1770]

1

(5)

IGNATIUS SANCHO

Letter to Mr Sterne [1776]

6

(3)

OLAUDAH EQUIANO

Voyage to England [1789]

9

(8)

WILLIAM THACKERAY

A Word about Dinners [1846]

17

(8)

JOSEPH CONRAD

From The Nigger of the `Narcissus' [1897]

25

(11)

RUDYARD KIPLING

The English Flag [1891]

36

(5)

WYNDHAM LEWIS

Letter to David Kahma [1947]; Letter to Geoffrey Stone [1948]; Letter to Edgar Preston Richardson [1948]

41

(6)

T.S. ELIOT

Letter to Henry Eliot [1914]; Letter to Eleanor Hinkley [1914]

47

(7)

KATHERINE MANSFIELD

The Tiredness of Rosabel [1924]

54

(8)

JEAN RHYS

First Steps [1979]

62

(10)

C.L.R. JAMES

Bloomsbury: An Encounter with Edith Sitwell [1932]

72

(11)

GEORGE ORWELL

Confessions of a Down and Out [1933]

83

(8)

E.R. BRAITHWAITE

From Choice of Straws [1965]

91

(12)

LAWRENCE DURRELL

London at Night [1969]

103

(6)

DORIS LESSING

In Defence of the Underground [1987]

109

(17)

WILSON HARRIS

From The Angel at the Gate [1982]

126

(9)

SAMUEL SELVON

From The Lonely Londoners [1956]

135

(10)

JAMES BERRY

`From Lucy: Englan' Lady' [1982]; `From Lucy: Carnival Wedd`n', 1981' [1982]

145

(5)

RUTH PRAWER JHABVALA

From Three Continents [1987]

150

(7)

GEORGE LAMMING

A Voyage [1954]

157

(12)

PETER PORTER

An Ingrate's England [1989]

169

(3)

J.G. BALLARD

First Impressions of London [1993]

172

(3)

EVA FIGES

From Little Eden: A Child at War [1978]

175

(8)

V.S. NAIPAUL

The Journey [1987]

183

(11)

PENELOPE LIVELY

From Oleander, Jacaranda [1994]

194

(14)

ANITA DESAI

From Bye-Bye, Blackbird [1971]

208

(9)

CHRISTOPHER HOPE

From Darkest England [1996]

217

(6)

SHIVA NAIPAUL

Living in Earl's Court [1984]

223

(12)

SALMAN RUSHDIE

A General Election [1983]

235

(5)

ABDULRAZAK GURNAH

From Pilgrim's Way [1988]

240

(8)

GEORGE SZIRTES

The Child I Never Was [1986]; Assassins [1983]

248

(3)

TIMOTHY MO

From Sour Sweet [1982]

251

(9)

WILLIAM BOYD

Fly Away Home [1997]

260

(7)

LINTON KWESI JOHNSON

Inglan is a Bitch [1980]

267

(4)

ROMESH GUNESEKERA

From Reef [1994]

271

(9)

KAZUO ISHIGURO

From The Remains of the Day [1989]

280

(9)

DAVID DABYDEEN

London Taxi Driver [1988]

289

(3)

MICHAEL HOFMANN

The Machine That Cried [1986]

292

(3)

BEN OKRI

Disparities [1986]

295

(14)

Acknowledgements

309

(4)

Index

313

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Extravagant Strangers A Literature of Belonging

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials

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Extravagant Strangers A Literature of Belonging

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials

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