Literature Earle Lovelace
Trinidadian. Born: Taco, Trinidad, 1935. Career: Proofreader, Trinidad Guardian, 1953-54; civil servant: agricultural assistant in Jamaica, 1956-66; journalist, Trinidad and Tobago Express, 1967; lecturer in English, University of the District of Columbia, 1971-73; writer-in-residence, Hartwick College, Oneonta, New York, 1986. Since 1977 teacher, University of the West Indies, Saint Augustine, Trinidad. Awards: B.P. Independence award, 1965; Pegasus Literary award, 1966; Guggenheim fellowship, 1980; National Endowment for the Humanities grant, 1986; Commonwealth Writers' prize, 1997.
PUBLICATIONS
Novels
While Gods Are Falling. London, Collins, 1965; Chicago, Regnery, 1966.
The Schoolmaster. London, Collins, and Chicago, Regnery, 1968.
The Dragon Can't Dance. London, Deutsch, 1979; Washington, D.C., Three Continents Press, 1981.
The Wine of Astonishment. London, Deutsch, 1982; New York, Vintage, 1984.
Salt. New York, Persea Books, 1997.
Short Stories
A Brief Conversation and Other Stories. London, Heinemann, 1988.
Plays
The New Hardware Store (produced London, 1985). Included in Jestina's Calypso and Other Plays, 1984.
Jestina's Calypso and Other Plays (includes The New Hardware Store and My Name Is Village). London, Heinemann, 1984.
The Dragon Can't Dance, adaptation of his own novel (produced London, 1990).
At the thematic center of Lovelace's narratives is an exploration of the ambiguous relationship between change and progress. His characters often must weigh the merits of tradition and cultural continuity against financial gain and upward mobility. In his first novel, While Gods Are Falling, Lovelace considers the dilemma of Walter, whose frustration with the urban congestion, cacophony, and confusion of Port of Spain results in a nostalgia for the imagined opportunities of the rural environment for independence and self-assertion. However, Lovelace reveals Walter's construction of the rural environment to be flawed, influenced more by his
PUBLICATIONS
Novels
While Gods Are Falling. London, Collins, 1965; Chicago, Regnery, 1966.
The Schoolmaster. London, Collins, and Chicago, Regnery, 1968.
The Dragon Can't Dance. London, Deutsch, 1979; Washington, D.C., Three Continents Press, 1981.
The Wine of Astonishment. London, Deutsch, 1982; New York, Vintage, 1984.
Salt. New York, Persea Books, 1997.
Short Stories
A Brief Conversation and Other Stories. London, Heinemann, 1988.
Plays
The New Hardware Store (produced London, 1985). Included in Jestina's Calypso and Other Plays, 1984.
Jestina's Calypso and Other Plays (includes The New Hardware Store and My Name Is Village). London, Heinemann, 1984.
The Dragon Can't Dance, adaptation of his own novel (produced London, 1990).
At the thematic center of Lovelace's narratives is an exploration of the ambiguous relationship between change and progress. His characters often must weigh the merits of tradition and cultural continuity against financial gain and upward mobility. In his first novel, While Gods Are Falling, Lovelace considers the dilemma of Walter, whose frustration with the urban congestion, cacophony, and confusion of Port of Spain results in a nostalgia for the imagined opportunities of the rural environment for independence and self-assertion. However, Lovelace reveals Walter's construction of the rural environment to be flawed, influenced more by his