The Children of Sisyphus
The Children of Sisyphus

Author: Orlando Patterson

Publisher: Peepal Tree PressLtd

Published: 2011-12

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 9781845230944

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A bleak portrayal of life on the Dungle—the rubbish heap where the very poorest squat—this beautifully poetic, existentialist novel turns an unwavering eye to life in the Jamaican ghetto. By interweaving the stories of Dinah, a prostitute who can never quite escape the circumstances of her life, and Brother Solomon, a respected Rastafarian leader who allows his followers to think that a ship is on its way to take them home to Ethiopia, this brutally poetic story creates intense and tragic characters who struggle to come to grips with the absurdity of life. As these downtrodden protagonists shed their illusions and expectations, they realize that there is no escape from meaninglessness, and eventually gain a special kind of dignity and stoic awareness about life and the universe.

The Confounding Island
The Confounding Island

Author: Orlando Patterson

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2019-11-12

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 0674243072

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The preeminent sociologist and National Book Award–winning author of Freedom in the Making of Western Culture grapples with the paradox of his homeland: its remarkable achievements amid continuing struggles since independence. There are few places more puzzling than Jamaica. Jamaicans claim their home has more churches per square mile than any other country, yet it is one of the most murderous nations in the world. Its reggae superstars and celebrity sprinters outshine musicians and athletes in countries hundreds of times its size. Jamaica’s economy is anemic and too many of its people impoverished, yet they are, according to international surveys, some of the happiest on earth. In The Confounding Island, Orlando Patterson returns to the place of his birth to reckon with its history and culture. Patterson investigates the failures of Jamaica’s postcolonial democracy, exploring why the country has been unable to achieve broad economic growth and why its free elections and stable government have been unable to address violence and poverty. He takes us inside the island’s passion for cricket and the unparalleled international success of its local musical traditions. He offers a fresh answer to a question that has bedeviled sports fans: Why are Jamaican runners so fast? Jamaica’s successes and struggles expose something fundamental about the world we live in. If we look closely at the Jamaican example, we see the central dilemmas of globalization, economic development, poverty reduction, and postcolonial politics thrown into stark relief.

An Absence of Ruins
An Absence of Ruins

Author: Orlando Patterson

Publisher: Caribbean Modern Classics

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781845231040

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Through the tangled love life of one Alexander Blackman, Orlando Patterson offers up a devastating critique of middle-class pretension, turning instead to the vibrant realities of the Jamaican working class. Full of sardonic humour and social commentary, the novel looks into the dark heart of social hierarchy, colonial education and the impact both have on the individual and the many.

The White Witch Of Rosehall
The White Witch Of Rosehall

Author: Herbert G. De Lisser

Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing

Published: 2016-01-27

Total Pages: 341

ISBN-13: 1786258471

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A very striking and curious story, founded on fact, of the West Indies of the early nineteenth century. Robert Rutherford is sent to the Islands to learn the planter’s business from the bottom. He becomes an overseer at Rosehall, the property of a young widow, Mrs Palmer, whose three husbands have all died in curious circumstances. She takes a violent fancy to Rutherford, who is also embarrassed by the attentions of his half-caste housekeeper, Millicent. His housekeeper is urging him, with some success, to fall in with West Indian habits, when Mrs Palmer arrives. Millicent defies her and threatens her with the powers of Takoo, an Obeah man. Mrs Palmer, herself skilled in Obeah magic, puts a spell on the girl, which Takoo’s rites, shattered by the white woman’s stronger magic, are powerless to remove. “de Lisser utilizes the conventions of a romantic entanglement to investigate and debate the wider socio-political issues within the novel that relate to colonialism, Jamaican identity and culture... The White Witch of Rosehall is a delightful read, written by an author who sought not only to entertain, but also to educate.”—Donna-Marie Tuck, Society for Caribbean Studies Newsletter

Freedom
Freedom

Author: Orlando Patterson

Publisher: I.B.Tauris

Published: 1991

Total Pages: 487

ISBN-13: 9781850433583

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This work traces the origin and development of the idea of freedom in Western culture. It deals with three distinct forms of freedom: personal freedom; civic freedom (the right to participate in public life); and sovereign freedom (the right to exercise power over others).

The Cultural Matrix
The Cultural Matrix

Author: Orlando Patterson

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2015-02-09

Total Pages: 686

ISBN-13: 0674728750

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The Cultural Matrix seeks to unravel an American paradox: the socioeconomic crisis and social isolation of disadvantaged black youth, on the one hand, and their extraordinary integration and prominence in popular culture on the other. This interdisciplinary work explains how a complex matrix of cultures influences black youth.

Philosophy in the West Indian Novel
Philosophy in the West Indian Novel

Author: Earl McKenzie

Publisher:

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 172

ISBN-13:

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Earl McKenzie's pioneering philosophical study of the West Indian novel is based on three main assumptions: first, that philosophy is a reflection on the fundamental questions we can ask about ourselves and our world; second, that literature, particularly the novel, is the best method yet devised to provide a "human face" to these reflections; and third, Caribbean philosophy is at present embedded in other forms of cultural expression, like literature, and these forms need to be excavated to reveal what lies within. McKenzie examines ten novels by George Lamming, Roger Mais, Wilson Harris, V.S. Naipaul, Orlando Patterson, Jean Rhys, Erna Brodber, Lakshmi Persaud, Earl Lovelace and Jamaica Kincaid, each selected to represent differences in geography, chronology, ethnicity and gender. In this cross-section of novels, McKenzie identifies ancestral influences from the philosophies of Europe, Africa and India, and show how West Indian fiction embodies ideas from several areas of philosophy, including metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of education, social and political philosophy, ethics, feminist philosophy, and philosophy of literature. Philosophy in the West Indian Novel uncovers sections of the mostly unknown Caribbean philosophical mosaic, and McKenzie's work will encourage further study and refection on philosophical ideas in a Caribbean context. It will be of interest to philosophers, literary critics, educators, social scientists, and anyone interested in Caribbean studies.