Andrew Salkey (1928–1995)
Author of West Indian Stories
About the Author
Born in Panama and educated in Jamaica and London, Salkey is an important critic and anthologist who uses African folk tales and variegated West Indian popular culture, such as cultism, as sources for his novels and short stories. His first novel, A Quality of Violence (1959), focuses on life in show more rural Jamaica. His later novels portray urban, middle-class protagonists unable to relate to others because of racial, cultural, or class differences. Salkey is also a poet and a writer of travel literature. As a writer, he attempts to forge a distinctive West Indian personality out of the diversity of the various ethnic sources. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Disambiguation Notice:
full name Felix Andrew Alexander Salkey
Works by Andrew Salkey
Associated Works
World Poetry: An Anthology of Verse from Antiquity to Our Time (1998) — Contributor — 469 copies, 1 review
The Oxford Book of Caribbean Short Stories: Reissue (Oxford Books of Prose) (1999) — Contributor — 96 copies, 1 review
Our Caribbean: A Gathering of Lesbian and Gay Writing from the Antilles (2008) — Contributor — 51 copies, 1 review
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1928-01-30
- Date of death
- 1995
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- Jamaica
- Places of residence
- Colon, Panama (birth)
Jamaica
London, England, UK
Amherst, Massachusetts, USA - Education
- University of London
- Occupations
- novelist
editor
anthologist - Disambiguation notice
- full name Felix Andrew Alexander Salkey
Members
Reviews
Lists
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 41
- Also by
- 7
- Members
- 304
- Popularity
- #77,406
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 7
- ISBNs
- 56
- Languages
- 1
This book is a Caribbean Classic about sexual identity and relationships. I enjoyed the story but it was a challenge because of the way the author’s writing style with the main character who is the narrator mixing his thoughts within the paragraphs of dialogue between characters. As the reader I had to stop and figure out if it was the thoughts of the character or dialogue interaction with someone.
The main character, Johnnie Sobert is a Jamaican refugee who works at a club in London that accommodates to Black American servicemen. He left his hometown to get away from his domineering mother and engages himself in the bohemian Soho community. Johnnie assumes a wise guy persona to hide his ingrained insecurities that has been confusing his thoughts of his unsure sexual identity. Johnnie was staying at Fiona and her husband’s rooming house which caused Johnnie confusing conflict because Fiona kept coming to his room interested in seducing him. Johnnie was angry but Fiona was determined to get her way.
Johnnie decided to move and share a place with his friend Dick even knowing Dick was in love with him. Dick questioned Johnnie about his affair with his landlady. Johnnie never thought of Dick other than a friend. One of Johnnie’s dilemmas is life expectations because that is what his parents implied during his childhood. Over time Dick has
confused Johnnie to the point of not knowing about his sexuality. Dick ended up giving Johnnie an alternative of choosing between him and Fiona. Dick went away for a week to give Johnnie time to get his life back in order and to make a decision but no matter how long Johnnie thought about his expectation he never did make a choice.
The story ended with Johnnie just walking off…. “talking to himself, telling himself what to do” ---he’s trying to reconcile his many performances, but all he’s really doing is falling into a sinkhole of inescapable despair. His escape just takes him further from the truth, from himself, and from happiness.… (more)