Women Writing the West Indies - Vol 1804–1939 - Scholarly study

Sep 21, 2026

Women Writing the West Indies, 1804–1939 examines lesser-known West Indian writing by women and challenges the idea that women’s voices were absent from narrative records until the late twentieth century. The study considers which women survived in print and how an eclectic body of work by white women—expatriate, resident, and creole—shapes regional storytelling. Covering novels, stories, homilies, memoirs, letters, travel journals, and autobiographies, it asks whether this writing fits under a single label and how narratives construct West Indian and English identities during a key historical period.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages237

Reading Time6 h 5 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

The “absence” of early West Indian writing by women

The early narratives: problems of “categorization”

The “West Indies” as trope

Theoretical considerations

A note on research pitfalls

1 Defamiliarizing “the mistress”: representations of white women in the West Indies

Women Writing the West Indies, 1804–1939 This pioneering study of previously unknown or marginal West Indian writing by women, queries the accepted wisdom that women’s voices were absent from the narrative record until the late twentieth century. It demonstrates that while only a few texts by non-white women have survived, an eclectic body of work by white women – expatriate, resident and creole – does exist. Surveying a sample of fascinating material from novels, stories and homilies, memoirs, letters, travel journals and autobiographies, the book focuses on who these women were, and what kind of narratives they produced. It also asks whether these can be subsumed under a single classiﬁcatory label,“West Indian women’s writing,” and how the narratives construct the region, for those at home and those at the centre, during a particularly important period in the formulation of West Indian and English identities. The ﬁrst section considers how early texts demonstrate multiple narrative positions, and the interdependence of black and white female roles and identities which confound simpliﬁed reductions. The central section focuses on women’s construction of “the West Indies” and how the region and its people emerge in terms of disparate, even contradictory tropes. The book concludes with an overview of theoretical debates on colonial discourse, and suggests the advantages and pitfalls of several “mainstream” postcolonial approaches. The scope and depth of this book make it essential reading for students and academics within the ﬁelds of colonial, postcolonial, feminist and Caribbean literary history. Evelyn O’Callaghan is a senior lecturer in English at the University of the West Indies, Barbados. She recently edited an early Antiguan novel, With Silent Tread by Frieda Cassin (2002) . Postcolonial Literatures Edited in collaboration with the Centre for Colonial and Postcolonial Studies, University of Kent at Canterbury. This series aims to present a wide range of scholarly and innovative research into postcolonial literatures by specialists in the ﬁeld. Volumes will concentrate on writers and writing originating in previously (or presently) colonised areas, andwill include material from non-anglophone as well as anglophone colonies and literatures. The series will also include collections of important essays from older journals, and re-issues of classic texts on postcolonial subjects. Routledge is pleased to invite proposals for new books in the series. Interested authors should contact either Lyn Innes and Rod Edmond at the Centre for Colonial and Postcolonial Studies, University of Kent at Canterbury, or Joe Whiting, Commissioning Editor for Routledge Research. The series comprises two strands: Routledge Research in Postcolonial Literatures is a forum for innovative new research intended for a high-level specialist readership, and the titles will be available in hardback only. Titles include 1. Magical Realism in West African Fiction Brenda Cooper, University of Cape Town 2. The Postcolonial Jane Austen Edited by You–me Park, George Washington University and Rajeswari Sunder Rajan, University of Oxford 3. Contemporary Caribbean Women’s Poetry Making style Denise deCaires Narain, University of Sussex 4. Animism and Politics in African Literature Caroline Rooney, University of Kent at Canterbury 5. Caribbean–English Passages Intertextuality in a Postcolonial tradition Tobias Döring, Freie Universität, Berlin 6. Islands in History and Representation Edited by Rod Edmond, University of Kent at Canterbury and Vanessa Smith, University of Sydney 7. Civility, Literature, and Culture in British India Discipline and identity in the colonial context Anindyo Roy, Colby College, USA 8. Women Writing the West Indies, 1804–1939 “A hot place, belonging to Us” Evelyn O’Callaghan, University of the West Indies, Barbados 9. Postcolonial Paciﬁc Writing Representations ofthe body Michelle K

FAQs

What main question does the book ask about women’s writing?

It questions accepted wisdom about the absence of women’s voices in West Indian narrative records and explores how women’s writing can be understood within a single classificatory label.

Which kinds of texts does the study survey?

It surveys novels, stories, homilies, memoirs, letters, travel journals, and autobiographies, focusing on who the women were and what narratives they produced.

How does the book approach “the West Indies” as a concept?

It examines how women construct “the West Indies,” showing how the region and its people emerge through disparate, sometimes contradictory tropes.

Sep 21, 2026

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