New book explores innovative crime fiction by Caribbean writers
Credit: Oxford University Press
A new book by University of Leicester’s Dr Lucy Evans will analyse crime fiction set in the Caribbean.
Crime Fiction in the Caribbean: Reframing Crime and Justice is the first academic book to focus on crime fiction by anglophone Caribbean writers. Covering novels set in Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Guyana, Barbados, Grenada and Haiti, the book explores how contemporary writers experiment with the crime genre in order to reflect and comment on crime and justice in the Caribbean.
Dr Lucy Evans, Associate Professor in Postcolonial Literature at University of Leicester, looks at Caribbean crime fiction through the lens of criminological research. She considers how fiction by anglophone Caribbean writers not only reflects upon the social realities of crime and crime control in the Caribbean, but also at times contests or complicates scholarly, popular and legal perspectives.
Novels explored in the book include works by Elizabeth Nunez, Jacob Ross, Marlon James, Harischandra Khemraj, Esther Figueroa, Edwidge Danticat, Cherie Jones, and several others.
Evans argues that through their engagement with the crime genre, these writers raise pressing questions about what constitutes crime and justice in a Caribbean context, and about accountability. Looking beyond the traditional focus of crime fiction and criminology on individual acts of wrongdoing, their fiction highlights systemic social harms rooted in the region’s colonial past.
Dr Evans said: “Over the past few years, research in crime fiction studies has begun to draw attention to the global reach of the crime genre, looking at crime fiction written and set outside Europe and North America. However, the Caribbean region continues to be sidelined. This book highlights the innovative use of this literary genre by anglophone writers based in or connected to the Caribbean region, showing how their work resonates with scholarly and public debates on crime, law enforcement, and reparative justice.
Professor Martin Halliwell, Director of Research for the School of Arts, Media and Communication commented that “Crime Fiction in the Caribbean establishes Lucy Evans as a leading scholar of Caribbean studies, running alongside her collaborations over the last decade with academics, teachers, arts groups and community organisers across the region. The book makes a strong case for situating the genre of crime fiction within transnational contexts that illuminate the deep historical, cultural and political tensions and legacies of violence and exploitation within contemporary Caribbean societies.”
Crime Fiction in the Caribbean: Reframing Crime and Justice will be published by Oxford University Press on October 24 2024. The book is available to pre order here.