The Lonely Londoners

The Lonely Londoners

infobox Book |
name = The Lonely Londoners


image_caption = Cover of the 2006 Penguin edition
author = Samuel Selvon
cover_artist = Felix H. Man (photographer)
country = England
language = English
genre = Novel
publisher = Alan Wingate
release_date = 1956
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 142 pp
isbn = ISBN 978-0-14-118841-6 (2006 edition)

"The Lonely Londoners" is a 1956 novel by British Caribbean author Samuel Selvon.

Overview

The book details the life of West Indians in post World War II London, a city the immigrants consider the "centre of the world" [Samuel Selvon: "The Lonely Londoners", p.134.] . Covering a period of roughly three years, it has no plot in the strict sense of the word. Rather, the novel follows a limited number of characters of the "Windrush generation", all of them "coloureds", through their daily lives in the capital. The various threads of action form a whole through the unifying central character of Trinidadian Moses Aloetta, a veteran emigré who, after more than ten years in London, has still not achieved anything of note and whose homesickness increases as he gets older. Every Sunday morning "the boys", many a recent arrival among them, come together in his rented room to trade stories and inquire after those whom they have not seen for a while. Not surprisingly, their lives mainly consist of work (or looking for a job) and various petty pleasures. Dating young white women is at the top of the list.

Narrative technique, language and style

The most striking feature of "The Lonely Londoners" is its narrative voice. Selvon started writing the novel in standard English but soon found out that such language would not aptly convey the experiences and the unarticulated thoughts and desires of his characters. [Susheila Nasta: "Introduction". Ibid., p.vi.] In creating a third person narrator who uses the same creolized form of English as the characters of the novel, Selvon added a new, multiculturalist dimension to the traditional London novel and enhanced the awareness in both readers and writers of a changing London society which could no longer be ignored. Thus, in style and context, "The Lonely Londoners" "represented a major step forward in the process of linguistic and cultural decolonization." [Ibid., p.x.]

Apart from its simplicity and (debatable) grammatical incorrectness, the language used by Selvon's characters and by the narrator contains a multitude of slang expressions. For example, when "the boys" talk about "the Water" or "the Gate", they are referring to Bayswater and Notting Hill respectively. (As opposed to today, in the postwar period the name "Notting Hill" evoked a down-at-heel area of cheap lodgings where Caribbean immigrants would more easily find accommodation than elsewhere in London.) Sometimes referring to themselves and each other as "spades", in their spare time they can be found "liming"—the Caribbean pastime of hanging around with friends eating, talking and drinking—, and some of their talk will be "oldtalk"—reminiscences of their previous lives in the West Indies and the exchange of news from home. Finally, a white English girl can be a "skin" ("a sharp piece of skin"), a "frauline" [sic] , a "cat", a "number", or of course a "chick" or "white pussy".

A remarkable passage within the novel about a typical London summer is written in the stream of consciousness mode, linking up Selvon with the modernist movement. [Samuel Selvon: "The Lonely Londoners", pp.92-102.]

References

* Susheila Nasta: "Introduction". Sam Selvon: "The Lonely Londoners" (Penguin Books: London, 2006) v-xvii.
* Helon Habila: [http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2035023,00.html "Out of the Shadows"] , "The Guardian" (March 17, 2007). Retrieved 7/8/07.
* Moya Jones Petithomme: [http://ebc.chez-alice.fr/ebc23.html "The Immigrant's Urban Tale ... 40 years On"] , "Etudes Britanniques Contemporaines" (1993). Retrieved 7/8/07.

Read on

Other novels which thematise the immigrant experience among Caribbeans in London:

*Warwick Collins: "Gents" (1997)
*Victor Headley: "Yardie" (1992)
*George Lamming: "The Emigrants" (1954)
*Andrea Levy: "Small Island (2004)
*Colin MacInnes: "City of Spades" (1957) and "Absolute Beginners" (1959)
*V. S. Naipaul: "The Mimic Men" (1967)
*Caryl Phillips: "The Final Passage" (1985)

Footnotes

All page references are to the 2006 Penguin "Modern Classics" edition.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • The Final Passage — Infobox Book | name = The Final Passage title orig = translator = image caption = Cover of the 1985 paperback edition author = Caryl Phillips illustrator = cover artist = country = United Kingdom language = English series = genre = Novel… …   Wikipedia

  • 1956 in literature — The year 1956 in literature involved some significant events and new books.Events* Writing under the pseudonym of Emile Ajar , author Romain Gary becomes the only person ever to win the Prix Goncourt twice. *Iris Murdoch marries John Bayley.… …   Wikipedia

  • Samuel Selvon — (1923 ndash;1994) was a Trinidad born writer. Selvon was educated at Naparima College, San Fernando before moving to London, England in the 1950s, and later to Alberta, Canada. He is known for novels such as The Lonely Londoners (1956) and Moses… …   Wikipedia

  • Selvon, Samuel Dickson — ▪ 1995       Trinidadian born Canadian author (b. May 20, 1923, Trinidad d. April 16, 1994, Trinidad), was an important West Indian writer who, with V.S. Naipaul, was in the vanguard of the Caribbean literary renaissance in London during the… …   Universalium

  • Selvon, Samuel — ▪ Caribbean author in full  Samuel Dickson Selvon   born May 20, 1923, Trinidad died April 16, 1994, Port of Spain       Caribbean novelist and short story writer of East Indian descent, known for his vivid evocation of the life of East Indians… …   Universalium

  • 20th century in literature — History of modern literature The early modern period 16th century in literature | 17th century in literature European literature in the 18th century 1700s | 1710s | 1720s | 1730s | 1740s | 1750s | 1760s | 1770s | 1780s | 1790s | …   Wikipedia

  • Bayswater — infobox UK place country = England map type = Greater London region= London population= official name= Bayswater constituency westminster= Cities of London and Westminster post town= LONDON postcode area=W postcode district=W2 london borough=… …   Wikipedia

  • Caribbean literature —       literary works of the Caribbean area written in Spanish, French, or English. The literature of the Caribbean has no indigenous tradition. The pre Columbian American Indians left few rock carvings or inscriptions (petroglyphs), and their… …   Universalium

  • literature, Caribbean —    Many Caribbean writers have moved to Britain, especially in the 1950s. V.S.Naipaul and Sam Selvon came from Trinidad, Wilson Harris from Guyana and George Lamming from Barbados. Others moved in the 1960s and 1970s such as Joan Riley (Jamaica) …   Encyclopedia of contemporary British culture

  • Kanadische Literatur — Der Begriff Kanadische Literatur bezeichnet Prosa, Dichtung, Drama in englischer und französischer Sprache aus Kanada. Zu den bekannten anglophonen Schriftstellern nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg gehören Robertson Davies, Mordecai Richler und Timothy… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”