I’m a fan of Caryl Phillips‘s writing as a dramatist, novelist and essayist. Over the years we’ve become friends. I was asked by the premiere scholar of his work, BénédicteLedent, to write an essay about his novels for a special edition of a pukka literary journal concentrating on his work. I said I was no literary critic, but she liked my essay (on this site) about Don Bannister’s novels, so we went ahead. Reviewing each of his novels to date, I made the argument that — contra those who see his work as unremittingly gloomy — it always reveals shafts of hope. The pukka journal rejected my essay. But it came out some time later, updated to include some reflections on Caz’s latest work, A View of the Empire at Sunset (which provides a new interpretation of Jean Rhys). Here’s the PDF. Caryl Phillips Novels
