Austin C. Clarke's Short Fiction

Contrary to V.S. Naipaul's assertion in The Middle Passage that "nothing was created in the West Indies,"1 a tradition of fiction in English, nurtured in its earliest years at least in part by such literary magazines as Trinidad (1929), The Beacon (1931-33 and 1939), Bim (since 1942), Focus (1943, 1948, 1956, 1960 and 1983), and K.yk-over-al (since 1945), had long been entrenched in the British Caribbean. That Austin Clarke was influenced by this tradition is beyond dispute. His first two novels,2 for instance, dissect the black experience in colonial Barbados, though from a perspective en lightened by incipient post-colonial sensitivities. Yet, while Clarke is acknowledged today as a West Indian-Canadian novelist of substance, his contribution to the West Indian and indeed the Canadian short story has re ceived relatively scant attention, this despite his publication of six collections.3 In the latter context, Clarke's significance as a West Indian Canadian writer is multi-faceted. First of all, his use of language—of Barba dian dialect, in particular—has vital socio-cultural connotations. But Clarke is also the first black West Indian-Canadian writer to probe the black West Indian immigrant experience in Canada. The themes he pursues in undertak ing that task include sexual politics, the oppression of the domestics, and the contest over space. In all of these journeys, he clarifies the nature of the black experience and adds to West Indian and Canadian literature. Clarke's achievement with language merits some discussion. Of course, Clarke is not the first to employ West Indian dialect in his works. Vic Reid, C.L.R. James and Sam Selvon, for example, were among those to precede him in this respect. But Clarke has certainly helped to reinforce this trend and consequently to revitalize the English language. As well, the infusion of an energetic Barbadian dialect into many of his stories instills in them a realism and vibrancy they would otherwise lack. As Marlene N. Philip notes