The Wild Coast

Jan R Carew

ISBN 10: 1845231104 / ISBN 13: 9781845231101

Published by Peepal Tree Press Ltd, GB, 2009

About this Item

The Wild Coast is a novel about how Guyanese might come to terms with living in Guyana. Carew portrays a country in which the echoes of slavery still disturb, with seemingly irreconcilable conflicts between its diverse cultural inheritances, and which is struggling to feel at home in a world where nature, away from the coastal strip and the city, appears inhospitable and wild.These are the challenges that confront Hector Bradshaw when, as a sickly child, he is sent away to the remote village of Tarlogie. Here he receives an education that he struggles to fit together: the dry colonial education of the tragic Teacher La Rose; the moral precepts of his kindly guardian, Sister Smart; the harsh African vision of the old hunter Doorne; and the sexual education he receives from Elsa. Above all, for a sickly city boy, there is the challenge of wild nature, disturbingly red in tooth and claw.Jan Carew was born in the village of Agricola in Berbice, Guyana in 1920.

Seller Inventory # LU-9781845231101

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Wild Coast
• Publisher: Peepal Tree Press Ltd, GB
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1845231104
• ISBN 13: 9781845231101
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 288 grams

About this title

Synopsis

In this coming-of-age novel, a young boy learns firsthand about the contradictions that bedevil the people of Guyana, including the legacy of slavery, the clash of cultural traditions, and the inhospitable terrain. Hector Bradshaw, a sickly child living in Georgetown, finds his life turned upside down when his family decides he would be better off living in the country and sends him away to the remote village of Tarlogie. Once settled there with his kind but old-fashioned guardian, Sister Smart, Hector struggles to make sense of his new community. As time goes by, he is given a dry colonial education, is puzzled by his guardian’s fondness for moral precepts, and is fascinated by the harsh African vision of the old hunter Doorne. Above all, the boy struggles to feel at home in a world where nature—so beautiful and so tremendously dangerous—dominates the people’s lives.

About the Author

Jan Carew is a native of Guyana who has lived all over the world. During the time he taught at Northwestern and Princeton universities in the 1960s, he was an important force in creating African American studies departments in colleges across the United States. He is the author of The Last Barbarian, Moscow Is Not My Mecca, and The Wild Coast, as well as children’s books, plays, and a collection of poetry. He lives in Louisville, Kentucky.