Caryl Phillips, who occupies a unique place both in post-colonial literature and on the British scene, is one of the most talented and original contemporary writers. Bénédicte Ledent's study provides a thorough examination of his novels, from The Final Passage (1985) to The Nature of Blood (1997), considered in relation to his own plays and essays, and to his wide-ranging intertextuality.

This volume starts from a textual analysis of Phillips's fiction and examines how it charts a new diasporic sensibility, grounded in the novelist's Caribbeanness but also expressive of a redefined sense of Britishness. Focusing on Phillips's pervasive interest in displacement, it also addresses characterisation and the non-conventional form of his narratives, two major aspects of his art which is discussed here in the context of current debates on post-colonialism.

Both well-argued and clear, this critical survey will be a vey helpful guide for the student and general reader of Caryl Phillips's fiction.

Table of contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
SERIES EDITOR'S FOREWORD
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
CHRONOLOGY

1 Contexts and intertexts
2 The early fiction
3 Higher Ground
4 Cambridge
5 Crossing the River
6 The Nature of Blood
7 Critical overview and conclusion

NOTES
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX