The Purloined Islands

In a volume taking its title from Poe's story "The Purloined Letter," Karem (English, Cleveland State U.) treats US American purloining (i.e., marginalizing) of the Carribean islands' contribution to the literary culture of the Western hemisphere (e.g., pan-Africanism and pan-American modernism), despite a long history of cultural and literary exchanges. For example, Paule Marshall's novel Brown Girl, Brownstones (1959) is often discussed as influenced by Toni Morrison's fiction, though the Barbadian-American's work preceded Morrison's. Lastly, he reflects on what stories may have been purloined from Guantanamo Bay. Annotation 穢2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)