Samuel Selvon

This study discusses the range of Samuel Selvon's work, and highlights its niche place in West Indian literature.
The first full-length study of Selvon that covers all aspects of his fictional world – poems, radio dramas, short fiction, and novels. It shows the evolution of Selvon as fledging author of poems and short fiction to an established short-story writer and novelist. It argues that Selvon enjoys a special niche in West Indian literature because of his celebration of the enormous struggle of the Indo-Trinidadian peasant out of the cane experience into every professional field and politics, of the glamorization of the West Indian immigrant (The Lonely Londoners), and of his daring use of the linguistic continuum of his island, establishing it as a dialect that meets every exigency of his artistry. He is the most democratic and predictive of Trinidadian writers, establishing the unlimited literary potential of the ordinary man and anticipating concerns of politicians, linguists, and artists.