Jamaica Kincaid ─ A Literary Companion

Snodgrass (Lenoir-Rhyne College, Hickory, North Carolina) presents a resource text to assist general readers, students, teachers, and librarians in understanding Jamaica Kincaid's contributions to feminist, American, postcolonial, and world literature. Offering an introduction and guided overview of Kincaid's characters, plots, humor, symbols, and classic themes, the 84 A-to-Z entries combine commentary from interviewers, feminist historians, and book critics with numerous citations from primary and secondary sources and comparative literature. The text also includes a detailed chronology of Kincaid's life, West Indies heritage, and works; annotated charts elucidating five family trees of fictional clans found in her writing; a glossary of terms from cookery, herbalism, gardening, and customs; and a detailed list of 43 topics for book club discussion, writing, or research. Annotation c2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

A former teacher of English and Latin to high school and university students, Mary Ellen Snodgrass has been an award-winning textbook and reference book author for 35 years. She lives in Hickory, North Carolina.