ABSTRACT
Early twentieth-century figures from the Caribbean sometimes looked to Africa as both a source of Caribbean cultural identity and a political cause. Recent anglophone writers have explored imaginatively the meaning of Africa for Caribbean culture beyond a distinctly Afrocentric optic. This involves the rethinking of Africa’s relationship with the Caribbean, as in Derek Walcott’s poetry and his play Dream on Monkey Mountain (1967), and also in Caryl Phillips’s novel Crossing the River (1993) and other writings. Focusing on the sonic metaphors used by each writer, this article uncovers the new envisioning of Africa and the Caribbean in recent creative texts.
