ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses fictional representations of Black Nationalist ideas and the Black Power Revolution of 1970 in the writings of V.S. Naipaul and Earl Lovelace. Newly launched journals, such as the New World Quarterly (in Guyana and Jamaica, 1963–1972), and Tapia and Moko (in Trinidad and Tobago) responded to Black Nationalist activism and the unfinished business of economic and cultural independence. In Trinidad, Moko and Tapia offered public platforms to debate social radicalization and Black Power era, continuing the discussions already ongoing on the pages of the New World Quarterly and, later, in the Lloyd Best Institute of the West Indies’ monthly, the Trinidad and Tobago Review. The Black Power Revolution of February 1970 launched in Port of Spain, Trinidad, mirrored events in Kingston, this time sparked by the Eric Williams government’s denial of Stokely Carmichael to enter Port of Spain. The arrest of ten Trinidadian students during the Sir George Williams University (Montreal, Canada) occupation of the new computer center sparked protests at home that transformed into more generalized demonstrations against the Williams government. Earl Lovelace and V.S. Naipaul critically responded to the February events through essays, newspaper articles, and in fiction. The journalistic output of creative writers complimented their literary texts and offered insights not always included in the political and historical writings of the era.
