Jamaica Kincaid  (b. 1949) LINKS Interview with the Missouri Review http://www.missourireview.org/interviews/kincaid.html This interview with Kay Bonetti for the University of Missouri's publication the Missouri Review is a useful commentary for those who are interested in researching the mother-daughter dynamics in Jamaica Kincaid's work. Kincaid examines her exploration of the mother-daughter relationship in her novels Annie John (1985) and Lucy (1990) and the parallels that these have to her own relationship with her mother. Kincaid also discusses literary influences on her writing, such as the works of Milton, Keats, and Wordsworth. Emory University Postdoctoral Site http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/Bahri/Kincaid.html This small site contains a postdoctoral dissertation paper that examines the British colonization of the island of Antigua, Jamaica Kincaid's homeland, and how the themes of colonization and oppression are reflected in Kincaid's work. This site is an excellent place to begin research on Jamaica Kincaid's life, philosophies, and work, as its most renowned feature is an extensive bibliography that contains both written and electronic resources and links. Jamaica Kincaid Hates Happy Endings http://www.mojones.com/mother_jones/SO97/snell.html This site is a good resource for those who are interested in Jamaica Kincaid's philosophies as a background to her work. In the provocative interview with Marilyn Snell for Mother Jones, Kincaid discusses her thoughts on pain, oppression, and freedom, in particular regard to her book My Brother (1997). Kincaid also discusses the state of race relations in the United States. Reading Guides for the Novels Lucy (1990) and A Small Place (1988) http://athena.english.vt.edu/~carlisle/Postcolonial/Jamaica%20Kincaid/Kincaid_Bio.html Along with a brief biographical background on Jamaica Kincaid, this site contains reading guides for the novels Lucy (1990) and A Small Place (1988). The guides discuss various themes found within these works, including postcolonialism, personal and cultural identity, mother-daughter relationships, images of America, and independence. The guides also contain a section of questions for contemplation about various issues in the novels. This site is a thought-provoking resource for anyone looking for guidance, insight, or perhaps enlightenment on these works. The Salon Interview http://www.salon.com/05/features/kincaid.html In an interview with Salon magazine, Jamaica Kincaid discusses her childhood and coming of age, her days as a writer for The New Yorker, and her novel The Autobiography of My Mother (1996). In this interview, Kincaid touches on mother-daughter relationships and sexuality in her work. Chapter 1 of My Brother (1997) and the Denver Post Book Review http://www.denverpost.com/books/chap6.htm This site contains chapter 1 of My Brother (1997), Jamaica Kincaid's work about her brother's life and death from AIDS. There is also a brief review of the book from the Denver Post, which provides literary criticism. This chapter is an excellent sample of Kincaid's writing style. BIOGRAPHY Jamaica Kincaid (b. 1949) was born and educated in St. Johns, Antigua, in the West Indies. Her father was a carpenter, and her family doted on her, the only child. Kincaid left Antigua to study in the United States, but she found college "a dismal failure," so she educated herself. She began writing and published her stories in Rolling Stone, the Paris Review, and The New Yorker, where she became a staff writer in 1978. Six years later she published her first book, At the Bottom of the River, a collection of stories that won the Morton Dauwen Zabel Award of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. In 1985 Annie John, her book of interrelated stories about a girl's coming of age in the West Indies, was also much praised. In her autobiographical writing, Kincaid often explores the idea that her deep affection for her family and her native country developed into a conflicting need for separation and independence as she grew up. Typically, Kincaid writes in a deliberately precise rhythmic style about intense emotions, as in her story "Girl" (1978). Her fiction is free from conventional plots, characters, and dialogue. The critic Suzanne Freeman has recognized that "what Kincaid has to tell me, she tells, with her singsong style, in a series of images that are as sweet and mysterious as the secrets that children whisper in your ear." Although Kincaid is married to an American and lives in Vermont, she feels that the British West Indies will continue to be the source of her fiction. "What I really feel about America is that it's given me a place to be myself - but myself as I was formed somewhere else." A Small Place (1988), another book about the West Indies, was described by the novelist Salman Rushdie as "a jeremiad of great clarity and a force that one might have called torrential were the language not so finely controlled." Her latest books are Lucy (1990), The Autobiography of My Mother (1996), and My Brother (1997).

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