The Schoolmaster (Caribbean Writers Series) [Paperback]

Earl Lovelace (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1997 | ISBN-10: 0435989502 | ISBN-13: 978-0435989507

Earl Lovelace's second novel tells the story of an isolated rural community coming in touch with the wider world. The villages learn, only too cruelly, that "progress" can mean the destruction of cherished values. Introduction by Cecil Gray.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“I trust Lovelace's creative rendering of contemporary Trinidadian social history, the immediacy of the native rootedness in storytelling, and, above all, his persuasive moral comedy.”–World Literature Today

About the Author

Earl Lovelace was born in Toco, Trinidad in 1935, and spent his childhood in Tobago and Port of Spain. His first job was as a proof reader with the Trinidad Publishing Company, and he later joined the Civil Service, serving first in the Forestry Department and then in the Department of Agriculture.His first novel, While Gods Are Falling, won him the BP Independence Literary Award which enabled him to study in the United States as visiting novelist at Howard University, Washington. It was followed by The Schoolmaster, a novel which drew on his experiences of rural Trinidad. The promise evident in these novels of the sixties was fulfilled in The Dragon Can't Dance, and The Wine of Astonishment which, West Africa magazine argued, 'put him in the front rank of Caribbean writers'. It was followed by a collection of plays, Festina's Calypso, which was published in 1984.

Product Details

• Paperback: 188 pages
• Publisher: Heinemann (January 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0435989502
• ISBN-13: 978-0435989507
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #783,027 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An intersting Story of a Trinidad long ago., December 24, 2008

By 

Adesh Seuraj (Santa Cruz, Trinidad) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Schoolmaster (Caribbean Writers Series) (Paperback)

I read this book about 8 years ago, as part of my literature curriculum. At that age, the reading, was at most, a trivial one, where the plot was more important than the backdrop of themes and metaphors.
Today, Earl Lovelace's book serves as an important reminder of the corruptibility of society, and the moral decadence that usually comes with power.
Set in Trinidad and Tobago, it is not as culturally emblematic as Selvon's "A Brighter Sun." Nonetheless it is situationally relevant and non-anachronistic for the purpose of conveying the tragedy of a crushed dream - one, the victim of hope.

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just a Story, September 15, 2000

By 

Gerald J. Ross "jerberoni" (Monroeville, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Schoolmaster (Caribbean Writers Series) (Paperback)

THE SCHOOLMASTER is just a story. It is a moment in time for a peasant village in Trinidad and it is as beautiful as it is raw. "....and the donkey that had made the most runs between Kumaca and Valencia began to bray and broke into a trot and surprised the acolyte on its back who was completing his first trip." A moment in time where stories are starting and others are playing out. We are party to only one and it is enough. TEN STARS!