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Brief Conversion and Other Stories
Set mostly in Trinidad, these stories concern themselves with the lives of ordinary people and commonplace events, to which the author brings sensitivity, compassion and humour. His first novel, While Gods are Falling, won the British Petroleum Independence Literary Award.
141 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
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About the author
Earl Lovelace
19 books92 followersNovelist, playwright and short-story writer Earl Lovelace was born in Toco, Trinidad in 1935 and grew up in Tobago. He worked for the Trinidad Guardian, then for the Department of Forestry and later as an agricultural assistant for the Department of Agriculture, gaining an intimate knowledge of rural Trinidad that has informed much of his fiction.
He studied in the United States at Howard University, Washington (1966-7) and received his MA in English from Johns Hopkins University in 1974. In 1980 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and spent that year at the University of Iowa. After teaching at a number of other American universities, Lovelace returned to Trinidad in 1982, where he now lives and writes, teaching at the University of the West Indies. A collection of his plays, Jestina's Calypso and Other Plays, was published in 1984.
His first novel, While Gods Are Falling, was published in 1965 and won the British Petroleum Independence Literary Award. It was followed by The Schoolmaster (1968), about the impact of the arrival of a new teacher in a remote community. His third novel, The Dragon Can't Dance (1979), regarded by many critics as his best work, describes the rejuvenating effects of carnival on the inhabitants of a slum on the outskirts of Port of Spain. In The Wine of Astonishment (1982) he examines popular religion through the story of a member of the Baptist Church in a rural village. His most recent novel, Salt, was published in 1996 and won the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best Book) in 1997. Set in Trinidad, the book explores the legacy of colonialism and slavery and the problems still faced by the country through the story of Alford George, a teacher turned politician.
He studied in the United States at Howard University, Washington (1966-7) and received his MA in English from Johns Hopkins University in 1974. In 1980 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and spent that year at the University of Iowa. After teaching at a number of other American universities, Lovelace returned to Trinidad in 1982, where he now lives and writes, teaching at the University of the West Indies. A collection of his plays, Jestina's Calypso and Other Plays, was published in 1984.
His first novel, While Gods Are Falling, was published in 1965 and won the British Petroleum Independence Literary Award. It was followed by The Schoolmaster (1968), about the impact of the arrival of a new teacher in a remote community. His third novel, The Dragon Can't Dance (1979), regarded by many critics as his best work, describes the rejuvenating effects of carnival on the inhabitants of a slum on the outskirts of Port of Spain. In The Wine of Astonishment (1982) he examines popular religion through the story of a member of the Baptist Church in a rural village. His most recent novel, Salt, was published in 1996 and won the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best Book) in 1997. Set in Trinidad, the book explores the legacy of colonialism and slavery and the problems still faced by the country through the story of Alford George, a teacher turned politician.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 22, 2020
Love it. Earl Lovelace in 1988 wrote simple tales of Cunaripo, a small village in Trinidad. Unable to vacation this year due to covid-19 I wanted to escape and this book of short stories took me to where I wanted to be.
We meet village women, in one tale, sisters. One is indulgent of her mama’s boy son, yet she believes boys should be raised to be the lions they are, the warriors. Her casual sexuality is threaded throughout the book and this lends a simmering boldness to the writing. Her sister is tasked with taming that warrior in her boys and she is wise enough to appreciate the differences in children, even brothers. We meet women who border on shrewishness and others who are protective of their men. We are introduced to a pillar of society, a post mistress and secretary of the village council who had not taken the route ‘from pregnancy to adulthood’ as other girls had and hers is a poignant arc. I was often surprised with the twists of character and each seems to have depth and subtle complexities. All the characters share a realness.
Of the men, Lovelace presents men of limited income who are content to get by any way they can. They pick up the odd job, gamble and drink, expound philosophy and bask in those views and values they hold paramount. There are those who live within the boundaries of their society like a journalist who appears three or four times, who hold jobs and work regularly but they often have an edge to themselves, a quirk. Of their more colorful not-quite-criminal counterparts many are reserved, giving free rein to their warrior selves only infrequently. In what I thought was one story’s terrific twist, a wife encourages the need for her man to yield to that warrior.
Back to the individual stories. A younger son comes of age and earns the easing of parental strictures in the midst of a playground battle. Striving to better himself by studying hard yet becoming ‘tame’ in the process, ritual haircuts instituted by his mother become a metaphorical rite of passage. Travey winds his way through a playground rife with casual bullying and peers who don’t share his ambitions with a keen eye on the adults who are shaping him. His father is a stoic yet powerful figure.
Some residents seek to escape the small village but chose routes different from young Travey. Some rely on self-honed skills like The Fire Eater, Blues who teaches his old friend Santo there is more than one way out of Cunaripo. Santo became a journalist while Blues made things work with performance art, varying acts, a stint of preaching and odd jobs like bank security while mostly maintaining his swagger, which Santo comes to view in different lights. Blues and Santo appear in a few stories and eventually Blue’s story circles and burns out in a blaze of glory while the stable Santo who has offered moral and monetary support and has tried to use his position to help his friend, mostly stands by.
Yes, characters from one short story meander into others. Far on in the book, Travey’s bad ass uncle makes another appearance as the masculine pride of a stick fighter will not be denied, even as age encroaches. Stick fighting, carnival, Christmases past and tradition all play heavily in this small place.
Cunaripo is a town of posing and posturing and putting up a front, like a gambler. A would be illegal immigrant wins some $2000 and decides to migrate. He is so confident in his knowledge of America gleaned from the movies he believes he truly is American and pays $1000 for a fake passport, trusting his bravado to see him through. He maintains the pokerface, cocky and proud throughout the game with his humor in tact.
A shoemaker lets his hard-hearted facade drop after he sees his truth in the eyes of a young customer picking up an order. The barber’s tale of the wall he’s built around himself is similar yet it seems all the characters in all the stories have an essence of good about them regardless of their disregard for the harm they could be doing others.
In Lovelace’s world life is hard and he captures the essence of common people either entrapped by life or by their own foibles and shares them with us amid the Caribbean experience. The prose blends seamlessly with the patois of the dialogue and this brings back memories of vacations I’ve spent in the islands, to a satisfying degree. This is a wonderful book.
We meet village women, in one tale, sisters. One is indulgent of her mama’s boy son, yet she believes boys should be raised to be the lions they are, the warriors. Her casual sexuality is threaded throughout the book and this lends a simmering boldness to the writing. Her sister is tasked with taming that warrior in her boys and she is wise enough to appreciate the differences in children, even brothers. We meet women who border on shrewishness and others who are protective of their men. We are introduced to a pillar of society, a post mistress and secretary of the village council who had not taken the route ‘from pregnancy to adulthood’ as other girls had and hers is a poignant arc. I was often surprised with the twists of character and each seems to have depth and subtle complexities. All the characters share a realness.
Of the men, Lovelace presents men of limited income who are content to get by any way they can. They pick up the odd job, gamble and drink, expound philosophy and bask in those views and values they hold paramount. There are those who live within the boundaries of their society like a journalist who appears three or four times, who hold jobs and work regularly but they often have an edge to themselves, a quirk. Of their more colorful not-quite-criminal counterparts many are reserved, giving free rein to their warrior selves only infrequently. In what I thought was one story’s terrific twist, a wife encourages the need for her man to yield to that warrior.
Back to the individual stories. A younger son comes of age and earns the easing of parental strictures in the midst of a playground battle. Striving to better himself by studying hard yet becoming ‘tame’ in the process, ritual haircuts instituted by his mother become a metaphorical rite of passage. Travey winds his way through a playground rife with casual bullying and peers who don’t share his ambitions with a keen eye on the adults who are shaping him. His father is a stoic yet powerful figure.
Some residents seek to escape the small village but chose routes different from young Travey. Some rely on self-honed skills like The Fire Eater, Blues who teaches his old friend Santo there is more than one way out of Cunaripo. Santo became a journalist while Blues made things work with performance art, varying acts, a stint of preaching and odd jobs like bank security while mostly maintaining his swagger, which Santo comes to view in different lights. Blues and Santo appear in a few stories and eventually Blue’s story circles and burns out in a blaze of glory while the stable Santo who has offered moral and monetary support and has tried to use his position to help his friend, mostly stands by.
Yes, characters from one short story meander into others. Far on in the book, Travey’s bad ass uncle makes another appearance as the masculine pride of a stick fighter will not be denied, even as age encroaches. Stick fighting, carnival, Christmases past and tradition all play heavily in this small place.
Cunaripo is a town of posing and posturing and putting up a front, like a gambler. A would be illegal immigrant wins some $2000 and decides to migrate. He is so confident in his knowledge of America gleaned from the movies he believes he truly is American and pays $1000 for a fake passport, trusting his bravado to see him through. He maintains the pokerface, cocky and proud throughout the game with his humor in tact.
A shoemaker lets his hard-hearted facade drop after he sees his truth in the eyes of a young customer picking up an order. The barber’s tale of the wall he’s built around himself is similar yet it seems all the characters in all the stories have an essence of good about them regardless of their disregard for the harm they could be doing others.
In Lovelace’s world life is hard and he captures the essence of common people either entrapped by life or by their own foibles and shares them with us amid the Caribbean experience. The prose blends seamlessly with the patois of the dialogue and this brings back memories of vacations I’ve spent in the islands, to a satisfying degree. This is a wonderful book.
Displaying 1 of 1 review