Synopsis

Textual notes illuminate the novel’s historical background, regional references, and the non-translated Creole and French phrases necessary to fully understand this powerful story. Backgrounds includes a wealth of material on the novel’s long evolution, it connections to Jane Eyre, and Rhys’s biographical impressions of growing up in Dominica. Criticism introduces readers to the critical debates inspired by the novel with a Derek Walcott poem and eleven essays.

Biography

Jean Rhys is the author of Wide Sargasso Sea and other novels.

Judith L. Raiskin is Associate Professor and Director of Women’s Studies at the University of Oregon. She is the author of Snow on the Cane Fields: Women’s Writing and Creole Subjectivity.