Trinidad and Tobago / All works
Novel
The Dragon Can't Dance
Earl Lovelace · 1979
Synopsis
On the Hill, a poor district of Port of Spain inhabited by descendants of slaves, carnival is approaching: the steel bands are rehearsing, Philo is writing his calypsos, and Aldrick Prospect, out of work like most of the men, spends the year remaking his dragon costume, whose dance carries the warrior memory of his people. Around him, the young Sylvia, the tough Fisheye and Pariag, an Indian from the countryside, look for their place, while the sponsors take over the festival.
Context
The author's third novel, the book was published in London in 1979. Critics read in it a meditation on the legacy of slavery and colonialism and on what becomes of a popular culture when money takes hold of it; carnival, its songs and its steel bands hold the place of an institution in it. Translated into French as early as 1984, it established Lovelace's reputation; the Commonwealth Writers' Prize crowned him in 1997 for a later novel.
Who it is for
A novel of medium length, mixing standard English and Trinidadian Creole; a few points of reference on carnival shed light on the role of the costume.
Prizes and reception
Read as a luminous portrait of the postcolonial island, it established its author's reputation in his own country.