Pt. I. Distorting Mirrors: The Slave Era. 1. Reflections of Europe in the New World. 2. The Dark of the Mirror: Slave Communities -- Pt. II. Anancy's Web: The Caribbean Archipelago. 3. Barbados and the Lesser Antilles. 4. Jamaica. 5. Trinidad. 6. British Guiana/Guyana. 7. 'Brit'n' -- Pt. III. Towards a Caribbean Aesthetic. 8. Place. 9. Ideas. 10. Language -- Pt. IV. Groundation. 11. African (Re)possession. 12. India in the Caribbean -- Pt. V. On the Frontiers of Language. 13. Things as They Are: V. S. Naipaul. 14. The 'True Substance of Life': Wilson Harris. 15. From Crusoe to Omeros: Derek Walcott. 16. The Poet as Seer: Kamau Brathwaite. 17. The Meaning of Personhood: Earl Lovelace. 18. From Castle to Kumbla: Women's Writing in the Caribbean