The Journal of Caribbean Literatures (JCLs) is devoted entirely to literature, in all genres, by, about, and concerning the writers and critics of the Caribbean. I have chosen the term reflecting the Caribbean region rather than one indicating the West Indies, as is often the case, because I envision the journal as encompassing a wider region than one stipulated by or defined as West Indian. The West Indies as originally defined included the Greater and Lesser Antilles and includes such regions as Antigua, Barbuda, Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Domenica, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, the Grenadines, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Barbados, Trinidad, Bermuda, Tobago, Caicos Islands, Turks Islands, Cuba, and the Bahamas. The Caribbean includes these countries in addition to French overseas departments such as Martinique, Guadeloupe and Guyane and countries located on the continent such as Honduras, Belize, Panama, Columbia, and Guyana, to name a few. These designations are not definitive. My desire is not to give a lesson in geography, but to stress two points: 1) the need to include a broader region than one indicated by the term West Indian, and 2) to point out that the literature of these regions, the culture, politics, language, and aesthetics are often quite different; thus the term Literatures instead of Literature.
Because of the predominance of English in the Caribbean, most of the material presented will be from authors who write in English. In addition, because of the need to include material from the non-English speaking regions, I made the decision to include works which have been translated into English from different languages, but which still fit our criteria of reflecting the culture of the Caribbean. Such editions, when possible will appear in the dominant language and English. Other special editions will focus on a particular author, e.g., Wilson Harris, Jean Rhys, George Lamming, V.S. Naipaul, etc., or a particular theme.
Maurice A. Lee, Editor
