Selvon, Samuel (1923-1994), a Caribbean-born writer, became known for his tragicomic depiction of the poor and outcast in Trinidad and the United Kingdom. His work explores the lives of those who left the Caribbean for a brighter future in the United Kingdom, only to face prejudice, isolation, and exploitation.
Selvon’s first novel, A Brighter Sun (1952), is set in Trinidad and features the character of Tiger, a young East Indian peasant. The novel shows the struggle of various ethnic groups to establish a single Caribbean identity. It is praised as the first work of West Indian fiction to use dialect as the language of consciousness. A sequel, Turn Against Tiger (1958), follows Tiger has he returns to his ancestral home. The Lonely Londoners (1956) is a novel about exile. Through the character of Moses, Selvon explores the loneliness and rejection experienced by the West Indian community in London during the 1950’s. Moses appears in two sequels, Moses Ascending (1975) and Moses Migrating (1983), which satirize both British racism and Black Power protests. Selvon’s other novels include An Island Is a World (1955), I Hear Thunder (1963), The Housing Lark (1965), The Plains of Caroni (1970), and Those Who Eat the Casacadura (1973).
Selvon’s short stories were collected in Ways of Sunlight (1958). His one-act plays were collected in a book titled Eldorado West One (1988). His longer plays were published as Highway in the Sun (1988). His prose was collected in Foreday Morning (1989).
Samuel Dickson Selvon was born on May 20, 1923, in Trinidad (now part of Trinidad and Tobago) and educated at Naparima College. During World War II (1939-1945), he served as a wireless operator in the Trinidad Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. He later worked as a journalist on the Trinidad Guardian. By the time Selvon moved to England in 1950, he had already established a reputation as a poet and short-story writer. Selvon moved to Canada in 1978. He died on April 16, 1994.
