Ferment without history: The literary short story and the Caribbean in anthologies of the twentieth century

This project traces the relationships between the of literary genre and cultural identities as they are expressed in contemporary anthologies of the Caribbean short story. The categories of "Caribbean short story" and "Caribbean area" are signifiers in constant change, subject to the influence of' multiple interpretative contexts. The study of the "Caribbean short story" according to its presentation in anthological publications uncovers patterns of interpretative homogenization and authorization which, ultimately, describe the systems of canon formation defining the Caribbean cultural production and its potential value as cultural capital.; The thirteen anthologies examined represent different linguistic areas of the Caribbean. These anthologies have been accepted by both the Academia and the general public. As recipients of genre definitions, some of these anthologies perpetuate common misconceptions about the short story and its legitimacy; as tools of canon formation and commodification of cultural production, they invent the space that is known as the Caribbean.; Chapter One introduces the problems of definition, genre, the anthology, and the metaphorical connections between the short story and the Caribbean area. Chapter Two discusses the impossibilities of coherence in the descriptions of the Caribbean, and introduces the cartographic discourse as a general critical framework. Chapter Three closely examines anthologies of the short story, and through their respective projects decodes their definitions of genre and the Caribbean. Chapter Four concludes with discussions about how hypertextuality affects the agency of the anthology in canon formation, and its implications for the formation of new definitions of the Caribbean.