Salt (Lovelace novel): Difference between revisions

Salt
	First edition cover
Author	Earl Lovelace
Language	English
Subject	neocolonialism, racism, slavery
Genre	Novel
Set in	Trinidad and Tobago, 1805 and 1956–1970
Publisher	Faber (UK); Persea Books (US)
Publication date	1996
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	Print: hardback duodecimo
Pages	260
Awards	Commonwealth Writers' Prize
ISBN	9780571192946
OCLC	644935600
Dewey Decimal	819.8
LC Class	PR9272.L6 S25
Preceded by	The Wine of Astonishment
Followed by	Is Just a Movie

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Latest revision as of 07:01, 14 March 2024

Salt is a 1996 novel by Trinidadian author Earl Lovelace.^[4] It won the 1997 Commonwealth Writers' Prize.^[5]^[6]

Plot

Alford George, son of a poor farm labourer on Trinidad, does not speak until the age of six, and grows up as an outsider; later he becomes a teacher and then a politician, and dreams of leaving his homeland for Great Britain.^[7]^[8] His ancestor, Guinea John, led an 1805 slave rebellion and then apparently flew back to Africa; the other slaves had eaten too much salt and could not fly with him.^[9]^[10]

Reception

In The Times, a reviewer said, "As to Lovelace's language, he is in a world of his own. It is a carnival of Creole sounds, and this is the deepest ideology of the novel, the display of the power of West Indian speech, the emancipation of the West Indian tongue from the shackles of the English sentence."^[11]

The Publishers Weekly review noted: "Using language that's as lush as the foliage of Trinidad and dialogue as vivid as the Caribbean, Lovelace creates a parable that applies to any nation struggling with unresolved racial issues and to any people struggling to free themselves from their past."^[12]

In 1997, Salt was awarded the Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Overall Winner, Best Book),^[13] and was shortlisted for the 1998 International Dublin Literary Award.^[14]

In 2022, Salt was included on the Big Jubilee Read, a list of 70 books by Commonwealth authors produced to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee. The official site said that Salt "is an extraordinary tour de force by one of the pre-eminent literary presences in the Caribbean, a work which explores like none before it the intermingling of cultures that is the contemporary West Indian experience. The novel blends historical and social detail with political didacticism, but never loses Lovelace's humour or his painterly boldness with language."^[15]^[16]

References

^ "Salt by Earl Lovelace 1996". 18 February 2015.
^ Fehskens, Erin (2015). "Reading the Critical Pastoral in Lovelace's Salt and Roffey's White Woman on the Green Bicycle". Journal of West Indian Literature. 23 (1–2): 121–134 – via JSTOR.
^ "Salt". Persea Books.
^ Selph, Laura (2008). "The Teacher's Quest: Performance and Pedagogy in Earl Lovelace's "Salt"". Journal of West Indian Literature. 16 (2): 31–61. JSTOR 23019880 – via JSTOR.
^ "Earl Lovelace | West Indian author | Britannica". www.britannica.com.
^ Bucknor, Michael A.; Donnell, Alison (14 June 2011). The Routledge Companion to Anglophone Caribbean Literature. Routledge. ISBN 9781136821745 – via Google Books.
^ Anim-Addo, Joan; Osborne, Deirdre; Sesay, Kadija (28 October 2021). This is the Canon: Decolonize Your Bookshelves in 50 Books. Quercus. ISBN 9781529414608 – via Google Books.
^ "Earl Lovelace reads from Salt (1996)". University of Miami MediaSpace.
^ Arnold, Albert James; Rodríguez-Luis, Julio; Dash, J. Michael (1 January 2001). A History of Literature in the Caribbean: English- and Dutch-speaking countries. John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN 9027234485 – via Google Books.
^ Rice, Alan (30 April 2003). Radical Narratives of the Black Atlantic. A&C Black. ISBN 9780826456076 – via Google Books.
^ "Salt". Wormhole Books. 23 April 2022.
^ "Salt". Publishers Weekly. 3 March 1997. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
^ "Commonwealth Writers' Prize Regional Winners 1987–2007" (PDF). Commonwealth Foundation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 October 2007.
^ Thorpe, Vanessa (22 March 1998). "Books: Long overdue". The Independent.
^ "The God of Small Things to Shuggie Bain: the Queen's jubilee book list". The Guardian. 18 April 2022.
^ "BBC Arts - BBC Arts - The Big Jubilee Read: Books from 1992 to 2001". BBC.

[1] "Salt by Earl Lovelace 1996". 18 February 2015.

[2] Fehskens, Erin (2015). "Reading the Critical Pastoral in Lovelace's Salt and Roffey's White Woman on the Green Bicycle". Journal of West Indian Literature. 23 (1–2): 121–134 – via JSTOR.

[3] "Salt". Persea Books.

[4] Selph, Laura (2008). "The Teacher's Quest: Performance and Pedagogy in Earl Lovelace's "Salt"". Journal of West Indian Literature. 16 (2): 31–61. JSTOR 23019880 – via JSTOR.

[5] "Earl Lovelace | West Indian author | Britannica". www.britannica.com.

[6] Bucknor, Michael A.; Donnell, Alison (14 June 2011). The Routledge Companion to Anglophone Caribbean Literature. Routledge. ISBN 9781136821745 – via Google Books.

[7] Anim-Addo, Joan; Osborne, Deirdre; Sesay, Kadija (28 October 2021). This is the Canon: Decolonize Your Bookshelves in 50 Books. Quercus. ISBN 9781529414608 – via Google Books.

[8] "Earl Lovelace reads from Salt (1996)". University of Miami MediaSpace.

[9] Arnold, Albert James; Rodríguez-Luis, Julio; Dash, J. Michael (1 January 2001). A History of Literature in the Caribbean: English- and Dutch-speaking countries. John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN 9027234485 – via Google Books.

[10] Rice, Alan (30 April 2003). Radical Narratives of the Black Atlantic. A&C Black. ISBN 9780826456076 – via Google Books.

[11] "Salt". Wormhole Books. 23 April 2022.

[12] "Salt". Publishers Weekly. 3 March 1997. Retrieved 24 April 2022.

[13] "Commonwealth Writers' Prize Regional Winners 1987–2007" (PDF). Commonwealth Foundation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 October 2007.

[14] Thorpe, Vanessa (22 March 1998). "Books: Long overdue". The Independent.

[15] "The God of Small Things to Shuggie Bain: the Queen's jubilee book list". The Guardian. 18 April 2022.

[16] "BBC Arts - BBC Arts - The Big Jubilee Read: Books from 1992 to 2001". BBC.

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@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 | italic title      = <!--(see above)-->
 | name              = Salt
-| image             =Salt (Earl Lovelave) cover.png
+| image             =Salt (Earl Lovelave) cover.jpg
-| image_size        =
+| image_size        = 150
 | border            =
 | alt               =
@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 | series            =
 | release_number    =
-| subject           =  [[neocolonialism]], [[racism]], [[slavery]]<ref>https://jamanthis.wordpress.com/2015/02/18/salt-by-earl-lovelace-1996/</ref>
+| subject           =  [[neocolonialism]], [[racism]], [[slavery]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jamanthis.wordpress.com/2015/02/18/salt-by-earl-lovelace-1996/|title=Salt by Earl Lovelace 1996|date=18 February 2015}}</ref>
 | genre             = [[Novel]]
-| set_in            =  [[Trinidad and Tobago]], 1805 and 1956–1970<ref>https://www.jstor.org/stable/jwestindilite.23.1-2.121</ref>
+| set_in            =  [[Trinidad and Tobago]], 1805 and 1956–1970<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/jwestindilite.23.1-2.121|title=Reading the Critical Pastoral in Lovelace's <em>Salt</em> and Roffey's <em>White Woman on the Green Bicycle</em>|author=Fehskens, Erin|year=2015|journal=Journal of West Indian Literature|volume=23|issue=1–2|pages=121–134|via=JSTOR}}</ref>
-| publisher         = [[Faber and Faber|Faber]] (UK)<br>Persea Books (US)<ref>https://www.perseabooks.com/salt</ref>
+| publisher         = [[Faber and Faber|Faber]] (UK)<br>Persea Books (US)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseabooks.com/salt|title=Salt|website=Persea Books}}</ref>
 | publisher2        =
 | pub_date          = 1996
@@ Line 46: / Line 46: @@
 }}
-'''''Salt''''' is a 1996 novel by [[Trinidad and Tobago|Trinidadia]] author [[Earl Lovelace]].<ref>https://www.jstor.org/stable/23019880</ref> It won the 1997 [[Commonwealth_Foundation_prizes#Commonwealth_Writers'_Prize|Commonwealth Writers' Prize]].<ref>https://www.britannica.com/biography/Earl-Lovelace</ref><ref>https://books.google.ie/books?id=sfWrAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA61&dq=salt+lovelace+1996&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjpxey826r3AhXQUMAKHdX5By8Q6AF6BAgCEAI#v=onepage&q=salt%20&f=false</ref>
+'''''Salt''''' is a 1996 novel by [[Trinidad and Tobago|Trinidadian]] author [[Earl Lovelace]].<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/23019880|title=The Teacher's Quest: Performance and Pedagogy in Earl Lovelace's "Salt"|author=Selph, Laura|year=2008|journal=Journal of West Indian Literature|volume=16|issue=2|pages=31–61|jstor=23019880 |via=JSTOR}}</ref> It won the 1997 [[Commonwealth_Foundation_prizes#Commonwealth_Writers'_Prize|Commonwealth Writers' Prize]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Earl-Lovelace|title=Earl Lovelace &#124; West Indian author &#124; Britannica|website=www.britannica.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sfWrAgAAQBAJ&q=salt+&pg=PA61|title=The Routledge Companion to Anglophone Caribbean Literature|first1=Michael A.|last1=Bucknor|first2=Alison|last2=Donnell|date=14 June 2011|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781136821745 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
 ==Plot==
-Alford George, son of a poor farm labourer on [[Trinidad (island)|Trinidad]], does not speak until the age of six, and grows up as an outsider; later he becomes a teacher and then a politician, and dreams of leaving his homeland for [[Great Britain]].<ref>https://books.google.ie/books?id=D84WEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT175&dq=salt+lovelace+1996&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjpxey826r3AhXQUMAKHdX5By8Q6AF6BAgHEAI#v=onepage&q=salt%20lovelace%201996&f=false</ref><ref>https://umiami.mediaspace.kaltura.com/media/Earl+Lovelace+reads+from+Salt+%281996%29/0_k268xzvd</ref> His ancestor, Guinea John, led an 1805 [[slave rebellion]] and then apparently flew back to Africa; the other slaves had eaten too much [[salt]] and could not fly with him.<ref>https://books.google.ie/books?id=7uH_4yAahYkC&pg=PA164&lpg=PA164&dq=salt+lovelace+1996&source=bl&ots=MfdcUkaOVk&sig=ACfU3U3AFe3Rwbze6v0jbu81nOdtGrmd0w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiRhOCv26r3AhWcQkEAHa3hBs04ChDoAXoECBsQAw#v=onepage&q=salt%20lovelace%201996&f=false</ref><ref>https://books.google.ie/books?id=mI6O3pXpsOIC&pg=PA114&dq=salt+lovelace+1996&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjpxey826r3AhXQUMAKHdX5By8Q6AF6BAgEEAI#v=onepage&q=salt%20lovelace%201996&f=false</ref>
+Alford George, son of a poor farm labourer on [[Trinidad (island)|Trinidad]], does not speak until the age of six, and grows up as an outsider; later he becomes a teacher and then a politician, and dreams of leaving his homeland for [[Great Britain]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D84WEAAAQBAJ&dq=salt+lovelace+1996&pg=PT175|title=This is the Canon: Decolonize Your Bookshelves in 50 Books|first1=Joan|last1=Anim-Addo|first2=Deirdre|last2=Osborne|first3=Kadija|last3=Sesay|date=28 October 2021|publisher=Quercus|isbn=9781529414608 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://umiami.mediaspace.kaltura.com/media/Earl+Lovelace+reads+from+Salt+%281996%29/0_k268xzvd|title=Earl Lovelace reads from Salt (1996)|website=University of Miami MediaSpace}}</ref> His ancestor, Guinea John, led an 1805 [[slave rebellion]] and then apparently flew back to Africa; the other slaves had eaten too much [[salt]] and could not fly with him.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7uH_4yAahYkC&dq=salt+lovelace+1996&pg=PA164|title=A History of Literature in the Caribbean: English- and Dutch-speaking countries|first1=Albert James|last1=Arnold|first2=Julio|last2=Rodríguez-Luis|first3=J. Michael|last3=Dash|date=1 January 2001|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing|isbn=9027234485 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mI6O3pXpsOIC&dq=salt+lovelace+1996&pg=PA114|title=Radical Narratives of the Black Atlantic|first=Alan|last=Rice|date=30 April 2003|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=9780826456076 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
 ==Reception==
-In ''[[The Times (UK)|The Times]]'', a reviewer said, "As to Lovelace's language, he is in a world of his own. It is a carnival of Creole sounds, and this is the deepest ideology of the novel, the display of the power of West Indian speech, the emancipation of the West Indian tongue from the shackles of the English sentence."<ref>https://www.wormhole.com.au/product/7880/Salt-Lovelace-Earl</ref>
+In ''[[The Times (UK)|The Times]]'', a reviewer said, "As to Lovelace's language, he is in a world of his own. It is a carnival of Creole sounds, and this is the deepest ideology of the novel, the display of the power of West Indian speech, the emancipation of the West Indian tongue from the shackles of the English sentence."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wormhole.com.au/product/7880/Salt-Lovelace-Earl|title=Salt|date=23 April 2022|website=Wormhole Books}}</ref>
+The ''[[Publishers Weekly]]'' review noted: "Using language that's as lush as the foliage of Trinidad and dialogue as vivid as the Caribbean, Lovelace creates a parable that applies to any nation struggling with unresolved racial issues and to any people struggling to free themselves from their past."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-89255-226-9|title=Salt|magazine=Publishers Weekly|date=3 March 1997|access-date=24 April 2022}}</ref>
-In 2022, ''Salt'' was included on the [[Big Jubilee Read]], a list of 70 books by [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] authors produced to celebrate [[Queen Elizabeth II]]'s [[Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II|Platinum Jubilee]]. The official site said that ''Salt'' "is an extraordinary tour de force by one of the pre-eminent literary presences in the Caribbean, a work which explores like none before it the intermingling of cultures that is the contemporary West Indian experience. The novel blends historical and social detail with political [[didacticism]], but never loses Lovelace's humour or his painterly boldness with language."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/apr/18/the-god-of-small-things-to-shuggie-bain-the-queens-jubilee-book-list|title=The God of Small Things to Shuggie Bain: the Queen’s jubilee book list|date=18 April 2022|website=the Guardian}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1p29Tyg2FLr6YKXvRp2VWzq/the-big-jubilee-read-1992-2001|title=BBC Arts - BBC Arts - The Big Jubilee Read: Books from 1992 to 2001|website=BBC}}</ref>
+In 1997, ''Salt'' was awarded the [[Commonwealth Writers' Prize]] (Overall Winner, Best Book),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.commonwealthfoundation.com/uploads/documents/Regional%20Winners%201987-20071.pdf |title=Commonwealth Writers' Prize Regional Winners 1987–2007 |publisher=Commonwealth Foundation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071023223729/http://www.commonwealthfoundation.com/uploads/documents/Regional%20Winners%201987-20071.pdf |archive-date=23 October 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and was shortlisted for the 1998 [[International Dublin Literary Award]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books-long-overdue-1151852.html|title=Books: Long overdue|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|first=Vanessa|last=Thorpe|date=22 March 1998}}</ref>
+In 2022, ''Salt'' was included on the [[Big Jubilee Read]], a list of 70 books by [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] authors produced to celebrate [[Queen Elizabeth II]]'s [[Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II|Platinum Jubilee]]. The official site said that ''Salt'' "is an extraordinary tour de force by one of the pre-eminent literary presences in the Caribbean, a work which explores like none before it the intermingling of cultures that is the contemporary West Indian experience. The novel blends historical and social detail with political [[didacticism]], but never loses Lovelace's humour or his painterly boldness with language."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/apr/18/the-god-of-small-things-to-shuggie-bain-the-queens-jubilee-book-list|title=The God of Small Things to Shuggie Bain: the Queen's jubilee book list|date=18 April 2022|website=The Guardian}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1p29Tyg2FLr6YKXvRp2VWzq/the-big-jubilee-read-1992-2001|title=BBC Arts - BBC Arts - The Big Jubilee Read: Books from 1992 to 2001|website=BBC}}</ref>
 ==References==
-{{reflist}}
+{{Reflist}}
+{{Commonwealth Writers' Prize: Best Book Winners}}
 [[Category:1996 novels]]
 [[Category:Novels by Earl Lovelace]]
 [[Category:Novels set in Trinidad and Tobago]]
-[[Category:Novels about slavery]]
 [[Category:Novels about race and ethnicity]]
+[[Category:Novels about slavery]]
-{{1990s-novel-stub}}
+[[Category:African diaspora literature]]
+[[Category:Trinidad and Tobago novels]]
+[[Category:Faber & Faber books]]

v t e Commonwealth Writers' Prize: Best Book Winners
1987–1989	Olive Senior (1987) Festus Iyayi (1988) Janet Frame (1989)
1990–1999	Mordecai Richler (1990) David Malouf (1991) Rohinton Mistry (1992) Alex Miller (1993) Vikram Seth (1994) Louis de Bernières (1995) Rohinton Mistry (1996) Earl Lovelace (1997) Peter Carey (1998) Murray Bail (1999)
2000–2009	J. M. Coetzee (2000) Peter Carey (2001) Richard Flanagan (2002) Austin Clarke (2003) Caryl Phillips (2004) Andrea Levy (2005) Kate Grenville (2006) Lloyd Jones (2007) Lawrence Hill (2008) Christos Tsiolkas (2009)
2010–2011	Rana Dasgupta (2010) Aminatta Forna (2011)