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digging more into the background of De Lisser after reading the White Witch of Rosehall, and I’m finding it incredibly interesting to see the contrast between what I would expect De Lisser to write about thematically as an Afro-Jewish writer, and the actual work he produced
Rosenberg writes in Nationalism and the Formation of Caribbean Literature that De Lisser had “a near monopoly on the manufacture of public opinion” and that he used this power to oppose “working-class potential and economic power”
this highlights for me how critical it is to be intersectional in the way we analyze literature, while De Lisser was black, he was also a member of the business elite, changing his positionality
in understanding that De Lisser’s motivation was to secure the fortunes of the rich, it is far easier to understand why he would look at plantation owners through rose-tinted glasses in his literary works and therefore be complicit in the oppression of people of color in Jamaica
viewing De Lisser’s work through solely a critical race based lens would not allow you to understand why De Lisser framed his work in the way he did, however, through the use of a Marxist lens, De Lisser’s motivations in the White Witch of Rosehall are far clearer #ResearchTweet
The link for reference: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-137-09922-8_4
