Colon Man a Come: Mythographies of Panama Canal Migration (Caribbean Studies)

To date, there has been no literary examination of the Col-n Man even though he recurs in 19th and 20th century Anglophone and Francophone Caribbean Literatures. Named for PanamO's Caribbean port city, the Col-n Man has been the subject of historical, sociological, and geographical scholarship. He, however, has escaped the domain of literary investigation until now. Author Rhonda Frederick brings us the first ever book-length study of the literary representations of the Col-n Man. Fictive accounts of PanamO migration draw on precisely what has been little documented or not at all. In other words, this region's literature and songs, as well as Col-n Men's recollections, complicate existing studies. These first person accounts and creative narratives-in the form of song, stories, literature, etc.-of isthmian migration suggest that fictive renditions of canal work and workers represent Col-n Men's undocumented, unknown, and/or ignored realities. 'Col-n Man a Come:' Mythographies of PanamO Canal Migration examines several works of fiction: George Lamming's In the Castle of My Skin, Michael Thelwell's The Harder They Come, Eric Walrond's Tropic Death, Claude McKay's Banana Bottom and Maryse Conde's Tree of Life. And, perhaps most significantly, this book relies on the personal narratives and songs of Col-n Men to support the forgotten, lost, ignored and yet imaginable truths of PanamO Canal migration.