[Frank Birbalsingh, Guyana: History and Litera-ture, United Kingdom: Hansib, 2016. 324p. L11.99.]
Guyanese author, academic, editor, anthologist and literary critic Frank Birbalsingh begins the Preface to his account of Guyana: History and Literature (UK: Hansib, 2016) with a brief summary of the geographic location, history, geopolitics, demography and the resulting attitudes of Guyana’s people. He identifies its uniqueness as the only English speaking nation in South America, and continues thus:
“As a former British colony it might be compared with Belize (formerly British Honduras) the only English speaking nation in Central America, except that Belize has strong and historic relations with Spanish speaking neighbours. Guyana, meanwhile, has one foot – its North-Eastern Atlantic coast – that dips in the Caribbean Sea, and the other buried deep into the Amazon forest, which seals the territory off from neighbours such as Venezuela in the West, Brazil in the South and Suriname in the East. There is no doubt of Guyana’s strong, creole, cultural links to English speaking Caribbean islands like Jamaica and Barbados, with similar populations mainly of African descent; but its South American location, between a huge forest and a wide sea, also suggests a continental component within its national profile.”
Birbalsingh follows that with a synopsis of the history which shaped Guyana’s demographics, politics and quirks of