In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

acknowledgments Although I cannot pass on responsibility for the weaknesses of this manuscript , I can lay claim to having received the help of generous friends and institutions. My home university, Brigham Young University, has been extraordinarily generous. I received financial support for research assistants , travel, book funds, and flexible teaching arrangements and a formal leave in the fall of 2004. This help was made possible by the deans of Humanities , Van Gessel and John Rosenberg; the dean of General Education and Honors, George Tate, and his associate, John Lamb, for the Alcuin Fellowship; the director of the Kennedy Center for International Studies, Jeffrey Ringer; and my chairs, Roger Macfarlane and Stan Benfell. I was especially supported by the Kennedy Center for International Studies and the College of Humanities with vital subventions funds that made this publication possible. I also received the Albert J. Colton Research Fellowship from the Utah Humanities Council, which enabled me to go on the road and share these ideas with an interested public; special thanks to Cynthia Buckingham. I had the assistance of brilliant graduate research assistants and students who helped me gain insight into these poets. They include Rex Nielson, Bethany Beyer, Rachelle Woodbury, Rebecca Miner, Andy Ross, James Krause, and Tomás Hidalgo Nava. Ihavealsobenefitedfromtheadvice,support,andexpertiseofnumerous colleagues across the wide geography of this study. In Chile I was warmly received and helped by the poet, scholar, and gentleman Jaime Quezada, who arranged on two occasions for me to lecture to the young poets of the Fundación Neruda’s poetry workshop on Walcott and Neruda; the wonderful translator and lover of all things Chilean, Jack Schmitt; my dear friend Bernardo Reyes; the talented Walcott translator Veronika Zondek; the late Eugenia Neves, who recounted her personal memories of Neruda at her house and with whom I spoke late into the night along with Hernán Soto about the fate of Chilean poetry; the staff at Fundación Neruda; my guide, the talented painter José Riveros; and Tomás Harris at the National Library in Santiago. One contact who initially opened this world to me was the Chilean poet Rodrigo Rojas, whom I had the good fortune to meet at dinner after an NYU class Derek Walcott was teaching. No one helped ix me see Chile more clearly than my dear friends Leonardo Sanhueza, an extraordinary poet, and Nadine DeJong, who did everything from drawing me maps of Lago Budi to teaching me Cueca and taking me to the best bookstores. In Trinidad I was greatly aided by Margaret Rouse-Jones and Glenroy Taitt at Walcott’s archives on the campus of the University of West Indies, St. Augustine; my taxi driver and friend Tony Fernandez; and Albert Laveau and his colleagues at the Carib Theater. I could not have completed this project to my satisfaction had it not been for the generosity of Derek Walcott and Sigrid Nama, who graciously invited me to St. Lucia and who opened my eyes to St. Lucia’s bounty. Walcott allowed me to interview him on four separate occasions, once in Salt Lake City, twice in St. Lucia, and once again in New York City, and he provided encouragement despite his understandable impatience with literary critics. I can only hope this book pays his poetry due honor and reflects my sincere gratitude for his interest and friendship. Portions of this book have been presented at various conferences, including the inaugural meeting of the International American Studies Association , which provides a vital forum for the kind of conversation this book tries to have across the Americas; the American Comparative Literature Association, which has always provided exciting exchange for comparatists ; and the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment, with its ever vital conversations about the fate of the environment. I have many personal friends and colleagues in the profession who have been of particular service either as readers of drafts, as commentators on papers, or as general supporters in moments of self-doubt. They are Stan Benfell , Paul Breslin, Matt Cohen, Deborah Cohn, Edward Cutler, J. Michael Dash, John Elder, John Felstiner, Mark Grover, Robert Hamner, Jimmie Killingsworth, David Laraway, Jorge Marcone, Jack Matthews, Anita Patterson , Jaime Quezada, Peter Schmidt, William Slaymaker, Scott Slovic, Jon Smith, Kerry Soper, and my exceptional coeditors of Caribbean Literature and the Environment, Elizabeth DeLoughrey and Renée Gosson. Portions of this book were published previously. Duke University Press has granted me permission to publish a revised version of “A...

Share