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There's A New Sheriff in Town: Caribbean Rewriting of the American Western in Perry Henzell and Michael Thelwell's The Harder They Come and Paule Marshall's Praisesong for the Widow

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Date Issued:
2015
Summary:
The purpose of this investigation is to analyze the ways in which the American Western genre has been reworked in an Anglophone Caribbean context. This paper focuses on the role of the cowboy figure as it pertains to both a postcolonial Jamaican context a more globalized, diasporic Anglophone Caribbean setting. The Western genre, while not typically associated with the Caribbean, has tropes that certainly occur in both film and literature. There is not much scholarship that details the importance of this reimagination as a positive association in the region, and I have chosen both the film and novel The Harder They Come by Perry Henzell and Michael Thelwell, respectively, and Praisesong for the Widow by Paule Marshall to trace these ideas. Together, these works provide a multifaceted understanding of how the American Western helps to interpret the Anglophone Caribbean as a participant in an increasingly globalized world.
Title: There's A New Sheriff in Town: Caribbean Rewriting of the American Western in Perry Henzell and Michael Thelwell's The Harder They Come and Paule Marshall's Praisesong for the Widow.
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Name(s): Wilson, Paula J., author
Machado, Elena, Thesis advisor
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Department of English
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Date Created: 2015
Date Issued: 2015
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 94 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: The purpose of this investigation is to analyze the ways in which the American Western genre has been reworked in an Anglophone Caribbean context. This paper focuses on the role of the cowboy figure as it pertains to both a postcolonial Jamaican context a more globalized, diasporic Anglophone Caribbean setting. The Western genre, while not typically associated with the Caribbean, has tropes that certainly occur in both film and literature. There is not much scholarship that details the importance of this reimagination as a positive association in the region, and I have chosen both the film and novel The Harder They Come by Perry Henzell and Michael Thelwell, respectively, and Praisesong for the Widow by Paule Marshall to trace these ideas. Together, these works provide a multifaceted understanding of how the American Western helps to interpret the Anglophone Caribbean as a participant in an increasingly globalized world.
Identifier: FA00004557 (IID)
Degree granted: Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015.
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Includes bibliography.
Subject(s): Caribbean Area -- Fiction -- Criticism and interpretation
Caribbean Area -- In literature
Henzell, Perry -- Harder they come -- Criticism and interpretation
Jamaica -- Fiction -- Criticism and interpretation
Marshall, Paule -- Praisesong for the widow -- Criticism and interpretation
Thelwell, Michael -- Harder they come -- Criticism and interpretation
Western films -- United States -- History and criticism
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Sublocation: Digital Library
Links: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004557
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004557
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.