Scott, Lawrence

(Trinidadian, 1943– )

Scott trained as a Benedictine monk and then turned to writing fiction. His first novel, Witchbroom (1993) was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. That, and the collection, Ballad for the New World & Other Stories (1994), show him creating a comic world; rhythmic, full of colour, vibrancy, and imaginative daring. Scott's depiction of the antics of the Great House is as original as any in Caribbean fiction. Aelred's Sin, his 1998 novel, is a revelation: its themes are religion, race, history, and homoeroticism. He takes us behind the monastery walls (in England) where faith, passion, and sexuality are depicted in a way new to West Indian fiction (except, perhaps, for Edgar Mittelholtzer).

Gabriel García Márquez, Jean Rhys.

See CARIBBEAN  EM