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Sam Selvon: Under the Kiff-Kiff Laughter Cover

Sam Selvon: Under the Kiff-Kiff Laughter

By: Ramabai Espinet  
Open Access
|Sep 2025

Abstract

This essay offers personal remembrance and reflection on Selvon and his work. It is in the style and mood of reminiscence with a sense of Selvon’s spirit haunting the page.

The first five paragraphs function at the level of gossip in the best sense of the word, giving the underside, as it were, of the impulses and circumstances behind the writing. In paragraph number six, Moses Aloetta, Selvon’s narrative alter ego emerges, and the analysis starts. But already, Moses is part of the gossip section, being slapped and chastised for his words. This is not the way a formal essay would normally be formatted. This is a creative-critical essay and its peculiar style cannot be manipulated into the thesis-body-conclusion format.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33596/anth.535 | Journal eISSN: 1547-7150
Language: English
Published on: Sep 17, 2025
Published by: University of Miami Libraries
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 1 issue per year

© 2025 Ramabai Espinet, published by University of Miami Libraries
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.