SOURCE: Morris, Mervyn. “Overlapping Journeys: The Arrivants.” In The Art of Kamau Brathwaite, edited by Stewart Brown, pp. 117-31. Melksham, UK: Cromwell Press, 1995.

In the following essay, a poet praises The Arrivants as “a major document of African reconnection” that “draws attention to Caribbean continuities out of Africa.”

Of the many useful and interesting discussions of The Arrivants¹ or of individual books in the trilogy, there are two I am anxious to recommend. Maureen Warner-Lewis' Masks: Essays & Annotations² and Gordon Rohlehr's Pathfinder³ are of value not only for their critical judgements but also for the wealth of information they provide about the contexts of the poetry. Inter alia, Warner-Lewis guides us through West African detail, and Rohlehr elucidates many allusions to jazz and other manifestations of Africa-related New World culture. Anyone studying The Arrivants should make early contact with these two items, and will no doubt wish to...