Apart from the usual review notices in the usual periodicals, there has been no noteworthy discussion of Paule Marshall's major works…. This neglect is unfortunate, because Paule Marshall's major themes are both significant and timely. Her West Indian background (Barbadian parentage) enables Paule Marshall to invest her North American materials with a Caribbean perspective, and in the process she invokes that Pan-African sensibility which has become so important in contemporary definitions of Black identity. Secondly, her treatment of the Black woman links her ethnic themes with the current feminist revolt. Finally, the ethnic and sexual themes are integrated with the novelist's interest in the subject of power. This interest is the logical outcome of her preoccupation with groups—women and Blacks—whose roles have been defined by powerlessness. But her treatment of this subject is complex and innovative because she analyses power not only as the political goal...