Beautiful and wealthy Antoinette Cosway's passionate love for an English aristocrat threatens to destroy her idyllic West Indian island existence and her very life; accompanied by notes and criticism Textual notes illuminate the novel's historical background, regional references, and the non-translated Creole and French phrases necessary to fully understand this powerful story. Backgrounds includes a wealth of material on the novel's long evolution, it connections to Jane Eyre, and Rhys's biographical impressions of growing up in Dominica. Criticism introduces readers to the critical debates inspired by the novel with a Derek Walcott poem and eleven essays. List of Illustrations vii(2) Preface ix The Text of Wide Sargasso Sea 1(112) Introduction 3(6) Francis Wyndham Wide Sargasso Sea 9(104) Backgrounds 113(44) Rachel L. Carson [The Sargasso Sea] 117(2) Charlotte Bronte From Jane Eyre 119(13) [Jane Eyre and Bertha] 119(2) [The Ruined Wedding] 121(5) [Rochester's Story] 126(4) [Fire at Thornfield Hall] 130(2) Jean Rhys Selected Letters 132(17) To Peggy Kirkaldy (October 4, 1949) 132(1) To Maryvonne Moerman (November 9, 1949) 133(1) To Peggy Kirkaldy (December 6, 1949) 133(1) To Morchard Bishop (January 27, 1953) 134(1) To Francis Wyndham (March 29, 1958) 135(1) To Selma Vaz Dias (April 9, 1958) 136(1) To Francis Wyndham (September 27, 1959) 137(1) To Diana Athill (August 16, 1963) 137(1) To Francis Wyndham (March 7, 1964) 138(1) To Francis Wyndham (April 14, 1964) 138(5) To Francis Wyndham (1964) 143(1) To Diana Athill (1966) 144(1) To Diana Athill (March 9, 1966) 145(1) The Bible Is Modern 148(1) From Smile Please 149(1) Books 149(6) Meta 150(1) My Mother 151(1) Black/White 152(2) Facts of Life 154(1) From "Black Exercise Book" 155(2) Criticism 157(102) Derek Walcott Jean Rhys 159(2) Mary Lou Emery Modernist Crosscurrents 161(12) Michael Thorpe "The Other Side": Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre 173(8) Kenneth Ramchand [The Place of Jean Rhys and Wide Sargasso Sea] 181(7) Wilson Harris Carnival of Psyche: Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea 188(5) Sandra Drake Race and Caribbean Culture as Thematics of Liberation in Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea 193(14) Lee Erwin [History and Narrative in Wide Sargasso Sea] 207(10) Caroline Rody Burning Down the House: The Revisionary Paradigm of Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea 217(8) Mona Fayad Unquiet Ghosts: The Struggle for Representation in Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea 225(15) Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak [Wide Sargasso Sea and a Critique of Imperialism] 240(7) Benita Parry [Two Native Voices in Wide Sargasso Sea] 247(3) Judith Raiskin England: Dream and Nightmare 250(9) Jean Rhys A Chronology 259(4) Selected Bibliography 263