The Caribbean is the source of one of the richest, most accessible, and yet technically adventurous traditions of contemporary world literature. This collection of Caribbean short stories is pan-Caribbean, including stories from the four main languages of the region: English, Spanish, French,and Dutch. Stories by major figures in the English language tradition such as V. S. Naipaul, Sam Sevlon, and Jean Rhys are set alongside their Spanish- and French-speaking contemporaries like Alejo Carpentier, Jan Bosh, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Their work, in all its diversity of style, theme,and linguistic energy, provides a context for the work of an exciting new generation of Caribbean writers like Edwidge Danticat, Robert Antoni, Astrid Roemer, and Jamaica Kincaid.A celebration of regional creativity, the collection contains sufficient surprises to keep even the most avid student of West Indian writing turning the pages, while reminding readers that the Caribbean is a multilingual, multicultural space.