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Robert Antoni

ロバート・アントニ

Robāto Antoni

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1958-01-01 （United States）
Nationality
American
Languages
English
Residence History
Bahamas (grew up) → Barcelona (lived) → New York City (current residence)

Career

Occupations
writer, professor
Active Years
1991-
Affiliations
University of Miami (former faculty), Barnard College (faculty), Columbia University (affiliated), The New School (faculty)

Education

Duke University
Country: United States
Attended undergraduate studies; specific major not specified
Johns Hopkins University (creative writing program)
Creative writing
Country: United States
Studied in the creative writing program
University of Iowa (Iowa Writers' Workshop)
Creative writing
Country: United States
Where he began work on Divina Trace

Awards

Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Best First Book)
1992
Work: Divina Trace
Category: Best First Book
Organization: Commonwealth Foundation
Result: Winner
Aga Khan Prize for Fiction
1999
Work: My Grandmother's Tale of How Crab-o Lost His Head
Organization: The Paris Review
Result: Winner
Guggenheim Fellowship
2010
Work: As Flies to Whatless Boys (work in progress)
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: Fellow
OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature (Fiction and overall)
2014
Work: As Flies to Whatless Boys
Category: Fiction / Overall
Organization: OCM Bocas Prize organizers
Result: Winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Divina Trace

1991 Novel (postcolonial, experimental)

An experimental novel set on the invented island of Corpus Christi that explores community origins and identity through oral tales, myth and fragmented narratives.

Caribbean identityoral tradition and folklorelanguage and polyvocality

Blessed Is the Fruit

1997 Novel

Explores family histories and personal desires, examining complex Caribbean social relations and individual conflicts.

familydesirecultural heritage

My Grandmother's Erotic Folktales

2000 Short stories / folkloric

A collection of folktale-like stories narrated by a grandmother figure, blending humor and eroticism to depict tradition and memory.

folklorememoryhumor and eroticism

Carnival

2005 Novel

Set against Carnival, the novel depicts ritual expressions of self and community and the social tensions that accompany them.

Carnivalcommunityritual

As Flies to Whatless Boys

2013 Historical novel

A major historical novel weaving Caribbean history with individual destinies; overall winner of the 2014 OCM Bocas Prize.

historycolonialism and resistancefate and memory

Bibliography

  • Divina Trace (1991)
  • Blessed Is the Fruit (1997)
  • My Grandmother's Erotic Folktales (2000)
  • Carnival (2005)
  • As Flies to Whatless Boys (2013)
  • Editor/co-editor: The Archipelago (1996)
  • Co-editor: Trinidad Noir: The Classics (2017)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
experimental narrative structurespolyvocal and oral storytellingpostcolonial perspective
Recurring Motifs
Carnivalislands/seafolktales/grandmother figureslinguistic hybridity

Legacy

Robert Antoni is known in Caribbean literature for his experimental and polyvocal narratives exploring ethnicity, memory and language. His works are widely studied and he is regarded as an important Caribbean writer.

Quotes

  • My 'fictional world' is 'Corpus Christi'.
    Source: Interview / author biography

Trivia

  • Upon winning the 2014 OCM Bocas Prize, he pledged to share the US$10,000 prize with the other finalists.
  • Divina Trace took around ten years to complete and won the 1992 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book.