Rum and Coca Cola

by Ralph De Boissiere

"The setting for De Boissiere's second novel "Rum and Coca Cola" (republished in 2006) is the Second World War when thousands of American soldiers came to Trinidad to build and man military bases...The novel is, in a Caribbean context, a rare and largely successful attempt to create fictional models which give a panoramic view of their society..."The American military had in effect become the rulers. "Rum and Coca-Cola" is set at a time when the dollars from the American military presence changed Trinidad from a neglected and quasi-feudal British colony into a competitive market economy in which "we is all sharks, the stronger feedin' on the weaker." Both forces remain alive in Trinidadian society, the unfinished revolts of 1937 and 1970, and the individualistic consumer materialism which was fueled by the oil boom. Now that the boom has gone and social tensions rise, de Boissiere's second novel seem more relevant than ever.There is not the same tension as in his first book "Crown Jewel", because everyone had a job and many had two. The conflicts were of a more subtle sort - the breaking down of British prestige, the mockery of former British might, under American occupation.The novel is, in a Caribbean context, a rare and largely successful attempt to create fictional models which give a panoramic view of their society. It gives not merely a static or descriptive background against which characters perform, but a dynamic image of society created by the actions and social relationships of the characters."Rum and Coca-Cola" was published first published without much remark four decades ago in Australia, has rightly reissued by Lux-Verbi and with justified acclaim. It remains relevant because it give an unrivaled portrayal of a period in Trinidad's recent past which is still very much alive in shaping its present. The book reveals de Boissiere's dedication to promoting anti-oppression politics and feminist activism.For ambitious Mopsy, Fred, a union activist, and Indra, an educated Indian woman, the arrival of American soldiers means Trinidad will never be the same. Fred Collingwood, a principled black working-class socialist is doomed because of his "moral strength in all its beauty" and he destroys the relationship with Marie, the woman he most loves, because he displaces his desire to change society onto her and in the process destroys her sense of worth.Indra, the part-Indian girl from a lower-middle-class family, struggles against a "terrible division of spirit" which affects her social and racial sensibilities. Even though she makes a commitment to the working-class movement she still feels cut off, "doomed at this time to a lonely pursuit of the dust they raised in their forward marching." But it is the character of Marie, trapped by the lightness of her color into believing that she can escape into whiteness, which provides the novel's tragic focus. Of the three main characters, she is the one to benefit most materially from the war-time boom, but her unremitting efforts to escape from her past of poverty and casual prostitution are made at the expense of her inner self. Her fate is tragic because she sees herself engaged in a battle for individual self-hood, but in the process becomes separated from what she most truly is and disintegrates as a personality.Yet "Rum and Coca-Cola" does not succumb to pessimism. Indra's cry, "O my God! But what am I capable of" is agonized, but the possibilities of moral choice and the issues of human capacity remain central to de Boissiere's vision. He sees Trinidad moving in a direction which he detests, but when he has Fred reflect on what has occurred, he shows him capable of taking something positive from it. He sees a society which is not yet free, but one in which old colonial illusions have been destroyed.The title "Rum and Coca Cola" became the name of probably the best known Calypso of all times, made famous by the Andrews Sisters in the 1940's. It was even the subject of a famous court case against Leo Feist, Inc.

352 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1984

About the author

Ralph de Boissière was born in Port of Spain, the son of Armand de Boissiere, a solicitor, and Maude Harper, an Englishwoman who died three weeks later.[1] He attended Queen's Royal College and during this time discovered the Russian authors, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Gorky, Chekhov, Pushkin and Gogol, who were to remain a lasting influence:
“They wrote of a vast country in which the weight of tsarism was destroying millions. ...crying out against an entire system in which the guilt of the rulers was being ignored while millions were dying from neglect. ... The writers of that time are still my favourites...A hundred and fifty years later the crimes against mankind have multiplied and are choking us all. But not many today write with that call to humankind, that call which, though muffled by the censor, could still boom out its message.”
Initially he wished to become a concert pianist but on leaving school took a job as a salesman which enlightened him to the living and working of ordinary Trinidadians.[2] He then became involved in left-wing and trade union politics and also wrote for Trinidad's first literary magazine, The Beacon which he helped establish and where he met among others the writer C. L. R. James.[1][3] In 1935 he married Ivy Alcantara (died 1984) and they had two daughters.[1] But in 1947, having lost his job and unable to find another one because of his political activities, he and his family left the country for Chicago, afterwards moving to the Australian city of Melbourne in 1948. He found work in Australia as salesman and a factory-hand. Aged 42, de Boissière settled into a clerical job from which he retired in 1980.[2]
In Australia he joined the Communist Party and had his first novel, Crown Jewel published in 1952 by the leftist Australasian Book Society. Like all his work this depicts the struggles of the working class with realistic sympathy, culminating with a portrayal of a 1937 strike in Trinidad brutally put down by police shooting. Since then he has written four more novels and been translated into Polish, German, Russian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Czech and Chinese.[1] His work has been described by one critic as "combin[ing] social realism and political commitment with a concern for the culture of the feeling within the individual in a way that is unique not only among West Indian writers but among writers with a social conscience anywhere in the world."
In 2007, his centenary year, Ralph de Boissière married his longtime companion, Dr. Annie Greet, his fourth novel, Call of the Rainbow was published in Melbourne, and in November, he received an honorary Doctor of Literature from the University of Trinidad and Tobago. During 2009, his autobiography, Life on the Edge, is being prepared for publication in Trinidad.
De Boissière died in Melbourne on 16 February 2008.[4]

Reviews

[Cecly Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a novel I should have read years ago. I loved the narrative and every single line of this plot.

[Lucie Barber · Rating 5 out of 5]

there comes a book which sucks you directly into wikipedia search for more time lapse history information
very interesting, great plot and development of character during the events of the war

[Keiron · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one of the best descriptions of colonial Trinidad around the time of the US military occupation of the island during the 2nd world war.
It follows the life of three main characters, and explores issues of race and sexuality amongst other themes.
I read this some years ago, but it was one of the best fiction books I've ever read and I highly recommend it.