Written over the course of twenty-one years and published in 1966,
Wide Sargasso Sea
, based on Charlotte Brontë’s
Jane Eyre
, takes place in Jamaica and Dominica in 1839–45.
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
, 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.