Hena Maes-Jelinek (1929 – 8 July 2008) was a Czech-born Belgian literary scholar. She has been called "one of the founding mothers of the study of Commonwealth Literature and, later,

Postcolonial studies Postcolonialism is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic legacy of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and exploitation of colonized people and their lands. More specifically, it is ...

in Europe", who "pioneered the study of

Caribbean literature Caribbean literature is the literature of the various territories of the Caribbean region. Literature in English from the former British West Indies may be referred to as Anglo-Caribbean or, in historical contexts, as West Indian literature. Most o ...

in Belgium and Europe". She wrote extensively on the Guyanese writer

Wilson Harris Sir Theodore Wilson Harris (24 March 1921 – 8 March 2018) was a Guyanese writer. He initially wrote poetry, but subsequently became a novelist and essayist. His writing style is often said to be abstract and densely metaphorical, and his sub ...

. Tribute was paid to her in a collection entitled ''The Cross-Cultural Legacy: Critical and Creative Writings in Memory of Hena Maes-Jelinek'' (edited by Gordon Collier, Geoffrey V. Davis, Marc Delrez and Bénédicte Ledent; Brill, 2016), with contributors including

Alastair Niven Alastair Neil Robertson Niven Hon FRSL (born 25 February 1944) is an English literary scholar and author. He has written books on D. H. Lawrence, Raja Rao, and Mulk Raj Anand, and has been Director General of The Africa Centre, Director of L ...

Fred D'Aguiar Fred D'Aguiar (born 2 February 1960) is a British-Guyanese poet, novelist, and playwright. He is currently Professor of English at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Life Fred D'Aguiar was born in London, England, in 1960 t ...

, Louis James,

Karen King-Aribisala Karen Ann King-Aribisala (born Guyana) is a Nigerian novelist, and short story writer. She is a Professor of English at the University of Lagos. Education She was educated at the International School Ibadan, St. George's British International ...

Alecia McKenzie Alecia McKenzie (born Kingston, Jamaica) is a Jamaican writer and journalist. Life She studied at Alpha Academy in Kingston, Troy University in Alabama, and Columbia University in New York, focusing on languages, art and journalism. At Troy ...

Caryl Phillips Caryl Phillips (born 13 March 1958) is a Kittitian-British novelist, playwright and essayist. Best known for his novels (for which he has won multiple awards), Phillips is often described as a Black Atlantic writer, since much of his fictional ...

Lawrence Scott Lawrence Scott FRSL (born in Trinidad, 1943) is a novelist and short-story writer from Trinidad and Tobago, who divides his time between London and Port of Spain. He has also worked as a teacher of English and Drama at schools in London and i ...

Stephanos Stephanides Stephanos Stephanides (born 22 October 1949) is a Cypriot-born author, poet, translator, critic, ethnographer, and documentary film maker. In 1957 he moved with his father to the United Kingdom and since then he has lived in several countries f ...

and Janet Wilson, and many others.

Works

* ''Criticism of Society in the English Novel between the Wars'', 1971 * ''The Naked Design'', 1976 * ''Wilson Harris'', 1982 * (ed.) ''Wilson Harris: The Uncompromising Imagination'', 1991 * ''The Labyrinth of Universality'', 2006

References

1929 births 2008 deaths Literary scholars Postcolonial literature Belgian people of Czech descent {{Belgium-academic-bio-stub