The Dragon Can't Dance

Blurb

The Dragon Can't Dance is a 1979 novel by Trinidadian author Earl Lovelace, set in a slum of Port of Spain. The novel centers on the life of Aldrick Prospect, a man who spends the entire year recreating his dragon costume for Carnival. Aldrick's interactions with other people who live in his neighbourhood form the backdrop for their individual struggles for self-definition in a society dominated by its racial divisions and colonial legacies. The story culminates when Aldrick and Fisheye, along with a small number of followers, hijack a police van and take two police officers hostage. The events surrounding the hostage-taking, and the aftermath of the event lead the reader on a journey through the colonial psyche, and expose the deep seated problems of a society that still has not reconciled itself with its colonial past and racial divisions.