Continental Drift (novel)
Encyclopedia
Continental Drift is a 1985 novel by Russell Banks
. Set in the early 1980s, it follows two plots, through which Banks explores the relationship between apparently distant people drawn together in the world under globalization
, which Banks compares to the geologic phenomena of continental drift
. The first plot features Bob DuBois, a working class New Englander
who heads to Florida
in the hopes of striking it rich; the second plot traces the journey of Vanise Dorsinville from Haiti
to Florida. It is an avowedly political work, whose stated aim is to "destroy the world as it is."
After publishing Continental Drift, Banks won the Dos Passos Prize for Literature.
Russell Banks
Russell Banks is an American writer of fiction and poetry.- Biography :Russell Banks was born in Newton, Massachusetts on March 28, 1940. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He lives in upstate New York, and has been named a New York State Author. He is also...
. Set in the early 1980s, it follows two plots, through which Banks explores the relationship between apparently distant people drawn together in the world under globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
, which Banks compares to the geologic phenomena of continental drift
Continental drift
Continental drift is the movement of the Earth's continents relative to each other. The hypothesis that continents 'drift' was first put forward by Abraham Ortelius in 1596 and was fully developed by Alfred Wegener in 1912...
. The first plot features Bob DuBois, a working class New Englander
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
who heads to Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
in the hopes of striking it rich; the second plot traces the journey of Vanise Dorsinville from Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
to Florida. It is an avowedly political work, whose stated aim is to "destroy the world as it is."
After publishing Continental Drift, Banks won the Dos Passos Prize for Literature.