Cecil Foster's Sleep on,Beloved

Abstract

This essay focuses on the pathology and alienation of Blacks in Cecil Foster's fictional Toronto. Space permits no more than a cursory analysis of why Blacks immigrate to Canada in large numbers. The author complements his analysis of Sleep on, Beloved with information from A Place Called Heaven and uses the latter to provide a context for the former. The exigencies of form—the novel and the essay—notwithstanding, the author does not feel that this approach distorts Foster's intentions inasmuch as Foster told the author that the single goal of his writing is to faithfully record and interpret reality to the best of his ability. It is worth noting too that in A Place Called Heaven, Foster's sense of life, which forms the psycho-epistemological foundation for his works, is expressed in minute detail. Underlying the analysis is the notion that place, unless the artist is inept, is always a major trope.