(Extract of an interview with Professor Victor Ramraj (VR) on the Guyana Prize for Literature and contemporary Guyanese Literature, September 8, 2011, Georgetown, Guyana.
Ramraj is Professor of English at the University of Calgary, Canada.)

PP: IN THE WORLD of literature, it is relatively easy to talk about things past: Past books, past writers etc. But it is not that easy to talk about contemporary literature, especially contemporary Guyanese Literature, an area of literature still to be explored. Because of your engagement with literature over the years as a teacher, editor, critic and judge of various literary prizes, including adjudicating the Guyana Prize for Literature on two occasions, you are specially selected to talk about contemporary Guyanese Literature. Let’s hear your thoughts on contemporary literature, Professor?
VR: You’re right in what you said about dealing with the past. In a way, it’s easier because the dusk has been allowed to settle, and you could see what were the trends and movements in literature. In the current situation, we are much too close to the work, and we haven’t had the chance to observe the trends and movements. But no doubt, we are in a post- modern period, and it is evident that some post-modern writing is occurring.
In fact, the book that won the fiction category in the Guyana Prize, ‘Molly and the Muslim Stick’, is a highly post-modern work, while most of the others were traditional. What I mean by that? They have the traditional cause-and-effect narrative, and they have a fairly realistic psychological situation. On the other hand, the post-modern novel…
PP: Is more challenging?
VR: Yes it is, because it is not straightforward storytelling; it goes against certain norms.  It doesn’t believe in cause and effect. What I mean by that? Why was slavery abolished? As we were told in High School and later, there were some noble figures like Wilberforce who were very humane and wanted to put an end to the system, but slavery, according to Eric Williams, was abolished because it was no longer economical.  Which is the truth? Which is the true cause and effect?
PP: Apart from ‘Molly and the Muslim Stick’, let’s look at some of the other entries to The Prize.
VR: I should mention one entry that didn’t make the shortlist, and I hope this is an indication of what the future [of Guyanese literature] is likely to be. It was a science fiction work .
PP: Wow! Two wows: Futuristic writing and the future of Guyanese writing!
VR: Wow indeed; one of its kind. It was a novel titled ‘Maknonaima-Galileo Guiana 2020, the Inevitable’, the only science fiction entry.
PP: I was fortunate to have a look at the work while it was in the making.
VR: Then perhaps you could tell me more about it.
PP: It was a good read, then in need of proper proofreading and editing,  but a good read.
VR: With a certain amount of sex, etc, but the premise is interesting. The Amerindians have taken over the government, and are sending rockets into space with the help of the Germans. I thought that nine years from now… It’s a bit too early for that… if he had set it in the year 2080 perhaps…
PP: Or 2084 [reference George Orwell’s novel, ‘1984’]
VR: That’s a good one!
PP: Would the seemingly faulty timing discredit it; take anything away from the work?
VR: In science fiction, if you accept the premise that something could happen, you want fair realism. So it was unrealistic that something like that could happen in nine years’ time. When Swift wrote ‘Gulliver’s Travels’, he took you on an adventure; once you suspend your belief and entertain the thought that such things could happen, you encounter the small people, smaller that ordinary human beings, and you encounter giants, larger than human beings. Swift makes it fairly realistic by showing you the number of sheets that had to be put together etc, etc. Then, in the land of the giants, you felt you were there, looking at the pores of the giants which appeared like giant sores. In science fiction, you attempt to be as realistic as possible.
PP: That’s the responsibility of the writer; to cause the reader to suspend his/her belief? Let’s look at the responsibility of the writer as we examine other entries to The Prize.
VR: Here, I must mention Karen King-Aribisala’s ‘The Hangman’s Game’. She took on a very difficult task; she was telling two stories: The slave uprising in Guyana and the problems in Nigeria, drawing parallels to show power is corrupt in both situations. But to tie the two together was a challenge.
PP: She used the hangman’s game to do that…
VR: And I think it worked.
PP: You have had a very close look at our literature: As chief judge in 2004 and again in 2011, have you seen anything; any sort of development or shortcomings?
VR: The post-modern novel is coming in. For example in 2004, there was ‘Our Lady of Demerara’ by Dabydeen, which was a co-winner and clearly a post-modern work. Then there was Fred D’Aguiar’s ‘Bethany Bettany’, another example of post-modern work, where you have a girl who could flatten herself and go under doors. So that trend has continued to present-day.
The shortcoming has remained the same, especially evident in poetry. One of the things about literature in general and poetry in particular, language is used for its dictionary meaning, its denotative meaning, as well as its association.  In science and law, you try to use words as clearly as possible: The denotative meaning. In literature, you want to work on emotion, feelings, as well as the cerebral aspect. You use language connotatively and denotatively. So the poets were not writing with this in mind; they sometimes just told you what is happening without making you feel; to make the experience yours; to make the experience vicariously the reader’s.
PP: Poetry is exacting, and use of language is important to tell as well as show.
VP: The use of language is important, as is a host of other techniques.
‘To be or not to be’ – long vowel sounds etc, etc; Shakespeare was good at using the right language, right diction, capturing the right mood … the right structure; he knows when to use a sonnet, a long poem, four-line format, etc. etc.
PP: Still on contemporary Guyanese literature, let’s look at themes, subjects, the shying away from or favouring of anything particular.
VR: A wide range of subjects touched on, judging from the latest competition… there is advice to teenagers on HIV/AIDS; there were rabidly sexual novels, ghost stories, several ghost stories and poems for children. I was really pleased to see that… the collection was uneven, but we want our own stories; this is to be encouraged.
PP: Our own colours, our own scenes/settings… I get the drift. And thank you for your thoughts on contemporary Guyanese literature.  
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