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TWO reasons set in train the composition of this article. One of those reasons was the launch of the book, ‘From Historical Paths to the Cultural Processes between Brazil and Guyana’ which is the first major literary collaborative effort between Guyana and Brazil. The publication was organised by Prof. Reginaldo Gomes De Oliveira of the University of Roraima and Dr Mellissa Ifill of the University of Guyana. The book was launched a few days after Pauline Melville delivered the 2012 Edgar Mittelholzer Memorial Lecture.
The other reason was something Pauline Melville said during the delivery of the lecture. The title of Melville’s lecture was ‘Guyanese Literature, Magic Realism and the South American Connection’.
She gave examples of Guyanese works that appear to deal with magic realism, but were only beautiful poetic descriptions of nature, “belonging to a strand of realism.”
She continued by saying that in order to understand the metaphysical or supernatural elements in Guyanese Literature, one needs to look over one’s shoulder to the continent behind us and examine the pre-Columbian history of the continent which “is often ignored by literary critics and scholars.”
I took a quick glance at the literature of South America; it was easy locate the major writers, courtesy the Nobel Prize for Literature. (Of course, an examination of the literature of the continent will be prepared for a follow-up article.)
The first South American to have won the Prize was a woman writer: Gabriela Mistral. She won that prize way back in 1945. Mistral was a poet, educator, diplomat and feminist. Some of her main themes include love and betrayal; life and death; mother’s love; the plight of children; and dealing with trauma as depicted in the following works:
Sonetos de la muerte (Sonnets of Death); Desolación (Despair); Lecturas para Mujeres (Readings for Women); Ternura: Canciones de Niños; and Tala (Harvesting).
The second South American writer to have won the Prize was also a Chilean poet, diplomat, and politician. Pablo Neruda was known for his love poetry and immense literary output, which included Crepusculario, Veinte poemas de amor y una cancion desesperada, España en el Corazón, Canto General, Cien sonetos de amor and Las manos del día.
The third South American writer to have won the Prize was Columbian born Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who was awarded “for his novels and short stories, in which the fantastic and the realistic are combined in a richly composed world of imagination, reflecting a continent’s life and conflicts,” and for popularising the literary style known as magic realism. Some of his novels include: One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Autumn of the Patriarch, Love in the Time of Cholera, and The General in His Labyrinth.
Vargas Llosa is the fourth South American writer to have won the prestigious prize, and, as a native of South America, I would like to identify with, and bask in, the glory of that Prize.
Llosa, of Peru, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2010 for “his cartography of structures of power, and his trenchant images of the individual’s resistance, revolt, and defeat.”
He has authored over thirty works of fiction, non-fiction and plays, and his work has been translated into over thirty languages, of which includes Conversación en la catedral (Conversation in the Cathedral), La tía Julia y el escribidor (Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter), La casa verde (The Green House), La guerra del fin del mundo (The War of the End of the World), and El pez en el agua. Memorias (A Fish in the Water). Tune in Tomorrow, is a film adaptation of Vargas Llosa’s Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter that starred Peter Falk, and Barbara Hershey.
After the announcement, Vargas Llosa was quoted as Saying, “Literature shouldn’t be secluded, provincial or regional… It should be universal, even if it has deep roots in one place.”
Good literature is good literature anywhere in this world. Good writing is good writing anywhere in this world. Good writers are good writers anywhere in this world. You may differ with the subject or content, but that does not take away from the fact that good writing is good writing.
Further, it is useful to remember that the views expressed in a work of fiction are not necessarily the view of its author. Again, something more to bear in mind, a writer may shift his/her position on any given subject, from time to time influence the changes around him/her.
On the other hand, a writer may embrace a certain position throughout life. But the bottom line is: Good writing is good writing anywhere in the world. Even the stifling of the conscience would not change that fact.
There are many other notable writers from South America, including Rómulo Gallegos, Paulo Coelho, Mário de Andrade, Rubén Darío, and Jorge Luis Borges. And there are many contemporary and emerging Guyanese writers, whose works are influenced by their South American counterparts, and the dominant hallmark of South American literature: Magic realism.
The other reason was something Pauline Melville said during the delivery of the lecture. The title of Melville’s lecture was ‘Guyanese Literature, Magic Realism and the South American Connection’.
She gave examples of Guyanese works that appear to deal with magic realism, but were only beautiful poetic descriptions of nature, “belonging to a strand of realism.”
She continued by saying that in order to understand the metaphysical or supernatural elements in Guyanese Literature, one needs to look over one’s shoulder to the continent behind us and examine the pre-Columbian history of the continent which “is often ignored by literary critics and scholars.”
I took a quick glance at the literature of South America; it was easy locate the major writers, courtesy the Nobel Prize for Literature. (Of course, an examination of the literature of the continent will be prepared for a follow-up article.)
The first South American to have won the Prize was a woman writer: Gabriela Mistral. She won that prize way back in 1945. Mistral was a poet, educator, diplomat and feminist. Some of her main themes include love and betrayal; life and death; mother’s love; the plight of children; and dealing with trauma as depicted in the following works:
Sonetos de la muerte (Sonnets of Death); Desolación (Despair); Lecturas para Mujeres (Readings for Women); Ternura: Canciones de Niños; and Tala (Harvesting).
The second South American writer to have won the Prize was also a Chilean poet, diplomat, and politician. Pablo Neruda was known for his love poetry and immense literary output, which included Crepusculario, Veinte poemas de amor y una cancion desesperada, España en el Corazón, Canto General, Cien sonetos de amor and Las manos del día.
The third South American writer to have won the Prize was Columbian born Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who was awarded “for his novels and short stories, in which the fantastic and the realistic are combined in a richly composed world of imagination, reflecting a continent’s life and conflicts,” and for popularising the literary style known as magic realism. Some of his novels include: One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Autumn of the Patriarch, Love in the Time of Cholera, and The General in His Labyrinth.
Vargas Llosa is the fourth South American writer to have won the prestigious prize, and, as a native of South America, I would like to identify with, and bask in, the glory of that Prize.
Llosa, of Peru, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2010 for “his cartography of structures of power, and his trenchant images of the individual’s resistance, revolt, and defeat.”
He has authored over thirty works of fiction, non-fiction and plays, and his work has been translated into over thirty languages, of which includes Conversación en la catedral (Conversation in the Cathedral), La tía Julia y el escribidor (Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter), La casa verde (The Green House), La guerra del fin del mundo (The War of the End of the World), and El pez en el agua. Memorias (A Fish in the Water). Tune in Tomorrow, is a film adaptation of Vargas Llosa’s Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter that starred Peter Falk, and Barbara Hershey.
After the announcement, Vargas Llosa was quoted as Saying, “Literature shouldn’t be secluded, provincial or regional… It should be universal, even if it has deep roots in one place.”
Good literature is good literature anywhere in this world. Good writing is good writing anywhere in this world. Good writers are good writers anywhere in this world. You may differ with the subject or content, but that does not take away from the fact that good writing is good writing.
Further, it is useful to remember that the views expressed in a work of fiction are not necessarily the view of its author. Again, something more to bear in mind, a writer may shift his/her position on any given subject, from time to time influence the changes around him/her.
On the other hand, a writer may embrace a certain position throughout life. But the bottom line is: Good writing is good writing anywhere in the world. Even the stifling of the conscience would not change that fact.
There are many other notable writers from South America, including Rómulo Gallegos, Paulo Coelho, Mário de Andrade, Rubén Darío, and Jorge Luis Borges. And there are many contemporary and emerging Guyanese writers, whose works are influenced by their South American counterparts, and the dominant hallmark of South American literature: Magic realism.
(To respond to this author, either call him on (592) 226-0065 or send him an email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com)
What’s Happening:
• For copies of ‘From Historical Paths to the Cultural Processes between Brazil and Guyana’, contact the University of Guyana.
• For copies of the docudrama, ‘The Legend of Balgobin’, contact the Centre for Communication Studies, University of Guyana. This 14-minute docudrama is based on my book, ‘The Balgobin Saga’.
