SUNDAY 1ST NOVEMBER, 2015 – UWI TODAY
19
LITERATURE
audience on teenagers, technology, and literature,
Antoni said, “Part of me feels all your anguish. They go
out for dinner with you and they are on their phones
all the time. The problem with the phones is if all of
your relationships are virtual, you cannot look anyone
in the eye.”
Regarding experimentation, he felt that,
“Technology is going to transform the way we tell our
stories and the way they will be transmitted. So how
canwe find a way tomake electronic literature writerly?
That is my question and that is hopefully the question
your children will answer if they find a way in between
their texting.”
Indeed, though writing historical fiction, Antoni’s
themes may be consideredmore forward looking, more
contemporary, than harking back to more traditional
themes of colony and writing-back to Europe.
“The colonial chip-on-your-shoulder is something
my parents had and my grandparents had but I do
not have,” he said, individuating himself from the
conventional expectations of Caribbean literature.
Phillips echoed this idea of contemporary
imaginative licence, but with a more philosophical
One of the aims of post-colonial
literature is to
examine the way Europe maintained its power. It is
also concerned with re-reading and re-writing the
past. This understanding of historical fiction, and in
particular the works of authors
Caryl Phillips
and
Robert Antoni
, was shared by
Dr. KumarMahabir
,
Assistant Professor UTT, at a reading and dialogue
for both authors held at the UWI St. Augustine
campus.The event titled
“ALiteraryConversation”
was held on October 3, 2015, by the
Anthony N.
Sabga Caribbean Awards for Excellence, the
Bocas Lit Fest, the University of Trinidad and
TobagoandTheUWI.
TheChair for the proceedings
was
Professor Emeritus Funso Aiyejina
and the
moderator was
Dr. Raymond Ramcharitar
.
Professor Phillips
was a Commonwealth Prize
recipient a decade ago, and was named the
ANSA
Caribbean Award for Arts and Letters Laureate
in 2013
.
Robert Antoni
was the
2014 OCM
Bocas
Prize winner and has been the recipient of
a
Guggenheim Fellowship, the Commonwealth
Writers Prize
, and the
NALIS Lifetime Literary
Award
among other accolades.
slant, feeling that writing can speak to our common humanity.
“Part of the great moral purpose of literature is to imagine
yourself into the life of people who are not you,” he said, and
that creates empathy. He believes that literature reminds us
that [William] Faulkner’s definition of the novel as problems
of the human heart in conflict with itself is a universal issue…
a human issue.
“That is not what text, twitter, facebook and instagram are
about,” he said, pointing to their narcissistic nature.
“They’re all about the selfie!” was the response.
Perhaps the digirati and youth who, always connected to
their circle of friends globally, might find that expression in
digital text and images is the new literary frontier. As global
boundaries become more fluid through technology, diversity
is increasingly embraced, and niches and tribes celebrate their
difference from the mainstream. Many book lovers, however,
will continue to cherish that new-book-smell, the feel of the
page beneath fingertips, and the way re-reading an old favourite
reconnects you to other minds and cultures.
And as they creatively recast our Caribbean pasts and
unearth their truths and insights, writers Caryl Phillips and
Robert Antoni are connecting human hearts across the globe,
word by word.
The Institute of
Critical Thinking is hosting “The Cuba Forum,” to allow the business community
to hear of new opportunities, and the cultural nuances and economic environment of Cuba so they
can competitively enter its market.
Dr. Antonio Romero Gomez, the President of the Caribbean Studies Chair “Norman Girvan”
at the University of Havana; Dr. Omar Everleny Pérez Villanueva, Senior Lecturer and Professor at
the CEEC, of the University of Havana, and Dr. Andres Santiago Gomez, Assistant Provost, Dean
of International Studies & Senior Fellow for Cuban Studies, University of Miami (retired) will be
speaking.
The Forum takes place on November 5, at Lecture Rooms 2&3 of the Institute from 2pm. To register,
please email
or call 785-4587.
From left:
Authors in conversation,
Professor Caryl Phillips,
Dr. Raymond Ramcharitar
and Robert Antoni.
PHOTO COURTESY
THE TRINIDAD GUARDIAN
The
CUBAFORUM
“…if all of your relationships are virtual,
you cannot look anyone in the eye.”
—ROBERT ANTONI
