In brief, p.24: Charmaine Valere reviews Ruel Johnson's Fictions, Volume 1:
In the introduction to Fictions, his new book of stories, Ruel Johnson asserts: 'I see Fictions as I saw Ariadne, as part of a necessary, incidental provincialism in Caribbean literature, writing that feeds in an un-self conscious way on the experiences of the author living in this particular place, work in which lamentable exile does not somehow constitute a fuller life than that which exists here.' With that assertion, Johnson repeats his controversial vision of a narrower paradigm for classifying Caribbean literature. One may be inclined to then ask, what is Fictions' contribution to this vision of the Caribbean writer's place?
Riotous assemblage, p.36: Nicholas Laughlin on The Kingdom of the Blind, by Hew Locke:
The humanoid figures in Hew Locke's gallery-size installation The Kingdom of the Blind look something like space monsters, and something like primitive totems. Or like giant mutant Muppets, with shaggy limbs and unblinking eyes, at once comic and sinister . . . Locke is British, born in Edinburgh, but when he was seven his family moved to Guyana--his father is the Guyanese artist Donald Locke.
Freedom fighter: David de Caires, 1937-2008, p.45: Nicholas Laughlin pays tribute:
On Saturday 1 November, 2008, as news spread of the death of Stabroek News publisher and editor David de Caires, tributes poured forth in Guyana and across the Caribbean, from dozens of his friends, press colleagues, politicians, and ordinary people . . . Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo--whose criticism of the newspaper in recent years has been harsh and tangible--said, 'The Stabroek News came into being at a critical time in our history when we were still under undemocratic rule...' And one tribute de Caires might have particularly appreciated came from an anonymous commenter at Living Guyana, one of Guyana's political blogs: 'The fact that Stabroek News under de Caires's stewardship was roundly condemned as biased by both sides of the political divide while in power, speaks volumes about his, and the paper's objectivity.'
Every poem is incomplete, p.49: Selections from the previously unpublished poetry notebooks of Martin Carter, introduced by their editor, Rupert Roopnaraine:
. . . I have chosen to call them notebooks, though except for two old diaries he entitled 'Brown Notebook One' and 'Brown Notebook Two' most of the writings on poetry exist in old ledgers, on the inside and outside covers of file folders, on sheets of unused examination stock, the backs of greeting cards, and in all available space in the margins and pages of certain of the books he read, making them unreadable for future readers . . . Mercifully, Martin Carter belonged to a generation of children who were taught to write. His handwriting is always legible, even when thoughts are sprinting ahead.
*****
To read the full length of each of the above pieces and much much more, order this issue of The Caribbean Review of Books (issue no. 18), or do better than that and order an entire year of issues here today.
