The Guyana Prize for Literature shortlist
Arts on Sunday
by Al Creighton
Stabroek News
December 22, 2002
This week we take brief notice of the books shortlisted
for the 2002 Guyana Prize for Literature.
The Published Shortlist
(Arranged in alphabetical order in each category)
For Best Book of Poetry
Fred D'Aguiar
Bloodlines (Chatto and Windus)
Michael Gilkes
Joanstown (Peepal Tree)
Sasenarine Persaud The Hungry Sailor
(Tsar)
For Best First Book of Poetry
Stanley Greaves
Horizons (Peepal Tree)
Ruel Johnson
The Enormous Night
Best Book of Fiction
These entries in particular, stood out in this category: Arnold Itwaru's
Home and Back, Churaumani Bissundyal's The Game of Kassaku, and Cyril
Dabydeen's My Brahmin Days. However, in light of the very high standards
associated with the Guyana Prize, the judges felt that no entry stood out
with sufficient distinction for a prize to be awarded. It was felt that
the best among these had significant flaws despite their powerful
evocation of the writers' concerns and their sometimes detailed and moving
descriptions.
For Best First Fiction
Deryck Bernard
Going Home & Other Tales (Macmillan)
Ruel Johnson
Ariadne and Other Stories
Andrew Jefferson-Miles The Timeherian (Peepal Tree)
Drama
While two of the entries for drama contained many elements of merit, the
judges did not feel that they were of such a standard to warrant a prize.
The Books
Bloodlines (London: Chatto and Windus, 2000)
Fred D'Aguiar was the winner of the first Guyana Prize for Poetry in 1987.
Since then he has won twice in the prose category, with the Best First
Book in 1994 and the Best Book in 1996. Bloodlines is a 'verse novel' set
in slavery in the American South, a subject D'Aguiar has been researching
and on which he has already written two prose novels. It is a long poem,
ambitious in its portrayal of the brutality of slave society, and poignant
in its commitment to retrieving humane values. The author is an
accomplished craftsman and a rewarding poet who attempts elaborate styles,
not all of which quite work.
Joanstown (UK: Peepal Tree, 2002)
Michael Gilkes, who returned to live in Guyana a year ago, won the Guyana
Prize for Drama in 1992. He is known for his extensive work in the theatre
and in film and as a leading authority on Wilson Harris. When one gets
past the Walcott influence in Gilkes' work, Joanstown is a most
accomplished collection; a lyric sensibility of a logical order. It
powerfully conveys a sense of place in its detailed portrayal of
Georgetown, and is a compelling evocation of a life-long love of the city
and of Joan Gilkes. He plays on her name as he does with the notion of
'Georgetown' and the infamous 'Jonestown' for which Guyana has come to be
known.
The Hungry Sailor (Toronto: Tsar, 2000)
Sasenarine Persaud has on a number of occasions been shortlisted for the
Guyana Prize in both poetry and fiction. He is more acclaimed for his
poetry, which has definitely matured, particularly in his two most recent
collections, The Wintering, Kundalini and The Hungry Sailor. The latter
has an admirable variety of subject matter and interesting poetic
treatment of diasporic experience. He weaves between various locations
such as his native Guyana, his adopted homes Toronto and Florida, as well
as his spiritual compass, the Hindu Heartland of India, which exude his
own sense of place and placelessness.
Horizons (UK: Peepal Tree, 2002)
Stanley Greaves is best known as one of Guyana's most accomplished
artists, who lives in Barbados. A painter, sculptor and musician, he
describes himself as "a maker of things," and these things now include his
first full collection of verse, Horizons. But he has been making poems
throughout his career. This well-ordered book contains a powerfully
metaphoric poetry deeply rooted in a painterly imagination. It is a
considerable achievement.
The Enormous Night (unpub ms)
Ruel Johnson is now experiencing a rising career as a writer of prose and
poetry. He was the leader of the Janus Young Writers Guild and edited the
Chronicle Christmas Annual 2001. The Enormous Night is a collection that
shows great promise and real engagement with the craft of poetry. There is
a strong Walcott influence and a general literariness which rather calls
attention to itself, but he is very talented and manages to venture
courageously into formal explorations.
Going Home and Other Tales (London: Macmillan, 2001)
Deryck Bernard has already established himself in many fields. He is an
accomplished musician and singer, has served the nation as a Minister of
Government and is now a Member of Parliament. He is an academic, a
geographer and a University Dean. His strong artistic orientation has
inevitably led him into fiction and Going Home and Other Tales is very
much autobiographical. It is a well-constructed collection which deals
engagingly with childhood in colonial Guyana. His prose is very 'clean,'
un-showy and assured, although his tales often lack a satisfying ending.
Ariadne and Other Stories (unpub ms)
Johnson's Ariadne and Other Stories is, perhaps, more obviously driven by
autobiography, but exhibits undeniable talent. Although the range of his
subject matter is rather limited, this is an impressive first collection
in which the author is seriously engaged in exploring the potential of the
short story.
The Timehrian (UK: Peepal Tree, 2002)
Andrew Jefferson-Miles, Guyanese by birth, is also a poet and a visual
artist who is currently a researcher at the University of North London,
UK. The Timeherian is an ambitious and challengingly experimental novel.
There is an unmistakable Harris influence in this book, but it is
compellingly thought-provoking.
Notes
Of primary interest is the 2002 Jury's announcement that no prize will be
awarded in two of the five categories, viz Fiction and Drama. This will be
the first time in the history of the Prize that this has happened in
Fiction, which, for most of the years, emerged the strongest category. In
2000 only one of the plays entered in the Drama category was selected for
the shortlist, and that was the winner, Paloma Mohamed's Father of the
Man, while there was a similar occurrence in Poetry on one occasion. In
1996 the Best Book of Poetry, Grace Nichols' Sunris, was the only one
shortlisted. Poetry, which has always had the largest number of entries,
seems to have had no such difficulty this year.
The second significant observation, returns us to the issue of an
imbalance between the local and foreign-based writers each time shortlists
and winners have been announced. This has led to much controversy. In this
context, it is significant that of the eight shortlisted entries, four are
by local writers this year. Of note also in this context, is that a local
writer, Ruel Johnson, appears on both the Poetry and Prose shortlists with
unpublished first collections. This is a first for any local writer and
the first occasion on which any of them has had two unpublished
manuscripts nominated. Rooplall Monar came close in 1987 with his fiction,
Backdam People, on the shortlist and his poetry, Koker, highly commended.
Overseas-based writers, David Dabydeen and Fred D'Aguiar, have, in the
past, appeared on both poetry and prose final lists
