Lovemore munro biography of martin

Jenna Martin Leitch || Artist.

In Omens of Adversity the anthropologist David Scott writes that the collapse of the Grenada revolution, and the subsequent U. We spoke about the relationship between Caribbean and other world literatures, how the Caribbean apocalypse grew out of religious and secular sources, and the role of the arts when political institutions fail. Michael Schapira: I wanted to start with a biographical question and ask how you developed an interest and expertise in the Francophone Caribbean, having been educated in Scotland.

I liked the political elements in the works. On some level, I identified with a number of the issues raised, about history, language, and colonialism. It is tempting sometimes to read your own situation and thoughts into these works, to align yourself in that way. I felt at times that the history of the Highlands echoed in some ways that of the islands—migration, loss of culture and language, environmental decay, and the social damage that follows.

Páginas en la categoría «Nacidos en Auckland».

At school, I knew next to nothing of Scottish literature, languages, or culture, as they were not extensively taught. But in truth that absence was also a kind of paradoxical liberation—not having or being aware of a national culture as such made me look outwards, so I studied the Russian Revolution rather than Scottish history, and learned French and Italian instead of Gaelic.

National culture can be a burden, and I never had that. Instead I was able to look outwards, and to feel free. Ultimately I am interested in Caribbean writing for itself, on its own terms. I am interested in it because it is interesting. At the end of the book, after dealing in great detail with the Caribbean Apocalypse as conceived by filmmakers and novelists, you again talk about global points of convergence.

Was insisting on these global comparisons something important for you from the origins of the project? The book actually began as part of a broader project on Haitian writing after the earthquake.