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LiTTscapes
No tourist guide can give more
comprehensive introduction to nation as LiTTscapes
Review
& Appraisal of LiTTscapes by
Professor Al Creighton, Deputy Vice
Chancellor of the University of Guyana and of the Guyana Prize for Literature
at LiTTribute II – LiTTurgy to the Mainland at Moray House Trust, Georgetown
We are in the presence
this afternoon of a neat kind of confluence.
Guyana at this time is in the middle of celebrating nationhood – the
peak of it is Republic Day one week from now.
The publication being launched in Guyana today is a celebration of
nationhood as it is captured through photography, an explanatory text and the
literature of Trinidad and Tobago. The
easiest way to begin an analysis of this book Littscapes by Kris Rampersad is to describe it – give an idea so
that the audience gets a clear picture of exactly what it is. But that is not the easiest way, because it
is a text that defies easy description.
There are more types that it is than things that it is not.
The publication is Littscapes : Landscapes of Fiction from
Trinidad and Tobago by Kris Rampersad, published in St Augustine, Trinidad,
in 2012. The bibliographical details
describe it as “First Edition 2012”, which is not surprising, given its
multi-tasking nature and its wide reach, and this suggests that, also
considering the several things that it seems to set out to cover, there is more
to come in future editions.
It is 200 pages of
written and visual text, presenting the landscape of Trinidad and Tobago in
passages of descriptions, explanations and quotations, very impressively
supported and complemented by hundreds of colour photographs and excerpts from
the literature of the country. Rampersad
always interweaves into her own descriptions, the pieces taken from the
literature, so that one gets pictures of the several varied subjects from the
point of view of the writers and of their fictional characters. These are taken predominantly from works of
fiction covering a range of short stories and novels, but to a lesser extent,
there is reference to poetry and drama.
The idea of
“littscapes” comes from this drawing from the literature to give scenes, views
and visions of landscape and life in clear, colourful, illustrative pictures as
well as snippets of how they are treated in the literature. It is a quite thorough artistic concept. It is a portrait and biography of the nation
of Trinidad and Tobago which actually pays tribute to the Republic in 2012, the
year of its 50th anniversary of Independence. The book is attractively, neatly and
effectively designed, using a recurring motif of the double-T – “TT”, which, of
course, is “Trinidad and Tobago”, but is also “literature” so that there is not
only the visual impact but the tribute to nationhood as reflected in the
various works of literature.
Littscapes is a work of art; but also it is a
documentary, a travelogue, a critical work with visual and literary power. It takes us on a tour of the country, giving
some exposure to almost every aspect of life.
It may be too heavy and too academic to be called a tourist guide, but
no tourist guide can give a better, more comprehensive introduction to
Trinidad. It entices and attracts just
as the glossy tourist literature; it looks a weighty volume, but an important
factor is that it is very easy to read.
Neither is this link to tourism accidental, because one of the
objectives of the book is that it must show the value that literature has in
promoting and presenting the nation. It
must show different uses of literature, encourage new approaches to it and make
it more attractive and interesting. The
book does for literature, what literature does for the country.
Rampersad tours the countryside and highlights
features of it, at the same time exploring the literature to indicate how the
writers treat the subjects, what they or their fictional characters say, and
how they are used in the plots.
Photographs of several sections of Port-of-Spain are accompanied by the
descriptions and literary excerpts: this treatment is given to the capital
city, other towns, streets, urban communities, villages, historic buildings and
places, vegetation, animals, institutions, culture and landscape. There is considerable visual beauty, what
Derek Walcott calls “visual surprise” in his Nobel Lecture; an impressive
coverage of social history, geography, and politics, but also a strong literary
experience. It is a survey of Trinidad’s
landscape and of its literature.
The publication
reflects a considerable volume of reading, drawing from as early as Walter Raleigh
at the dawn of Caribbean literature, which adds historical character and depth
to the landscape and culture. The
references include early fiction such as ARF Webber’s Those That Be In Bondage.
The connectedness of nationhood becomes relevant again here, since both
Webber and Raleigh have ties to Guyana as strong if not stronger than those
with Trinidad. Just as the historical
development of the country is reflected in the places and monuments, so it is
in the rise of social realism through the fiction of the 1930s in
Port-of-Spain. Rampersad presents her
subjects through the eyes of CLR James and writers from the Beacon group such
as Alfred Mendes, and has done the painstaking work analogous to that of a
lexicographer, of sorting out their several hundred references to her
subjects.
This account includes
some memorable passages of real literary criticism, although these are
brief. They include the entries on The Humming Bird Tree by Ian McDonald,
another writer that is more Guyanese than Trinidadian, with instructive
insights into the novel’s title and its meaning. Others are the references to Lion House in
Chaguanas and the Capildeo family which hold great interest for background to
VS Naipaul. He immortalises his mother’s
family in Hanuman House and the Tulsis, and Rampersad provides additional
information about Naipaul’s use of his migratory existence in her discussions
of various parts of Port-of-Spain. There
is also similar enlightenment in the way such locations as San Fernando, Mayaro
and Princes Town accumulate greater meaning when used to treat the work of
novelist Michael Anthony. Yet another
passage of deep criticism is the reference to “girl victims” as they are
treated in the fiction.
There are the entries on politicians, calypsonians and
superstitions, all of which abound in the fiction. This work does so much
already that it might be unfair to judge it on its omissions or reduced
treatments.
Trinidad is in all respects the major and dominant island, and this is
overwhelmingly reflected in Rampersad’s treatment. She says in her text that Trinidadian writers
on the whole neglect Tobago, treat it as the lesser of two sisters or do not
treat it at all. In this book,
therefore, the imbalance is noted.
In the end, Rampersad’s
Littscapes does achieve an innovative
approach to literature in bringing it alive in the description of landscape,
life, culture and people. It encourages
people to take ownership of it, see themselves, their home or familiar places
in it and accept it as a definer of identity.
But the book is as much photography by Rampersad and others as it is
literature, and the pictures help to illustrate, highlight and make the fiction
real.
Above all Littscapes: Landscapes of Fiction from
Trinidad and Tobago has an extremely
powerful sense of place and reinforces what in Rampersad’s words is “the pull
of place on authors”. It may claim to be
an accessory to what she calls “the body of fiction inspired by Trinidad and
Tobago”. It communicates the character
of the country.
No one book can be
everything; no one book can set out to achieve everything that a literature and
a visual text can do for its people and its nation; but whatever you say one
book can’t do, this one almost does it.
Related
Links:
Website: https://goo.gl/FDLQdg
LiTTscapes: Facebook: https://goo.gl/HBJsmM
Launch LiTTribute: https://goo.gl/g1mmED
Gender Bender Mia Mottley takes political helm in Barbados
https://goo.gl/xL3DEd
Murder and the Museum: http//goo.gl/FHs3Fr
my-discoverie-columbus-lost-and-found https://goo.gl/ixGu7y
Pat-bishops-last-struggle-killings https://goo.gl/tQUySt
Them-red-house-bones
Lagahoo-tribute-to-independent-spirits https://goo.gl/P6gP2Q
Murder and the
Museum http//goo.gl/FHs3Fr
The Triumph of Gollum in the Land of Shut Up Suicide of the
Fellowship of Partnerships Book 11. A Sequel Futuring the Agenda Forward https://goo.gl/HU3rp3
Celebrating Jamettry The Sacred and the Sacriligious
Yo Ho ho and a bottle of rumhttps://goo.gl/TvXOHU
Lagahoo-tribute-to-independent-spirits
Nationhood in contestation with globalisation: http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/2017/08/nationhood-in-contestation-with.html https://goo.gl/KWdUtx
Nationhood in contestation with globalisation: http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/2017/08/nationhood-in-contestation-with.html https://goo.gl/KWdUtx
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/2017/08/creating-revolution-through-knowledge.html
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/2015/08/a-world-inspired-littscapes-turns-3.html https://goo.gl/J1EFn5
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com
/from-beirut-to-port-of-spain-how-west.html
The-price-of-passion-awards-and-rewards
Exploring a World Through MultiCultural Lenses
https://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/2017/07/dr-kris-rampersad-exploring-world.html
my-date-with-narendra-modi-dat-merkel
affair
Things-that-make-me-go-steups-stars
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/2016/12/things-that-make-me-go-steups-stars.html
The Walcott Files
LiTTscapes for Littribute to the Antilles
A LiTTribute at UNESCO
Inscription by UNESCO of Poems
Small only in Size UNESCO Executive Board told
World in a Fishbowl
A Musical Heritage walk UNESCO Creative Cities
LiTTscapes for Littribute to the Antilles
A LiTTribute at UNESCO
Inscription by UNESCO of Poems
Small only in Size UNESCO Executive Board told
World in a Fishbowl
A Musical Heritage walk UNESCO Creative Cities
Murder She Wrote: Death Written in
Stone in Dana Seetahal AssassinationCreating Centres of Peace in Trinidad and Tobago
The Price of Independence:#DanaSeetahalAssassination
Conceive. Achieve. Believe
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Oct 14, 2013 They are announcing some political meeting or the other; and begging for my vote, and meh road still aint fix though I hear all parts getting box drains and thing, so I vex. So peeps, you know I am a sceptic so help me decide. http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian
Jun 15, 2010 T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian · T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian. Posted by Kris Rampersad at 8:20 AM · Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
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Apr 30, 2010 'How we vote is not how we party.' At 'all inclusive' fetes and other forums, we nod in inebriated wisdom to calypsonian David Rudder's elucidation of the paradoxical political vs. social realities of Trinidad and Tobago. http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: DEADLOCK: Sign of things to come
Oct 29, 2013 An indication that unless we devise innovative ways to address representation of our diversity, we will find ourselves in various forms of deadlock at the polls that throw us into a spiral of political tug of war albeit with not just ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
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Demokrissy: Trini politics is d best
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Jan 09, 2012 New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in a New Age | The Communication Initiative Network. New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in a New Age | The Communication Initiative Network. Posted by Kris Rampersad ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: T&T politics: A new direction? - Caribbean360 Oct 01, 2010 http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Oct 20, 2013 Choosing the Emperor's New Troops. The dilemma of choice. Voting is supposed to be an exercise in thoughtful, studied choice. Local government is the foundation for good governance so even if one wants to reform the ... http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
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Jul 30, 2013 Wherever these breezes have passed, they have left in their wake wide ranging social and political changes: one the one hand toppling long time leaders with rising decibels from previously suppressed peoples demanding a ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Reform, Conform, Perform or None of the Above cross ...
Oct 25, 2013 Some 50 percent did not vote. The local government elections results lends further proof of the discussion began in Clash of Political Cultures: Cultural Diversity and Minority Politics in Trinidad and Tobago in Through The ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Sounds of a party - a political party
Oct 14, 2013 They are announcing some political meeting or the other; and begging for my vote, and meh road still aint fix though I hear all parts getting box drains and thing, so I vex. So peeps, you know I am a sceptic so help me decide. http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian
Jun 15, 2010 T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian · T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian. Posted by Kris Rampersad at 8:20 AM · Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Related:
Demokrissy: To vote, just how we party … Towards culturally ...
Apr 30, 2010 'How we vote is not how we party.' At 'all inclusive' fetes and other forums, we nod in inebriated wisdom to calypsonian David Rudder's elucidation of the paradoxical political vs. social realities of Trinidad and Tobago. http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: DEADLOCK: Sign of things to come
Oct 29, 2013 An indication that unless we devise innovative ways to address representation of our diversity, we will find ourselves in various forms of deadlock at the polls that throw us into a spiral of political tug of war albeit with not just ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: The human face of constitutional reform
Oct 16, 2013 Sheilah was clearly and sharply articulating the deficiencies in governmesaw her: a tinymite elderly woman, gracefully wrinkled, deeply over with concerns about political and institutional stagnation but brimming over with ... http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Trini politics is d best
Oct 21, 2013 Ain't Trini politics d BEST! Nobody fighting because they lose. All parties claiming victory, all voting citizens won! That's what make we Carnival d best street party in the world. Everyone are winners because we all like ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
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Jan 09, 2012 New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in a New Age | The Communication Initiative Network. New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in a New Age | The Communication Initiative Network. Posted by Kris Rampersad ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
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Apr 07, 2013
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Demokrissy: Valuing Carnival The Emperor's New Tools#2
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Valuing Carnival The Emperor's New Tools#2.
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
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Oct 20, 2013
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It is placing increasing pressure for erasure of barriers of geography, age, ethnicity, gender, cultures and other sectoral interests, and in utilising the tools placed at our disposal to access our accumulate knowledge and technologies towards eroding these superficial barriers. In this context, we believe that the work of UNESCO remains significant and relevant and that UNESCO is indeed the institution best positioned to consolidate the ..... The Emperor's New Tools ...
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Demokrissy: Cutting edge journalism
Jun 15, 2010
The Emperor's New Tools. Loading... AddThis. Bookmark and Share. Loading... Follow by Email. About Me. My Photo · Kris Rampersad. Media, Cultural and Literary Consultant, Facilitator, Educator and Practitioner. View my ...
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