Throughout his career, Derek Walcott turned to the literature and
cultures of ancient Greece and Rome. His book-length poem recasting
the epics of Homer, Virgil and Dante in St Lucia is best-known in
this regard, yet Omeros is only the pinnacle of a lengthy and
lively dialogue that Walcott developed between the ancient
Mediterranean and the modern Caribbean. Derek Walcott and the
Creation of a Classical Caribbean explores how, in developing that
discourse between ancient and modern, between Europe and the
Caribbean, Walcott refuted the suggestion that to engage with
literature from elsewhere was to lack originality; instead, he
asserted a place for Caribbean art in a global, transhistorical
canon. Drawing on Walcott’s own theoretical concerns, this book
explores his engagement with Graeco-Roman antiquity from three key
perspectives. Firstly, that a perception of time as linear must be
coupled with an understanding of it as simultaneous, thereby doing
away with the oppressive power of history and confirming the ‘New
World’ on a par with the ‘Old’. Secondly, that syncretism
lies at the heart of Caribbean life and art, with influences from
Africa, Asia, and Europe constituting key parts of Caribbean
identity alongside its indigenous cultures. Thirdly, that Caribbean
literature creates the world anew without erasing the past. With
these three postcolonial conceptions at the heart of his engagement
with ancient Greece and Rome, Walcott revealed the reasons why
classical reception has been a rich facet of Caribbean artistry.
General
Imprint: |
Bloomsbury Academic
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Series: |
Classical Receptions in Twentieth-Century Writing |
Release date: |
June 2023 |
Authors: |
Justine McConnell
(Leverhulme Early Career Fellow)
|
Dimensions: |
234 x 156mm (L x W) |
Format: |
Hardcover
|
Pages: |
208 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-4742-9152-1 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
1-4742-9152-X |
Barcode: |
9781474291521 |
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