Theoretical analysis of "Seepersad & Sons: Naipaulian Creative Synergies": October 2015

Saturday, October 31, 2015

Good night classmates,

I attended both sessions on Thursday 29^th October where the sessions incorporated “Being and Becoming: Naipaulian Men of Letters” and “Creative Writers on Naipaulian Influences” respectively. I was extremely excited because it was my first academic conference. The poor audio of the first session neglected me the opportunity to grasp what was being said. However, the second session was fascinating and interesting. To listen to readings from the panel of Dr. Raymond Ramcharitar, Ms. Sharon Millar and Mr. Shastri Maharaj was inspirational. I liked that Mr. Shastri Maharaj used his paintings to tell a story and those paintings was so colourful and full of meaning. I must mention our site seeing adventure to the Lion House where I went up to the top, that was quite an experience and not forgetting our walk.

Feminist theory: Sex and the Naipaul Brothers, presented by Ms. Meghorn Cleghorn

I loved how Ms. Cleghorn tied feminist theory into her presentation. She highlighted why Savory Fido is against V.S Naipaul's image of the character of women in his writings. Fido believes that Naipaul is punishing the woman by using sadomasochism and masochism. However, Ms. Cleghorn disputes this theory by arguing that Naipaul is giving the woman power by reversing the roles between the man and the woman. The woman is the one who is in control of her sexuality and therefore she decides what she wants to do sexually. The power of choice is what gives her the control over the male character.

Spaces Created by A Way in the World

I thought it was quite interesting the way in which Mr Persad did a postmodern reading of Naipaul. Just goes to show you that postmodernism really is about reading it new!

C News covers the SEEPERSAD AND SONS - NAIPAULIAN CREATIVE SYNERGIES

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDdOS9r6XEM

Hi everyone,
I was able to attend the conference on the Thursday and Friday, and for me, those two days were really fulfilling and gave me such inspiration and encouragement to push forward with my research. I was particularly moved by Mr. Varisth Persad's presentation entitled, "Spaces Created by A Way in the World". He made mention of the fact that the past, present and future all shared the same space in Naipaul's work. This is testimony to a very post-modernist approach by the author, in which there is a sort of liminality and the absence of a clear separation between distance, space and time. What was also interesting about his presentation was the multiplicity in identities of the characters in Naipaul's novel, which also translated into the multiple identities of the author himself. With this being said, Naipaul was then able to create a new space, whether fictional or non-fictional, for himself through literature.

Friday, October 30, 2015

Reflection on theories in Conference

My favourite panel was the panel that consisted of Dr. Raymond Ramcharitar, Ms. Sharon Miller and Mr. Shastri Maharaj. I thought that their presentations were wonderful. Also, I could understand what they were saying unlike in Open Campus where the acoustics were a hindrance.

I thought of stylistics when they mentioned the Naipaulian point of view and voice which could be heard in Dr. Ramcharitar's poetry. That seemed important to me as it was a style or voice that impacted Dr. Ramcharitar's work.

Also, I think that a postmodern approach can be seen when Dr. Ramcharitar and Ms. Miller were talking about how Naipaul affected the way they write. Dr. Ramcharitar, I think said that his work was inspired by Naipaul and Walcott. Also, Ms. Miller said that her book would not have been possible without Naipaul's Guerillas (1975). That book seemed to have an impact on her writing. So it seemed to me that they were building on the ideas and legacy of Naipaul's literature. It had a positive impact on them and their writing.

Also, the feminist aspect of Mr. Maharaj's presentation stood out to me. He gave a lot of significance to the woman in the Hindu family who is generally marginalized because of patriarchy. It reminded me of Mrs. Tulsi who was the matriarch of the Tulsi family even though Hindu families tend to be patriarchal. His use of yellow also stood out to me. But I thought of Meditation on Yellow by Olive Senior instead of curry.

Dr. Hannan's presentaion, “'My Sense of Distance and Time was Shaken': Globalization Before Its Time in the Work of V.S. Naipaul” was also interesting. However, the acoustics were not good and I didn't catch everything that he was saying. But from what I understood, he spoke about how postcolonial theory can be applied to Naipaul. I thought of how Naipaul captures different cultures and places in his literature like Trinidad, India and Africa when he said that. But I think he said that post colonial theory when dealing with Naipaul is limited because of his aim to take his work global. Naipaul is not just a regional writer and he is not just a Caribbean writer. He wants his work to be for England and the rest of the world.

I liked the conference. I thought it was really interesting and informative. It is amazing how much the Naipauls' legacy has affected literature. Maybe they will be like Shakespeare and be taught in schools centuries later.

Hi everyone

For those who did not have the opportunity to attend on Wednesday, I reached just in time to listen to the two last addresses of the second session 'Feminist and Phenomenological Readings'.

These two addresses were titled 'Struggling with Constructions of Masculinity in House for Mr Biswas' and Naipaulian Mothers and Motherlands given by Dr. Elizabeth Jackson and Dr. Paula Morgan respectively.

Dr. Jackson talked about the insistence of maintaining patriarchy in a household and how masculinity is seen as an assumption of power. She also mentioned that the production of masculinity reproduces patterns of oppression. I found it very interesting when she said that men seek approval from other men in the exercise of their masculinity, and a good example of this is the 'trophy' of the ideal girlfriend or wife.

As for Dr. Morgan she gave insights on the women functioning in strong patriarchal families in the Naipaulian writings.

Even though I struggled to understand the speakers due to the fact that it was my first time participating in this type of conference spoken in English, I enjoyed being part of this event and I describe it as a great experience.

Currently listening to the presentation of Ms. Fariza Mohammed on "The Naipaul's Karma." One thing that has stood out for me thus far is the fact that poverty does not only exist on a financial level; there is also poverty of the mind and spirit. While I may have thought of this in a different way, I found that the way in which she put the point across was quite deep.

Ok everyone,

The third session of the day is about to start, with our very own Dr. Maharaj chairing the

panel. Can't wait to hear what this panel has to say and to ask Dr. Maharaj some very

difficult questions :)

Family Love, Artistic Ambitions

Hi everyone,

Due to work commitments, I was unable to attend Wednesday and Thursday of

the conference. However after hearing everyone's comments and Dr. Tewarie's

presentation, I am even more disappointed than before that I could not be there. Dr.

Tewarie's presentation, entitled Family Love, Artistic Ambitions, gave insight into the

personal life of V.S. Naipaul and his relationship with his family, and even more so, the

relationship between V.S. Naipaul, his father, Seepersad and his brother Shiva. This

keynote address was the first of the day and provoked a lively discussion afterward. I am

looking forward to the rest of the conference today and will try to post more during the

course of the day.

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Wow. Today's panels were overwhelmingly informative and brilliant.

I've taken as many notes as my hands would allow; the most being from the first speaker - Dr. Jim Hannon, whose address was systematically structured both in terms of chronology and theory.

He even went as far as listing out some of the theoretical schools within his paper - which of course was of great help to us who were there today.

Naipaul indeed is a global commodity - not merely limited to a national or even a regional scale - and as Prof Ramchand stated (he speaks in such awe of Sir Naipaul), he is a creative and performance artist who focuses not on being a writer, but on the act and process writing itself.

This ties in with Mr. Shastri Maharaj's address, in that the artist (whether painter such as Mr Maharaj, or writer such as Sir Naipaul) has the task of "visual literacy," through the social commentary of their narratives. The writing then becomes a documentation of what is occurring around the artist.

Looking forward even more to tomorrow's panels, after the wonderful time I had today.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

I can finally join in on the excitement got my official approval for time off so I will be there on Wednesday and Friday. I am really looking forward to seeing how they look explore Naipaul's treatment of post colonial trauma.