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.