Good morning classmates,

Owing to work constraints, I was only able to attend the conference on Friday 30th October. I truly looked forward to attending as it was my first conference of this nature. Quite anticlimatically however, I noticed that the audio in the amphitheatre was truly going to upset my listening experience and possibly hamper my ability to produce any valuable commentary on the conference. Fortunately, just at the time when the main panels were about to present, and almost as if the audio system itself felt the value of what was going to be said, the problem was swiftly resolved and I was then able to hear clearly and take notes. Thankfully, it happened in this timely manner because I definitely enjoyed listening to the seasoned as well as the blossoming scholars and their analyses of the works of Naipaul.
One of the things that stood out to me was the dynamic and seemingly multifaceted personality of V.S Naipaul as was highlighted throughout, by the presenters and the members of the audience alike. Without any concrete prior evidence of who he was as a person, I had him simply reduced in my mind to an unlikeable cultural icon when it came down to personality. It was therefore quite interesting to learn things such as the fact that he did not initially appreciate or value the work of his father Seepersad Naipaul and stalled in publishing his book although eventually he admitted that it was his father who provided inspiration for his own works. I learned that his relationship with his own brother Shiva was also quite volatile with words such as love, anger, remorse, intolerance and hate being used to describe the feelings between them. Shiva complained that Naipaul never raised a hand to help him as an upcoming artist and in reference to Naipaul stated that: "No one lives up to the demands of an asshole." Nevertheless, it was mentioned that V.S Naipaul was severely affected by his  brother Shiva's death. It was interesting to learn that Naipaul was more driven by artistic ambition rather than love and stated once: "I am the sum of my books."
What I learned about V.S Naipaul at Friday's conference, clarified my preconceived notions of him as a person and offered me concrete evidence to support those feelings. Needless to say, the value and superior quality of many of his works cannot be easily refuted or nullified.

A MARXIST ANALYSIS OF V.S. NAIPAUL IN THE READING OF DR. JIM HANNAN

In his close reading from Dr. Jim Hannan's excerpt, “‘My Sense of Distance and Time was Shaken’: Globalization before It’s Time in the Work of V.S. Naipaul”, Dr. Hannan comments that the theoretical framework of Postcolonialism is not best suited to Naipaul's work. He posits that Naipaul does not see himself as being part of the local and as such does not comment or analyze or respond to the cultural legacies of colonialism. For Naipaul, who considers himself a more globalized writer, the theoretical framework of Marxism is more appropriate in analyzing his works. 

Marxism "Analyzes class relations and societal conflict using a materialist interpretation of historical development and a dialectical view of social transformation". As such, Naipaul's globalized perspective and his idea of distant proximities foregrounds the notion of "commoditizing". Naipaul commoditizes the local and everything else as a means whereby any person, regardless of space, can belong and benefit on a global scale, so that regardless of if you are from Trinidad, Argentina, or any other part of the world, you will be able to benefit and belong. In this context, he does not view himself as a Trinidadian, or ascribing to the local alone but as a global writer. 

Marxism is the primary theoretical framework which under-girds Dr. Hannan's reading of Naipaul.

Seepersad Naipaul's contribution to the society

Hello everyone,

I especially appreciated the presentation on Friday by Professor Brinsley Samaroo. The most salient point for me was that Seepersad Naipaul was against the repatriation of East Indians because of the hostile reception that they received from friends and family. Instead, he worked to improve the lives of East Indians here in Trinidad. Education was especially dear to his heart, and due to his efforts, Muslim and Hindu schools were erected. In this way, he contributed to the development of Trinidadian society as a whole. In addition, he was one of the first writers to use ‘Trini’ dialect in his works. He really seemed to be committed to ‘Mother Trinidad’  and we could all take a page from his book.  

Great conference

     Hello everyone. I attended the Thursday and Friday conference days and found them all to be incredibly informative and interesting. I really enjoyed Nicholas Laughlin's presentation about his edition of the book of letters between VS and Seepersad Naipaul. It gave an interesting exploration into the history and family dynamic of VS Naipaul. What really struck me was that in one letter, Laughlin describes it as VS beginning to see his father as a character. Another interesting note on the presentation was his question on the consequences of having let VS' sister Kamla write and encouraging her career as an author. What would that mean for the literary community in Trinidad? Dr. Dix's presentation on the development of late career fiction using the career theory further developed on this presentation for me. The evolution of a writer throughout his lifetime and the continuum of identity that is established between works as well as the change in narrative techniques such as a conclusive ending in House for Mr. Biswas and an open one in Magic Seeds.


     Jim Hannon's presentation on the inefficiency of postcolonial theory to Naipaul due to his distancing himself from any one particular location was of great interest. He showed Naipaul as being a 'global citizen' not limiting himself to one particular cultural identity. Another panel I particularly enjoyed was Sharon Millar's feminist reinterpretation of Guerillas and especially her statement that coming to a country and not understanding the culture can be very dangerous.


     All the panels were quite good in spite of the bad audio and interruptions by people about this problem. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting Anand Bhavan as well as it helps to set the scene for House for Mr. Biswas.