The Muse of History by Derek Walcott - 1751 Words

Antillean Articulation The Caribbean culture is a result of an amalgamation of different fragments of historical influences. Colonialism led to Europeans who brought Africans then Indians to lands that were already occupied by native Arawak and Amerindian Indians. This ensued a postcolonial environment that displayed a culture that was often schizophrenic. The culture that has been handed down whether through oppressive powers or willfully acquired offer inspiration for artists. In Derek Walcott’s essay, â€Å"The Muse of History,† he compares two different views of writers who have experienced colonialism the classical and the other radical. He says that there is the â€Å"common experience† of colonialism, but one should not remain fixated on the past (36). Derek Walcott and Jean Rhys are deemed as classical writers since such writers â€Å"have gone past the confrontation of history, that Medusa of the New World,† and instead of becoming frozen in bitterness, see histor y as a source for re-imagination. The radical writer yearns for the past, while the classicist sees history and the New World as full of possibilities. Walcott is among many other artists who feel the need to take these fragments and fuse them in order for an Antillean voice to emerge. In Beating a Restless Drum: The Poetics of Kamau Braithwaite and Derek Walcott by June D. Bobb, quotes Brathwaite: Slowly, ever so slowly†¦.I was coming to an awareness†¦of cultural wholeness, of the place of the individual withinShow MoreRelatedDerek Walcotts Omeros1160 Words   |  5 PagesStructurally, Walcott creolizes the epic genre and makes it his own. Homeric epics deal with battles and honor, which reflects the culture of the Ancient Greeks. Walcott is doing the same; he is reflecting the experience of the new empowered people of the receding empire and telling the struggle of his own tribe. The reader often comes across a reference that resonates with something read in the classic epics, and it would be unfair for Walcott to expect the reader to refrain from these associationsRead MoreThe Caribbean History1095 Words   |  4 Pages Derek Walcott and Jean Rhys both have texts that use the fragments of the Caribbean history to create their texts. Walcott has mentioned in many essays and interviews how important it is for the artist to not become disillusioned and bitter ab out history. Rather, artists should make use of these fragments of European, African, and native Arawak/Amerindian, to reinvent and create a voice that entails all of those influences. Walcott redefines and reinvents the literary epic in Omeros and RhysRead MoreCreole Hybridity in Literature572 Words   |  2 Pagesclass of the country. Growing up in St. Lucia, I saw how this is true, people are often embarrassed by their parent who spoke creole, or they as children where forbidden to speak creole as to avoid being stereotyped. The language expresses the history of the Caribbean and the hybridity that emerges through language. In the diaspora, people depend on creating a space of â€Å"home† in the host country and language is an important part of this space. The connection immigrants feel when they come intoRead MoreThe Aftershocks Of Oppression : Historical Determinism1451 Words   |  6 Pagesseminal essay, â€Å"The Muse of History,† Derek Walcott argues for the rejection of history as a â€Å"creative or culpable force† in narrative fiction. Walcott proposes that protagonists should â€Å"[walk] in a world without monuments and ruin s,† unencumbered by the vestiges of the past. His perspective on the role of history in prose is decidedly anti-determinist, and he maintains that good prose should not be driven by the past. Walcott asserts that writing should not be constrained by history. However, in â€Å"Let