Beyond the Postcolonial Dasein: On Derek Walcott’s Narratives of History and Exile

Abstract

In April 2007, The New York Times published William Logan’s critical review of Derek Walcott’s book Selected Poems (2007), in which the critic acknowledged that “for more than half a century [Walcott] has served as our poet of exile — a man almost without a country, unless the country lies wherever he has landed, in flight from himself” (“The Poet of Exile”). At the same time, Logan accused the Nobel Laureate of misusing his exilic position since, as he wrote, if Walcott “had not invented himself, academia would have had to invent him” (“The Poet of Exile”). Logan acknowledged the poet’s depiction of his islands as “ravishing” but also called them “painterly, observed with a detachment that leaves [Walcott] more a tourist than a fortunate traveler, not a man who got away but one who was never quite there” (“The Poet of Exile”).1 The publication caused a mini-scandal and provoked a number of angry responses. For some, Walcott is an abuser of his exilic position, someone who benefits from being away and standing “above” his people, in Said’s terms. For others, Walcott is the spokesperson of a generation of exiles and divided people, those who associate the difficulties of the exilic flight and the challenges of its economic and emotional turmoil with the times of global migration.2 This ambiguity, I believe, has no resolution, since indeed the condition of exile is both a punishment and a privilege, and in his poetry and plays Walcott explores and employs both sides of this coin.KeywordsAmerican ActorTheater ArtistArtistic DirectorSteel BandProfessional TheaterThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.