An Outline of the Imaginative Literature of Guyanese of Indian Ancestry, Part One

- By Petamber Persaud

(Extract of a lecture delivered on Friday May 28, 2010, in the Conference Room of the National Library by yours truly under the auspices of GOPIO [Guyana chapter] to commemorate the arrival of Indians to Guyana.)

In preparing for this presentation, I took umbrage with the word ‘lecture’ until a definition of the word (which says that a lecture is an ‘oral presentation intended to present information about a particular subject’) softened my position – yes, I have something to share about the literature of Guyanese of Indian ancestry, hoping to demystify the aesthetics, remove misconceptions and in a way set the record straight.
The full title of my presentation is ‘an outline of the imaginative literature of Guyanese of Indian ancestry’; cognisant that we must take pride in our achievements as part of the whole Guyanese identity and also as Guyanese of Indian ancestry.
But in as much as I am dealing with the creative aspect of literature, I would not diminish other aspects of literature by this community. It must be noted here, at the beginning, that it was difficult to divorce the literature of Guyanese of Indian ancestry from the whole gamut of Guyanese Literature. Here we must bear in mind, Guyanese literature is still in its formative years and the contribution of every writer is important to the whole; to the overall development of a Guyanese literature.
It is useful at the onset to paint a background to Guyanese literature so as to juxtapose the contribution of Guyanese of Indian ancestry.
It would be useful, also, to remember our literature was tied for a long while to the English literary tradition.
The first writings on Guyana were done by European explorers, colonisers, missionaries and administrators. This went on for a protracted period, lasting way into the 20th century.
Even the first novels on the Indian experience were written by non-Indian non-Guyanese namely, Edward Jenkins’s Lutchmee and Dilloo (1877) and A. R. F. Webber’s Those that be in Bondage: A Tale of Indian Indentures and Sunlit Western Waters, (1917). Other publications on the immigrants experience included Rev. Pearson’s The New Overseer’s Manual’ (1890), Rev. MacKay’s Under the Southern Cross (1904) and Edward Jenkins’ The Coolie: His Rights and Wrongs (1872)
A point of departure could be detected in the post-war period with the Caribbean states agitating for independence and the attendant literature of that period and thereafter, a literature that is now grouped in that broad category titled post-colonial literature.
‘Until the 1960s there were no fictional or autobiographical representations of Indo-Guyanese lives written by Indo-Guyanese. Until then we have little which gives us any insight into the inner feelings, ways of seeing or even the intimate social texture of Indo-Guyanese lives.’
That was a quote from the book They Came in Ships compiled by Lloyd Searwar, Laxhmie Kallicharan, Joel Benjamin and Ian McDonald, and published by the Indian Commemoration Trust in 1998.
But by the year 2000, forty years later, Frank Birbalsingh in his book Jahaji had enough evidence to declare as early as in 1998, ‘the very idea of Indo-Caribbean identity appeared suspicious and the classification of Indo-Caribbean literature seemed superfluous…. Yes, 1998 marked one hundred and fifty years since people from India first immigrated to the Caribbean, and one would think that that was long enough for their distinctive, ethnic features as an immigrant community to be accepted in their environment.’
And Shana Yardan could say in one of her better known poems, ‘oh grandfather, my grandfather/Your dhoti is become a shroud/Your straight hair a curse’.
I don’t know if those indictments on our society had anything to do with Clem Seecharan’s finding that the advent of Indians to Guyana as escaping to ‘an area of possibilities…they became adept at exploiting every niche conductive to gain’. Creative writing was one of those niche areas exploited; this move may appear to have come later rather than sooner.
The first writings by Indian immigrants were the letters sent back home to India and the replies, none of which have survived. Those letters would have added significantly to the better understanding of our ancestors.
The first examples of writings in English by Indian immigrants were letters to the press mainly about the deplorable living and working conditions.
The most outstanding exponent of this genre was Bechu of Enmore Estate whose remonstrations surfaced in the late 1800s.
Around that same period, Joseph Ruhomon who was born in Guyana in 1873 came to prominence as a journalist and lecturer. Ruhomon was a pioneer and pacesetter on many fronts, gaining honours like ‘the first modern Indian intellectual in British Guiana’, ‘a litterateur of outstanding ability’ and ‘thinker’. In 1894, he delivered a groundbreaking lecture in Georgetown. That lecture entitled, ‘India; the Progress of her People at Home and Abroad and How those in British Guiana may Improve themselves’ was published later that year.
Responses to this author telephone (592) 226-0065 or email: oraltradition2002@ yahoo.com

What’s Happening
· The Guyana Annual 2010 issue is now available at Guyenterprise Ltd. on Lance Gibbs and Irving Streets, Queenstown.
· The new closing date for the Ministry of Culture, Youth & Sport literary competition for school is July 9, 2010. Please contact me for more information. This competition includes three follow-up components via a writers’ workshop using entries submitted, performances of shortlisted entries and a publication of the outstanding works.