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Edward Baugh
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DEREK WALCOTT
Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott is one of the Caribbean’s most
famous writers. His unique voice in poetry, drama and criticism is shaped by his position at the crossroads between
Caribbean, British and American culture and by his interest
in hybrid identities and diaspora. Edward Baugh’s Derek
Walcott analyses and evaluates Walcott’s entire career over
the last fifty years. Baugh guides the reader through the continuities and differences of theme and style in Walcott’s poems
and plays. Walcott is an avowedly Caribbean writer, acutely
conscious of his culture and colonial heritage, but he has also
made a lasting contribution to the way we read and value the
western literary tradition. This comprehensive survey considers each of Walcott’s published books, offering the most upto-date guide available for students, scholars and readers of
Walcott. Students of Caribbean and postcolonial studies will
find this a perfect introduction to this important writer.
e d w a r d b a u g h is Emeritus Professor of English at the
University of the West Indies, Jamaica. He is the author of
Derek Walcott: Memory as Vision: ‘Another Life’ (1978) and the
editor of Critics on Caribbean Literature (1978) and (with
Colbert Nepaulsingh) of Derek Walcott’s Another Life (2004).
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Edward Baugh
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cambridge studies in african and
caribbean literature
Series editor: Professor Abiola Irele, Harvard University
Each volume in this unique series of critical studies will offer a comprehensive and in-depth account of the whole œuvre of one individual writer
from Africa or the Caribbean, in such a way that the book may be
considered a complete coverage of the writer’s expression up to the time
the study is undertaken. Attention will be devoted primarily to the works
themselves – their significant themes, governing ideas and formal procedures, and biographical and other background information will thus be
employed secondarily, to illuminate these aspects of the writer’s work
where necessary.
The emergence in the twentieth century of black literature in the United
States, the Caribbean and Africa as a distinct corpus of imaginative work
represents one of the most notable developments in world literature in
modern times. This series has been established to meet the needs of this
growing area of study. It is hoped that it will not only contribute to a wider
understanding of the humanistic significance of modern literature from
Africa and the Caribbean through the scholarly presentation of the work of
the major writers, but also offer a wider framework for the ongoing debates
about the problems of interpretation within the disciplines concerned.
Already Published
Chinua Achebe, by C. L. Innes
Nadine Gordimer, by Dominic Head
Edouard Glissant, by J. Michael Dash
V. S. Naipaul, by Fawzia Mustafa
˙
Aimé Césaire, by Gregson Davis
J. M. Coetzee, by Dominic Head
Jean Rhys, by Elaine Savory
Ngugi wa Thiong’o, by Simon Gikandi
Wole Soyinka, by Biodun Jeyifo
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052155358X - Derek Walcott
Edward Baugh
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DEREK WALCOTT
EDWARD BAUGH
Emeritus Professor of English
University of the West Indies, Mona
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052155358X - Derek Walcott
Edward Baugh
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CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521553582
© Edward Baugh 2006
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2006
Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
Baugh, Edward.
Derek Walcott / Edward Baugh. – 1st ed.
p. cm. – (Cambridge Studies in African and Caribbeann literature; 10)
Includes bibliographical reference and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-521-55358-2 (hardback)
ISBN-10: 0-521-55358-X (hardback)
1. Walcott, Derek – Criticism and interpretation. 2. Caribbean Area – In literature.
3. West Indies – In literature. I. Title. II. Series.
PR9272.9.W3Z54 2006
811´.54–dc22
ISBN-13 978-0-521-55358-2 hardback
ISBN-10 0-521-55358-X hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for
external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not
guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
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Contents
Acknowledgements
Chronology
List of abbreviations
page viii
ix
xiii
1 Walcott, writing and the Caribbean: issues and directions
1
2 Connections and separations: from 25 Poems to The Gulf
29
3 ‘What a man is’: Dream on Monkey Mountain and
Other Plays, The Haitian Trilogy and Franklin
57
4 ‘Is there that I born’: Another Life, Sea Grapes,
The Star-Apple Kingdom
88
5 The challenge of change: the dramatist after Dream
120
6 ‘Here’ and ‘Elsewhere’, ‘Word’ and ‘World’:
The Fortunate Traveller, Midsummer,
The Arkansas Testament
153
7 Narrative variations: Omeros, The Odyssey, The Bounty,
Tiepolo’s Hound
185
8 Homecoming: The Prodigal
222
Notes
Select bibliography
Index
230
242
249
vii
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Acknowledgements
I am grateful to J. Michael Dash for having recommended that I do
this book, and to Abiola Irele for his helpful advice and his surpassing
patience.
viii
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Chronology
1930
1931
1941–7
1944
1947–50
1948
1949
1950
1951
1953
1953–4
1954
1954–7
1957–8
1958
Walcott and his twin brother, Roderick, born,
Castries, St Lucia.
Death of Walcott’s father, Warwick Walcott.
Walcott attends St Mary’s College, Castries.
Poem, ‘1944’, published in The Voice of St Lucia.
Assistant Master, St Mary’s College.
Publication of 25 Poems, Walcott’s first book.
Publication of Epitaph for the Young.
Founds St Lucia Arts Guild, with Maurice Mason.
Premiere of Henri Christophe, Castries.
Enters University College of the West Indies, Mona,
Jamaica, on Colonial Development and Welfare
scholarship, to read for BA degree in English, French
and Latin.
Publication of Poems.
BA degree (London – University College of the
West Indies).
Reads for Diploma in Education, University College
of the West Indies.
First marriage, to Faye Moyston.
Premiere of The Sea at Dauphin, Port of Spain.
Assistant Master, Grenada Boys’ Secondary School,
Grenada; St Mary’s College, St Lucia;
Jamaica College, Jamaica.
Feature writer, Public Opinion, Jamaica.
Premiere of Drums and Colours, Port of Spain, to mark
inauguration of the Federation of the West Indies.
Premiere of Ti-Jean and His Brothers, Port of Spain.
ix
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Chronology
x
1959
1960
1960–2
1962
1963–8
1964
1965
1966
1967
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1976
1978
Founds Little Carib Basement Theatre (later Trinidad
Theatre Workshop).
Premiere of Malcochon, Castries.
Second marriage, to Margaret Maillard.
Feature writer, Trinidad Guardian.
Federation of the West Indies dissolved.
Drama critic, later freelance writer, Trinidad
Guardian.
Publication of Selected Poems.
Publication of The Castaway.
Establishes Basement Theatre at Bretton Hall Hotel,
Port of Spain.
Death of Harold Simmons, friend and mentor.
Royal Society of Literature Award for The Castaway.
Elected Fellow of the Royal Society.
Premiere of Dream on Monkey Mountain, Toronto.
Publication of The Gulf.
Gold Hummingbird Medal, Trinidad and Tobago.
Publication of Dream on Monkey Mountain and
Other Plays.
‘The February [Black Power] Revolution’, attempt to
overthrow the government of Trinidad and Tobago.
Cholmondeley Award for Poetry, for The Gulf.
Obie Award for most distinguished play on
Off-Broadway (Dream on Monkey Mountain).
Order of the British Empire (St Lucia List).
Honorary Doctor of Letters, University of the
West Indies.
Publication of Another Life.
Jock Campbell New Statesman Award for Another Life.
Premiere of The Joker of Seville, Port of Spain.
Resigns from Trinidad Theatre Workshop, of which
he had been Director.
Publication of Sea Grapes.
Premiere of O Babylon!, Port of Spain.
Premiere of Remembrance, St Croix.
Publication of ‘The Joker of Seville’ and ‘O Babylon!’.
Premiere of Pantomime, Port of Spain.
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1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1986
1987
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
Chronology
xi
Honorary Member, American Academy of Arts and
Letters.
Publication of The Star-Apple Kingdom.
Publication of ‘Remembrance’ and ‘Pantomime’.
John D. and Catherine MacArthur Prize Fellow
Award.
Publication of The Fortunate Traveller.
Premiere of Beef, No Chicken, Port of Spain.
Appointed Visiting Professor of English (Creative
Writing), Boston University.
Third marriage, to Norline Metivier.
Premiere of The Last Carnival, Seattle.
Premiere of A Branch of the Blue Nile, Bridgetown.
Publication of Midsummer.
Premiere of The Haitian Earth, Castries, to mark
150th anniversary of the abolition of slavery.
Gold Musgrave Medal, Institute of Jamaica (presented
1988).
Publication of Three Plays.
Publication of Collected Poems.
Appointed Professor of English (Creative Writing),
Boston University.
Publication of The Arkansas Testament.
Awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry by
Queen Elizabeth II.
Premiere of The Ghost Dance, Oneonta.
Death of mother, Alix Walcott, Castries.
Publication of Omeros.
Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Medal.
W. H. Smith Award for Omeros.
Nobel Prize for Literature.
Premiere of The Odyssey: A Stage Version,
Stratford-upon-Avon.
Publication of The Odyssey: A Stage Version.
Publication of The Antilles: Fragments of Epic Memory
(The Nobel Lecture) (London: Faber and Faber;
New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1993).
Premiere of Walker (as an opera), Boston.
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Chronology
xii
1996
1997
1998
2000
2002
2004
2005
Columbus Square, Castries, renamed Derek Walcott
Square.
Death of friend, Joseph Brodsky, Nobel Laureate,
New York.
Publication of The Bounty.
Honorary Doctor of Letters, University of Warwick.
Death of brother, Roderick, Toronto.
Publication of Tiepolo’s Hound.
Publication of The Haitian Trilogy.
Publication of ‘Walker’ and ‘The Ghost Dance’.
Publication of The Prodigal.
The Pitons declared World Heritage Site by
UNESCO.
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Abbreviations
Abbreviated references in the text are to the following editions of
Walcott’s work, a typescript by him and a collection of interviews
with him. The initials given are followed by a page number, both in
parentheses. Where a quotation is from a poem to be found in
Collected Poems (CP ), the reference is given as from CP.
AT
The Arkansas Testament (1987; London and Boston:
Faber and Faber, 1988)
B
The Bounty (London and Boston: Faber and Faber,
1997)
C
The Castaway and Other Poems (London: Cape, 1965)
CDW
Conversations with Derek Walcott, ed. William Baer
(Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1996)
CP
Collected Poems 1948–1984 (1986; London and Boston:
Faber and Faber, 1992)
DMM
Dream on Monkey Mountain and Other Plays (1970;
London: Cape, 1972)
EY
Epitaph for the Young: XII Cantos (Bridgetown,
Barbados: Advocate Co., 1949)
F
Franklin: A Tale of the Islands, mimeograph
typescript, n.d. (The University of the West Indies
Library, Mona, Jamaica)
FT
The Fortunate Traveller (London: Faber and Faber,
1982)
G
The Gulf and Other Poems (London: Cape, 1969)
GN
In A Green Night: Poems 1948–1960 (London: Cape,
1962)
HT
The Haitian Trilogy (New York: Farrar, Straus and
Giroux, 2002)
xiii
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List of abbreviations
xiv
I
JSB
M
MS One
O
OSV
P
RP
SAK
SG
TH
TP
WGD
WTS
Ione: A Play with Music (Kingston, Jamaica:
University College of the West Indies, Extra-Mural
Department (1957))
‘The Joker of Seville’ and ‘O Babylon!’ (New York:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1978)
Midsummer (London and Boston: Faber and Faber,
1984)
‘Another Life,’ unpublished holograph, University of
the West Indies Library, Mona, Jamaica
Omeros (London and Boston: Faber and Faber, 1990)
The Odyssey: A Stage Version (London and Boston:
Faber and Faber, 1993)
The Prodigal (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux,
2004)
‘Remembrance’ and ‘Pantomime’ (New York: Farrar,
Straus and Giroux, 1980)
The Star-Apple Kingdom (New York: Farrar, Straus
and Giroux, 1978)
Sea Grapes (London: Cape, 1976)
Tiepolo’s Hound (London: Faber and Faber, 2000)
Three Plays (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux,
1986)
‘Walker’ and ‘The Ghost Dance’ (New York: Farrar,
Straus and Giroux, 2002)
What the Twilight Says: Essays (London: Faber and
Faber, 1998)
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