Caribbean: Mimicry or Mimesis

through the

Poetry of Derek Walcott

By Egbert R. Higinio  

Reprinted by Permission

n Dangriga, Belize, the virtuous cultural activist Pablo Lambey gave this adopted son several spades to dig deep into the soil of learning. He also taught how you must look out to the sea to increase the horizon. I now reminisce on his wisdom that encouraged me to leave my books at times to walk in the neighborhood and make friends. "Go out, make friends and stop cloaking yourself in dem books," he would say. Perhaps he should never have started. Two houses east, I found a long-winded Benjamin Nicholas; and about five houses south, I stumbled on a contemplative Rudolph "Pen" Cayetano. All this occurred in the mid 1970s. I had lived at 33 Oak Street almost five years before meeting the two noble gentlemen. In the mirror of my eyes, Benji and Pen reflected a truth that we can represent life through art. The splash of bright colorful still-life paintings of Benji and the moving shadows and deep varied colors of Pen's work, created an addictive tension within me. I kept going back, from one to the other.

When I discovered the genius of Benji and Pen, I almost decided to give up academic studies and — if I was not careful — become a painter. I was amazed at their mastery and mesmerized by their knowledge and advancement with so little formal schooling in this art.

Artistic talents abounded in Dangriga. Some played musical instruments like Corro, Cookie and the now world famous Junior Aranda. I remember Cookie and Junior Aranda visiting my home and trying to teach me to play the guitar and sing Paranda songs. For me, these honorable gentlemen created a peaceful world from their own image and likeness. They brought comfort and hope in our lives through their creations. I wanted to be like them yet carry on with my studies; but how could I merge studies with artistry? The best I could do is to hold their art in worship. As much as these artists loved their work I loved them more. Of course, I got on their nerves several times, especially Benji and Pen. They must have considered me a smart high school student against whose curiosity one must guard. To teach me or distract me, I don't know which, they loaned me books. Benji shared Gaugin's collection; and Pen shared mostly about Dali.

Many times my visit ended with head-on-collision arguments. For I would sit in their make-shift studio for hours, saying nothing and just allowing myself to be one with the painting. Then, I'd dare to ask them for pieces of their paintings to exhibit at the town's cultural arts show. And instead of just handing over one or two paintings each of them would resist, using a litany of advice on the caring of paintings. I had to listen to questions like: whose idea was this? Who would carry the paintings back and fro? Who would be caring for them and preventing spectators from touching them? I had to listen to their suspicions like: perhaps I should seriously consider buying more for my own collection of paintings and use those for future exhibits. And how come the town’s mayor was not purchasing the paintings and displaying them in his council chamber? That perhaps I was just intent on making fun of their hard work. And if all the time I was visiting to scheme on their paintings! Then I had to listen to lectures: If I knew how much time, hours, weeks and months of effort went into a painting! And if I could place a dollar value on each painting how much would I be willing to pay if one got damaged! I was always mute to their abuse. I never had answers for these questions. I loved the art only for its art sake and I wanted the world to see the work of geniuses in my home town. Of course, I tried to understand their concerns but I could not comprehend why they didn't want to exhibit their paintings.

I could not fathom either why the community did not purchase their art work. Things changed a few years after. The world got wind of their art work. The Caribbean Conference of Churches bought a mimic of Dali's Jesus Christ painting from Pen. The Pelican Resort purchased several pieces of Benji's Garifuna cultural thematic works. Yes, things changed. Classmate Sydney Mejia composed "Ahmuti." Pen and his Turtle Shell band revolutionized traditional punta music to develop the genre of punta-rock. After leaving Lord Rhaburn, Mohobub Flores established his space among the icons of punta-rock while further down south of Belize, Andy Palacio succeeded in penetrating the international market.

Punta-rock like the classical traditional punta of the Garifuna people ought to reflect changes and struggles of the Garifuna community. I talk about a Garifuna culture and art that has been pressurized by economic needs yet that same pressure enhanced it to a stature of diamonds. Artists are keenly aware of this. Much more so than the state, art workers know the invaluable potential of culture, as it is manifested through music. For example, recall the appropriation of punta-rock song "Conch Soup" by Banda Blanca of Spanish Honduras, who saw the value of a local cultural production. Banda Blanca has received credit internationally for something created out of Dangriga No. I will not talk about that type of mimicry. It's an example of international plagiarism and theft — a violation of copyright laws of which none existed in Belize. Dangriga's "Conch Soup" became internationally recognized as "Sopa de Corracol" with all its rhythm and lyrics intact. The only difference was that it was translated into another language. It's mimicry at the lowest level.

Culture and the arts can walk together, like wife and husband, as a potential viable economic industry to feed a community. A cultural industry engraves a community's space on the marble stone of a world map. We need our own national map. Tourists will not be attracted to our shores solely to eat burgers and French fries. I propose, like Philip Lewis, they want to "...see a new Belize." A tourist looks for the community's soul expressed in art.

Dangriga, Belize, at one time, was like a mural. It is cultural art representing life. Listen to Mohobub's song "Thanksgiving." Listen to Pen's "Mahogany." Listen to Junior Aranda's "Baiba lau Bibe le." Yet the artists in Dangriga struggled. They are not recognized at home. I guess that artists during the time of the Renaissance had this problem. The struggles of Dangrigan artists seem not unique to Belize. Other Caribbean artists have had the same struggles with their art work.

Today, I focus on the small Caribbean island state of St. Lucia where Derek Walcott's long struggle took form from about 1948 till the time he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992. In discussing Walcott, it is convenient to study his poetic art to extend a dialogue of how artist can imitate the work of others and imitate life. The development of this discussion walks us through definitions of mimicry, imitation, and mimesis. The final part of this presentation briefly explains how Aristotle's theory of mimesis is applied to art as an imitation of life.

In this presentation, I use art and literature interchangeably for we can use poetry or prose writings as pictures in words. It has been established that all art may be a representation of a representation, or representation of another art form or of life. My study spends time with discussing the task of creation as a method of imitation, mimicry and mimesis. I will not discuss another form of mimicry which Henry Louis Gates Jr., refers to as "the trope of the Talking Books," where one book is in response to another book. I believe the significance of that discussion merits another presentation in another literary tradition. Neither will I venture to discuss our traditional cultural dances as forms of imitation, for that too will need more time and space for discussion.

An Analogy of Walcott's Poetry

The poetry of Derek Walcott may be better presented by making comparisons and analogies. In his Mirror and The Lamp, Abrams posits that we critics of literature on the one hand, and, art in general, have the arduous task of discussing art by (a) explaining it through metaphors, (b) showing how the work of art relates to other "prototypes," (c) comparing art with reality and (d) explaining its inter-connectives with other universal themes or things (30). This phenomenon is not limited to the arts, for example, even languages of natural sciences, claims Abrams, appear handicapped without the usage of figures of speech to give broader perspective to the nature of scientific objects when they are being described. The course for the literary critic has been to use "parallels" associated with the object under review that may cast some light, albeit dimly, on some aspects of its art form. The parallel is the formula which, according to Abrams, utilizes "the better known to illuminate the less known" (31). I use his advice to explore a discussion of Walcott's poetry. My curious mind keeps asking, "What is its nature or What is it like?" (Abrams 32).

The analogy often used in discussing art forms has been "the mirror image." This image illuminates the nature of objects and has been a favorite with aesthetic theorists since Plato's time. Abrams suggests that it was Plato who seemed to have been the first to introduce "the reflector analogy" to describe the nature of art work. References to the analogy of the looking glass became handy to analyze and reflect on art forms. Within this category of analysis, paintings, for example, have been looked upon as a form of mirror or representation to illustrate their relation to the natural picture and the mind of the painter. The painter's mind mirrors the color of the thing on canvas. The "mirror image" created becomes either filled or obscured by images that have influenced the artist. I would like to suggest that we can extend this argument of "mirror image" to relate to Walcott's artistry which can be said to reflect influences of his precursors whom he mirrors or imitates. In this study, I compare his work with three poets whom he imitates.

TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT ISSUE

Works Cited

Allison, Alexander, Editors Emeriti: Herbert Barrows, Caesar R. Blake, Arthur J. Carr et al. The Norton Anthology of Poetry. Shorter 4th Edition. W. W. Norton & Company. New York 1996.

Alleyne, Keith. "Epitaph For the Young." In Critical Perspectives on Derek Walcott. Washington DC: Three Continent P Inc., (1993): 98-105.

Atkins, G. Douglas. Reading Deconstruction Deconstructive Reading. Kentucky. The U P of Kentucky, 1983.

Baer, William Ed. Conversations With Derek Walcott. Mississippi: U.P. of Mississippi, 1996.

Collymore, Frank. "An Introduction to the Poetry of Derek Walcott." Critical Perspectives on Derek Walcott. Washington DC: Three Continent P Inc., (1993): 87-95.

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Durix, Jean-Pierre. Mimesis Genres and Post-colonial Discourse: Deconstructing Magic Realism. London: Macmillan P Ltd., 1998.

Hammer, Robert D. Critical Perspectives on Derek Walcott. Washington DC: Three Continent P Inc., 1993.

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Norris, Christopher. The Contest of Faculties: Philosophy and Theory after Deconstruction. London and New York: Methuen, 1985.

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Sallis, John. Edited. Deconstruction and Philosophy: The Text of Jacques Derrida. Chicago and London: The U of Chicago P, 1987.

Terada, Rei. Derek Walcott's Poetry. Boston: Northern U P, 1992.

Walcott, Derek. Collected Poems 1948-1984. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1986.

----. The Arkansas Testament. New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 1987.

----. "The Caribbean: Culture or Mimicry." Critical Perspective On Derek Walcott. Washington D.C., Three Continents Press, Inc. 1993: 51-57.

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