From No Passport...

Oct 31, 2008
by Geoff McMaster
Esteemed writers weigh 'what matters' in their work
Nobel laureate Derek WalcottEdmonton - Nobel laureate Derek Walcott has a message for young artists: if you're looking for applause or recognition, you may be in the wrong business.
"The really great artist works on in a private silence that does not need the accommodation of applause," said the celebrated Caribbean poet, playwright and visual artist. "That is the only message I can give the young."
At a Faculty of Arts panel discussion, Thursday, called Writing: What Matters, Walcott lamented the competitive spirit in contemporary cultural production, arguing that it has very little to do with being an artist.
"I believe we have come to the point where we are all measured as artists by these various criteria that really have nothing to do with the craft that you practise. In the West, success is measured by the amount of money you make. I'm increasingly disturbed by this, because it makes the craft competition, and it makes it financial competition or career competition, and it's disturbing that the young have to be fed this.
"What is the answer to the artist who craves recognition or applause for his or her work? It may be nothing. It may be simply what that artist contains in him or her self."
One of the most accomplished literary figures of modern times, Walcott is on campus to participate in the Great Minds, Nobel Ideas program, bringing Nobel laureates to the U of A from the Caribbean and Africa. He is the first Nobel winner to visit the U of A as part of the program.
Walcott explained that he grew up in St. Lucia, "a very, very small, obscure, semi-literate island in the Caribbean," and was not the least bit embarrassed by it. Since it was far from the world's cultural centres, he was able to resist assumptions of the dominant esthetic, which can be trite and suffocating, he said, resulting in the production of what he calls "bright trash."
If the standard of the centre were the only possible measure, "you would not have (Gabriel Garcia) Marquez writing about his little town in Colombia," he said. "You would not have (William) Faulkner writing about an absolutely obscure hamlet in Mississippi."
The unstated bias of mainstream culture is that nothing of value can come from a "backward origin, that you can't have genius in obscure places," said Walcott.
But nothing could be further from the truth, he said. "Genius is found in the most contradictory places...You cannot predict who will speak for their country."
Walcott also admitted that he was "a little horrified" to learn of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's dismissive view of the arts during the recent election campaign. "It's profoundly scary when the leader of a country can be so ridiculous in terms of thinking of his artists as people who are not needed.
"People who presume to speak for the common man demean him - they do not help him. It's insulting to the ordinary person to be told, 'we'll create an art that will get down to your level.'"
Also on the panel were U of A writer-in-residence Lynn Coady, playwright-in-residence Kevin Kerr and Edmonton's writer-in-exile Rita Espeschit. All spent time attacking Harper for his remarks on the arts, but they also discussed what makes their work worth doing.
Coady, for instance, elaborated on Walcott's description of that lonely, silent place where the artist dwells and why it's important to seek it out.
"Something I struggle with more and more these days is the notion that every time I sit down to write a new novel, I'm making a choice to distance myself even further from normal life as most people know it," said Coady. "I'm choosing to embark on a project that will keep me indoors and alone for large swaths of time, while my bank account dwindles.
"So why does writing that novel matter so much, to the extent that I would put myself off from a world I desperately want to connect and engage with? I guess the paradox is I do it to accomplish the very thing it simultaneously prevents me from accomplishing - to connect and engage with the world. It's the best way I know how to do that."
Ending a two-week visit to the U of A, Walcott will teach a three-hour master class in poetry for graduate students on Saturday. He has also led master classes for undergraduate English and drama students.
The Writing: What Matters forum was hosted by the departments of english and film studies, drama and political science. A podcast and audio recording will be made available by the Arts Resource Centre for teaching and learning purposes.