2018 Year in Review: Books (part one)
by Petamber Persaud
We, lovers of literature, can say goodbye to 2018 with satisfaction, knowing that some of the books published in this year will follow us into 2019 while others will stay, will not leave us during 2019 and decades beyond, such is this remarkable gift to man.
From its inception, the book was treated with respect, even with awe, for man valued the book very highly with regards to its potential as a tool of education and instruction, as a repository for storage and retrieval of information, as a custodian of traditions and languages, as a forum for art and entertainment, stimulating the imagination and improving memory, a source of inspiration, among other benefits. And the book has lived up to expectations even in its new forms and formats.
Below are books crossing my desk during 2018*.
Aftermath of Empire: The Novels of Roy A. K. Heath by Ameena Gafoor, UWI Press, 2017
With the publication of her singular book, Aftermath of Empire: The Novels of A. K. Heath, Ameena Gafoor has sort of brought Roy Heath back home to his birthplace to be re-discovered, to be reappraised and to be re-appreciated, in a way rescuing him from self-imposed exile and also rescuing his work from obscurity (limited critical response) because Gafoor in this seminal publication was able to place Heath among the forefront of Guyanese Literature (his oeuvre of nine novels is only surpassed by Edgar Mittelholzer and Wilson Harris) by painstakingly revealing to us how ‘Heath has practically refined the introspective Guyanese antihero’ while finding occasion to ‘celebrate every one of his flawed fictional creatures: their humaneness, their eccentricities, their weaknesses, and their strengths, even if they are social misfits and psychological wrecks’.
Gafoor also gives Heath his rightful place in the canon of Caribbean Literature by showing how he has ‘revolutionized the form of the regional novel…[n]o non-Indian writer has displayed such remarkable cultural knowledge and such psychological depth in depicting East Indian experience in the West Indian novel’. Heath’s The Shadow Bride would be essential reading here.
Red Hibiscus by Scott Ting-A-Kee, Way Wive Wordz Publishing, UK, 2018
Chu hua, Zhaohui and Ren share a grand destiny as the greatest diviners of all time. They are blessed or cursed with clairvoyance and decide to try to change the future. Their very existence and abilities are beyond what the Heavens should allow. The clairvoyant trio records their shared visions and dreams in the form of poetry hoping that it may be passed down as a warning to future generations.
Yoaguai and gods attack Chu hua, Zhaohui and Ren to silence them and to prevent them from changing the future they see for China and the world. The emperor feels threatened and is not sure if he should exploit their mystic powers or kill them out of fear of them.
Outcasts who rose to legendary destinies now have to work together to save China from a future they do not quite understand while fighting for their own lives. (Synopsis provided by the author.)
Edgar Mittelholzer: Creole Chips and Other Writings ed. Juanita Cox, Peepal Tree Press, 2018
The publication of Creole Chips And Other Writings of Edgar Mittelholzer edited by Juanita Cox, the acknowledged authority on Mittelholzer, is an attempt to right many wrongs in the life and work and the perception and misconception of that Guyanese pioneering writer, sporting many firsts in Anglophone Caribbean literature.
Creole Chips and Other Writings contains twenty-five sketches, twenty-four short stories, thirteen essays & personal writings, five dramatic pieces, twenty-two poems, a novel The Adding Machine, and a well-crafted and beautiful children story labeled ‘Poolwana’s Orchid: A Tale for Juveniles’ running into fourteen pages.
A Little Poet’s World by Aurelius Sue-Ann, 2018
Here is a girl of ten stimulated by her reading to try her hand at writing; not any type of writing but the writing of poetry – one of the most exacting genres of writing and, so far, with this first effort, she has done a commendable job.
Aurelia has displayed a good grasp of issues that plague and grace childhood, not shying away from themes like friendship, love, lost, death, fear, depression, freedom and self-confidence. She also dabbles with large subjects like life. The poem ‘Life’ is one of her better pieces even buttressed with a punch line showing she has already learned or worked out for herself the essentials of a life.
Defeating Domestic Violence in the Americas: Men’s Work by Luke Daniels, Hansib Publications, 2017
A Survey of Guyanese History by Dr. Winston McGowan, Guyenterprise, 2018
Stepping on Cracks: Reflections on my Homeland by Carmen Barclay Subryan, Demerara Press, USA, 2018
Journey Back to Watooka: A Story of Guyana by Steve Connolly, FriesenPress, 2018
Down Independence Boulevard by Ken Puddicombe, MiddleRoad Publishers, 2017
The Guyana Annual 2018, Guyenterprise, 2018
Educational Leadership: A Guyanese Perspective by Dr. Brian O’Toole, School of Nations, 2018
Two Young Birds (poems) by Leonard C. Marks, 2017
Hand-in-Hand History of Cricket in Guyana 1898-1914 by Clem Seecharan, Hansib, 2018
Make it Shine (poems) by Ingrid Dover-Vidal
Women across Borders (with a mission) ed. Sonia Noel
Home Memories by Gideon Cecil
The Ashgabat Verdict by Hans Gaskin, CreateSpace, 2014
Anatomy of Race Politics: Economics, Violence Against Diaspora Indians by Seopaul Singh
Against the Grain: Balram Singh Rai and the Politics of Guyana by Baytoram Ramharack, Chakra Publishing House, 2005
Bitter-Sweet Sugar by Nowrang Persaud, BookVenture, USA, 2018
Monsoon on the Fingers of God (poems) by Sasenarine Persaud, Mawenzi House, 2018
*Some of the above Guyanese-authored books were published before 2018 but only now reaching my desk.
Manuscripts not included.
(To be continued)
Responses to this author please telephone 226-0065 of email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com
(Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)
