Austin again - the feminist - 12/30

I can't resist sharing a little of Austin Clarke. As I read, I find myself noting pages that would make for great discussions. First, I've noticed that his use of creole and colloquial language is extraordinary in the way he crafts the language. His genius is in knowing just when to break the "standard" English with words and phrases in creole; he knows just when to place certain sayings that are very national and cultural in the midst of the story to capture your attention with a eh eh or en heh or nah or a stewups.

Of course, it's important to note that I've lived away from the language for almost 30 years; I do interact with many Guyanese and others from the region, but many of them live outside of Guyana. Austin used the words "You think I is a fecking cunu-munu?" The words immediately engaged more than a memory in me. I remember using those words; I was once a part of those words and I wondered how they slipped away. Austin touched a piece of my identity that was behind some cobwebs. It made me wonder about the identity I occupy now or the many or the fractured; I call it nomadic.

I must also say that I was surprised when I realized that Austin's novel communicates what I consider to be a very progressive understanding of women; this is revealed in the main character of the novel, Mary. Yes, Mary, and I do believe that she is a challenge to the Virgin Mary. Austin weaves his knowledge of religion, the colonial education, the day to day experience of various characters, and his knowledge of the black experience together in this novel. The book is most definitely a comment of society through the eyes of a woman.

Here are a few examples of his work:

"They walk on, with no word from her. He watches her body as it moves before him, like someone who is blind and still walking with certainty. He cannot claim that he has contributed to her certainty of gait that is so self-assured; it has nothing to do with him, it was not his body that induced this glow in her posture. It is all hers. The gait of a woman who knows what she wants. And how to get it. He cannot be arrogant and boast, as a man might boast, that he has anything to do with her independence. Her independence seems bigger than when he arrived; and stronger, too."

"Columbus went East. Or is it West? He certainly end-up West, down here with us in the Wessindies, completely lost in the Carbean Sea, without knowing his arse from his you-know-what. And yet, Columbus get all this credit for discovering all o' we, including Amurca; but according to Wilberforce, Amurca was already discovered for donkey years, by people who Columbus called Red Indians; but peopled by those people, nevertheless. What discovering did Coumbus discover, when he didn't even know his armpit from his arse! - pardon my French, Sarge! ..... And discovered people that were already discovered, and that had discovered themselves, in one way or the other."