Placing Value on the Imagination

Caryl Phillips, our Storyteller of the Month

By Tumelo E. Phali and Shana L. Calixte | Posted: February 28, 2005

Born in St. Kitts in the Caribbean and raised in England since early childhood, acclaimed writer Caryl Philips has dedicated his decade long work to bringing issues of history into the centre of the future. His highly-respected work in television, radio, cinema, theatre and literature reflects a troubled world-wide odyssey in post colonial and the colonial era marked by slavery, most recently evidenced in his work, A Distant Shore (2003). He is the recipient of a number prestigious awards for his brilliant works like, The Final Passage (1985) which won The Malcolm X prize for fiction and Crossing The River (1993) short-listed for the 1993 Booker Prize award. Currently Professor of English and Henry R. Luce Professor of Migration and Social Order at Barnard College, Columbia University, Phillips continues to explore his much talked about themes and motifs in a fashion that has so far resisted categorization.

CaribbeanTales chats with him about his work and more…

Could you tell us a bit about your background and growing up in St. Kitts and Leeds?

I was born in St. Kitts, but I did not grow up there. I lived there for the first few months of my life, and then my parents migrated to England. I grew up in Leeds in the north of England, in a predominantly white working class environment. I had contact with the Caribbean community in so much as I had cousins, aunts and uncles there, but where we geographically lived, and where I therefore went to school, was pretty much white English.

What does Europe, especially England where you grew up, mean to you today?

I read the English newspapers every day, which is probably the best answer I can give to this question. In other words, I remain interested and connected. Similarly, I am interested in what is happening in Europe, particularly in those countries with a colonial history such as France, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Portugal, etc. countries who are going through similar problems of coping with a multicultural population in the wake of decolonization and continued migration.

When did you start writing? How did you get into writing?

I started to write at school, but I had no notion of wanting to become a writer. It was only when I was a year or so away from leaving university that it occurred to me that this is what I wanted to do with my life. I had no experience of writing – had attended no writing workshops or anything. I therefore just sat down and started to write, and I was pretty disciplined about sending out my work to publishers and magazines. It all came back to me ‘rejected’ but at least I felt as though I was in the game in some respects. Eventually, a theatre company in Sheffield accepted a play that I had written and I was able to feel as though I was ‘in the game.’

What are the pleasures, for you, in writing fiction?

The greatest pleasure in writing fiction is being able to work at my own pace in isolation. Finding the right word to place in the right place in the sentence is satisfying. As is the feeling of relief when the characters begin to finally discover their own voices.

How has your extensive traveling around the globe influenced your writing?

I have been very, very fortunate to have been able to travel quite extensively since my twenties. Travelling frequently to Africa and Asia in particular has enabled me to see Britain and Europe in a broader context. Travelling constantly to the Caribbean has enabled me to see myself through a lens that Britain could, or would, never provide me with.

Who or what have been your writing influences?

I have no one influence. Reading assiduously as a teenager has been a great influence. I loved Pasternak, Hardy, Solzhenitsyn; large narratives in which one could get lost and discover new worlds and people. I also loved the psychological acuity and dramatic skill of Ibsen and Tennessee Williams in particular. And I discovered Richard Wright and James Baldwin at an important time in my life. These days I still read for pleasure but I have quite an eclectic reading list.

In what ways has your Caribbean heritage impacted your writing, if at all?

My Caribbean heritage has been important in that it provided me with an alternative view of looking at the world. The socio-cultural and racial fusion, and confusion, of the Caribbean seems to me to better reflect the reality of the real world – as opposed to the relative ‘narrowness’ of the view of the world as seen from the USA or Europe. I’m happy to explore and absorb this alternative view and feed it into my writing.

Do you consider yourself a storyteller? If so, what stories do you tell?

At the most fundamental level this is what I do. I tell stories, some of which are true.

At Caribbean Tales, we focus on the importance of reclaiming personal histories especially through the genre of storytelling and oral history. Does this resonate with you and within your work?

I don’t have any oral storytelling history in my family – or none that I am aware of. Reclaiming personal history does strike a chord with me; this is what so much writing of the Caribbean and the Caribbean diaspora seems to focus on.

How did you hear about Caribbean Tales and what do you think is the value of such a project?

I heard about it through the internet. And of course it’s valuable. Anything that seeks to place value on the imagination is, in these days of reality television and computer games, important.

What projects are you currently working on?

I’m always working on things that I never talk about! Eventually what I do becomes public, and no longer ‘owned’ by me. While I own it I keep it close to my chest.

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