Tobias Doring's "Caribbean-English Passages: Intertextuality in a Postcolonial Tradition" (Book Note)

 

Tobias Döring's book "Caribbean-English Passages: Intertextuality in a Postcolonial Tradition" is a work of great merit, notably for its continual emphasis on the profound interconnectedness that defines the Caribbean, as succinctly articulated by the Haitian scholar Michel-Rolph Trouillot. Trouillot aptly states that "the Caribbean is nothing but contact". Additionally, Döring's book stands out for its meticulous examination of genre politics, effectively dismantling the notion of a singular imperial/colonial discourse. Instead, it redirects postcolonial discourse towards the rich history of cultural and textual resistance in the Caribbean. Döring takes readers on an extensive exploration of Caribbean and English literature. Through careful close readings and rigorous theoretical analysis, he transcends the initial encounter with the text, echoing Antonio Benitez-Rojo's assertion that the reader inevitably reflects themselves in the act of reading. What Döring excels at is a form of reading where each text, at times unexpectedly but always enrichingly, begins to reveal its own textured layers—a concept aptly described by Benitez-Rojo.

"Caribbean-English Passages" is organized into six chapters, each focusing on a specific genre: travel writing, nature poetry, adventure novels, autobiography, picture poetry, and the epic. The first chapter places particular emphasis on travel writing, as it embodies the idea of passage most tangibly. It offers an interrelated reading of texts such as Naipaul's "The Middle Passage", J.A Froude's "The English in the West Indies", Edgar Mittelholzer's "With a Carib Eye", and Amr Johnson's "Sequins for a Ragged Hem". Chapter 2 delves into plantation writing and nature poetry, with James Grainger's "The Sugar Cane" serving as a pivotal text—the first West Indian georgic. This genre aims to reconcile the pressures of experience with prevailing cultural norms, presenting itself as a noteworthy precursor to postcolonial Caribbean writing exemplified by works like Grace Nichols's 1990 poem, "Sugar Cane," and David Dabydeen's 1984 collection, "Slave Song." Chapter 3 juxtaposes Wilson Harris's novel "The Secret Ladder" with Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" and, somewhat unexpectedly, Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Lost World". Chapter 4 centers on V.S. Naipaul's "The Enigma of Arrival" and David Dabydeen's "The Intended", examining their engagement with English and Caribbean pre-texts. Notably, both Caribbean texts grapple with Conrad's fin-de-siècle novel. In Chapter 5, Dabydeen's extended poem "Turner" is studied alongside J.M.W. Turner's painting "Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying - Typhoon Coming on" and John Ruskin's renowned review of it. Döring illustrates how postcolonial ekphrasis can be a powerful strategy for dismantling the colonial past. Chapter 6 analyzes Derek Walcott's "Omeros" as an act of poetic ekphrasis and a challenge to the canon. Among other things, Döring addresses the appropriation of a Caribbean epic. Each chapter is complemented by a thought-provoking illustration, such as Nicolas Vleughels's "The Shield of Achilles" in Chapter 6 and "Waiting for the Races," an engraving from Charles Kingsley's travelogue "At Last: A Christmas in the West Indies" in Chapter 1. This Victorian portrayal of different racial groups in Trinidad is discussed in the context of Naipaul's reinterpretation of the image in his own travelogue.