Re-visiting Martin Carter on his birth anniversary

By Petamber Persaud

Martin Carter initiated a number of issues, and started an ongoing dialogue by way of his prose and poetry in the manner and with a purpose of a consummate artist, going further than most writers of merely acting as a mirror or barometer of the society.
In a letter introducing the first issue of the New World Quarterly, Carter harped on the need for ‘serious examination of ideas’ and objectivity, going on to declare, “…I do not know why only so few revolt, either by word or by deed against …acute spiritual discomfort.”

Many of those socio-political issues relevant locally and universally revolved around a central theme: ‘all are involved’. This ‘all are involved’ theme is married to the essential Martin Carter – his conjunctions.
In an interview with Professor Frank Birbalsingh, Carter had said, “the word “and” is very important to my way of thinking, that is to say, something and something, not something and then something else”, referring to his poem, ‘Conjunction’, with its opening line ‘very sudden is the sought conjunction’.
There are many other conjunctions in the thought processes of Carter including “the middle where we meet is not the place to stop”. This ‘all are involved’ theme has engaged the attention of a number of thinkers, scholars and writers who have booked their thoughts in useful publications on Martin Carter.
“Martin Carter: University Of Hunger Collected Poems & Selected Prose”, edited by Gemma Robinson and published by Bloodaxe Books, is the most recent addition to the growing scholarship on the leading poet of Guyana and foremost Caribbean writer of the second half of 20th century.
This extensive work contains a 36-page introduction by Robinson and more than 70 pages of notes that “provide bibliographic details and commentaries relating to the specific phrases in the poetry and prose. Collations of lexical differences are given when there are multiply versions of a poem.”
Gemma Robinson, a lecturer in the Department of English Studies at the University of Stirling, whose research focuses on Guyanese writing, is a leading authority on the work of Carter.
“Poems by Martin Carter” edited by Ian McDonald and Stewart Brown, published by Macmillan, (2006) is another recent addition to growing and glowing tributes to Carter. This book is an insightful reworking of the prize-winning book, “Selected Poems”.
It is not McDonald’s first public appreciation of Carter. In 1989, McDonald as chairman of Demerara Publishers Ltd., was instrumental in publishing Carter’s “Selected Poems”, which won the Guyana Prize for Literature in same year of publication. McDonald was also involved along with others, including Vanda Radzik, in the publication of the revised edition of that title by Red Thread Press (1997).
McDonald as editor of Kyk-Over-Al, in June 2002 devoted a combined 49/50 issue of the journal to the life and work of Carter. Titled Martin Carter Tribute, this 400-page publication is exciting and informative.
“All Are Involved: The Art Of Martin Carter” edited by Stewart Brown, published by Peepal Tree Press, 2000, is a massive book of essays on Carter by leading scholars, colleagues and writers, including Edward Baugh, Ken Ramchand, Gordon Rohlehr, Kamau Brathwaite, Stewart Brown, David Dabydeen, Fred D’Aguiar, Kwame Dawes, Michael Gilkes, Stanley Greaves, Wilson Harris, Roy Heath, Kendel Hippolyte, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Eusi Kwayana, George Lamming, Ian McDonald, Mervyn Morris, Grace Nichols, Rupert Roopnaraine, and Andrew Salkey.
“This book sets out to celebrate Martin Carter’s life and work, and to establish a context for reading his poetry. It locates the several facets of Carter’s work in the historical and cultural circumstances of his time, in Guyana, in the Caribbean.”
Stewart Brown lectures at the Centre for West African Studies at the University of Birmingham. He has edited several anthologies of Caribbean writing and published many books and essays on aspects of West Indian culture.
“Web Of October: Re-reading Martin Carter” by Rupert Roopnaraine, published by Peepal Tree Press (1988) and copyrighted to the author(1986), is one the first published studies on the work of Carter. The blurb reads, “the essay’s functions are multiple: to draw attention to Carter’s poetic art, to rescue his work from too narrowly political readings and to explore the relationships between language, art, politics and philosophy.”
Two of the abovementioned books were published by Peepal Tree Press, whose founder, Jeremy Poynting, is responsible for promoting and enhancing Guyanese literature in recent times.
The above publications offer varied and various insights into the work and life of a national poet whose writings traced the struggles and triumphs of Guyana from colonialism to independence and post-independence. What is important however is that his work has already included you into the ongoing dialogue of ‘all are involved’.
Martin Carter was born June 7, 1927, in Georgetown, British Guiana. His father, Victor Emmanuel, was an avid reader, and his mother, Violet Eugene Wylde, loved books and enjoyed reciting verses.
In 1953, he married Phyllis Howard, a union lasting some four decades, even though many times during a night he would disturb their sleep because he found a right word or phrase to insert in his writing.
His “Poems of Resistance” (1954), some pieces which he wrote while incarcerated by the British for his radical political affiliation, established his Caribbean and international reputation.
In 1989, “Selected Poems” won the Guyana Prize for Literature in the category of best book of poetry.
Twice he was honoured by the government of the day: in 1970 he received the Cacique Crown of Honour and in 1994 the Order of Roraima.
Martin Wylde Carter died at his home in Lamaha Street on December 13, 1997, amidst political turmoil.
Responses to this author telephone (592) 226-0065 or email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com (Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)