| University
at Buffalo's
DEPARTMENT OF AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES Presents History or Memory:
A Lecture
|
| Date: Wednesday,
March 3, 2004
Time: 4:10 p.m. Place: 322 Clemens Hall Directions: Call 645 2082 Click here for
With support from: the Office of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Canadian- American Studies Committee, the Butler Chair in the Department of English, the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, and the Buffalo Theory Graduate Group. |
Austin Clarke is a Barbadian-Canadian
novelist. He is the author of The Polished Hoe, which garnered him
the prestigious Canada
Giller Prize (2002) and the Commonwealth
Writers Prize (2003).
While of black Barbadian birth and rearing, Austin Clarke, since his
departure from the island in 1955, has been mostly resident in Toronto.
Much of his work reflects his experience of these two places, and another
smaller fraction his briefer stay in the United States in the late sixties
and early seventies. Clarke is a prolific author, but a satisfying introduction
to the Barbados-inflected work might be had from readings of his memoir,
Growing
Up Stupid under the Union Jack (1980), and the novel, The Polished
Hoe (2002). The earliest novels, The Survivors of the Crossing
(1964) and Amongst Thistles and Thorns (1965), are also uncommon
first efforts. Clarke is in addition an accomplished short story
writer. The selection recently published under the title Choosing
His Coffin (2003) is excellent evidence of his skills, as of some of
his Canadian and American preoccupations.
Note: Austin Clarke (full name Austin Chesterfield Clarke) must not be confused with the well known Irish poet of the same name: Austin Clarke. |