Guyanese writer, novelist, and critic David Dabydeen has published three volumes of poetry: Slave Song (1984), Coolie Odyssey (1988), and an epic poem Turner (1993). Slave Song won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize and the Quiller-Couch Prize. The recognition of Dabydeen’s poetry has opened the door for other East Indian writers who have long been overlooked in the literary world. The first anthologies of Guyanese poetry (1831-1931) did not include any works by East Indians, which is amazing when it is considered that East Indians comprised 51% of the total population on Guyana.

David Dabydeen won the prestigious Guyana Prize for Literature for his first novel, The Intended (1991). He has written three more novels, Disappearance (1993), The Counting House (1996), and A Harlot’s Progress (1999). Dabydeen has been awarded the title of fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He is the second West Indian writer (V.S. Naipaul was the first) and the only Guyanese writer to receive the title.

I always wrote since I remember. I remember Naipaul saying that if he couldn't write, he would die, and when I heard that - I was young then - I agreed with him.

V.S. Naipaul is the writer David Dabydeen says most affected him as a writer. Up until the time his teacher had instructed his class to read Miguel Street, Dabydeen had read books from American and English writers. What they wrote was unconnected to Dabydeen’s life as a young boy living in Guyana. In Naipaul, Dabydeen found a voice that he could relate to. “It was about me-all of us-struggling to achieve, but failing in sad and comic ways. The failure was not dismal-like the Africans in the Tarzan films-but poignant, showing us to be people of ambition and humility (Dabydeen).”

Art emerges more readily out of volatility.

David Dabydeen was born in Berbice, Guyana in 1955. Guyana is situated on the northern coast of South America. Guyana, a country with immense resources, unlike many of other Caribbean Islands, and is rich in bauxite, manganese, diamonds, gold, timber, sugar and rice. But because of corruptive governments and other political factors, it is second only to Haiti in impoverishment. It is larger than all the English speaking Caribbean combined, yet only about the size of Great Britain. About 90% of the population lives on the coast. The interior of Guyana is where the fabled “El Dorado” was believed to exist by early explorers.

Guyana was first settled by the Dutch, but came under full British control by 1815. African slaves were brought in to do agricultural work, and later East Indian’s were brought as indentured servants. David Dabydeen’s great grandfather was one of these indentured servants. During the 1960’s, the United States and Britain helped to maneuver Forbes Burnham (PNC) into power. He initially enjoyed support from Afro-Guyanese, who wanted to keep the Indo-Guyanese, and their leader, Cheddi Jagan, from returning to power. Under the guise of a democratic government, with Constitution, opposition parties, regular elections, and a National Assembly, Burnham seized control of the entire mechanism becoming a virtual dictator. In 1969, in the midst of this turmoil, David Dabydeen’s parents moved to England. In an interview, by Wolfgand Binderin, Dabydeen states,

...my parents, and other people's parents, would have seen England not quite as an Utopia, or an El Dorado in reverse, but certainly as a place where jobs were plentiful and the people hospitable, and wealth within your grasp. I think there was the belief that if you went to England and worked, you could become wealthy, whereas in fact when they came, they were not welcome as they expected to be...(Dabydeen)

In this same interview, Dabydeen reveals that he felt a “…sense of displacement, and…” lived with the reality that “…there was always the threat of violence.” Dabydeen feels and seeks connection with his Indianness, his Caribbeaness, his Africaness, and his Britishness. In another interview he stated,

I’m inclined to think that Britain has heavily depended on us for its material and cultural development. So when I say I want to be a part of it, I mean I’m willing to admit that. To admit that I (‘I’ meaning not just myself but the tribe) have had an important say and influence in their development. The sense of belonging only comes if the British acknowledge this. In this respect there is no strain. At the end of the day one arrives at some kind of outlook: over the centuries our cultures have become so interwoven that you can’t be a Guyanese without being a Brit, and you can’t be a Brit with out being a Guyanese, or a Caribbean. (Eijkelboom)

Dabydeen’s Education

One of David Dabydeen’s teachers in London told him that he “…would be lucky to make university (Mair).” Dabydeen went on to win a scholarship to Cambridge University. He completed his Ph.D. in 18th century literature and art from the University of London and continued studies at Oxford and Yale.

Currently

David Dabydeen directs the department of Caribbean Studies at Warwick University. He also serves as the Guyanese ambassador to The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Sources

Dabydeen, David. “West Indian Writers in Britain.” British Council. 25 November 2002. <http://www.britcoun.de/e/education/studies/seach995.htm>.

Dabydeen, David. “David Dabydeen Speaks.” Outremer. 1989. 29 November 2002. <http://www.outremer.com/~sharad/agreg/david.html>.

Eijkelboom, Jan. “David Dabydeen.” Poetry International Web. 27 November 2002. <http://www.poetryinternational.org/cwolk/view/15897>.

Mair, John. “Guyanese Writers in England.” Caribbean Voice. 21 November 2002. <http://www.caribvoice.org/A&E/guyanesewriters.html>.

Rampertab, Rakesh. “What Happened to East Indian Writers in the Caribbean?” Guyana Under Siege. 29 November 2002. <http://www.guyanaundersiege.com/Literature/East%20Indian%20Writers.htm>.