tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188170322335346780.comments2021-06-25T11:07:45.522-04:00Interactive Autobiography™ and Jamaica KincaidCynthia Pittmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12656761837022197235noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188170322335346780.post-1472188246709809172015-05-28T11:52:34.727-04:002015-05-28T11:52:34.727-04:00Good to see you at sixtyfivewhatnow. I wouldn'...Good to see you at sixtyfivewhatnow. I wouldn't know where to start asking questions with a living author. Fascinating, indeed. Rosaria Williamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03133147851332084180noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188170322335346780.post-15311892926849874782012-04-08T16:07:59.581-04:002012-04-08T16:07:59.581-04:00Great! I didn't catch this comment into today....Great! I didn't catch this comment into today. Thanks for stopping by!Cynthia Pittmannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12656761837022197235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188170322335346780.post-7749119126967666202011-10-06T15:35:05.071-04:002011-10-06T15:35:05.071-04:00Just wanted to stop by and say thanks for subscrib...Just wanted to stop by and say thanks for subscribing to my blog. I'm a Jamaica Kincaid fan also and selected two of her books for classes on women writers in the '90's.Shirleyhttp://www.100memoirs.coms.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188170322335346780.post-67859654746690986262009-01-09T15:56:00.000-04:002009-01-09T15:56:00.000-04:00Thanks, you guys/gal, for the comments. Energiz-er...Thanks, you guys/gal, for the comments. Energiz-er, the story your thinking of is "Everyday Use", I have some research about that, thanks for the connection. BTW Wendell charged a laptop at Best Buys-a present for my 50th. I think he wants to enourage me to write. It's not as compact as the one you mention, I'd like to see that!Cynthia Pittmannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12656761837022197235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188170322335346780.post-42665337754199508312009-01-09T15:48:00.000-04:002009-01-09T15:48:00.000-04:00Thanks for your comments Mark and Energiz-er! I'm ...Thanks for your comments Mark and Energiz-er! I'm still thinking about what you wrote!Cynthia Pittmannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12656761837022197235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188170322335346780.post-17874188907058116552009-01-09T12:25:00.000-04:002009-01-09T12:25:00.000-04:00Cynthia you have so much interesting information, ...Cynthia you have so much interesting information, you have it all there and you know it all. I saw a tiny laptop when I was coming here that I'm thinking of buying it when I decide to do oral history about my family, you should buy it as well, it's from Sam's and it costs $300, it's tiny tiny, tiny, you can take it everywhere and keep writing on the bus, train, car. Close your eyes , meditate and you'll see in "un abrir y cerrar de ojos", you'll be done. Amen, All is well.energizeyour lifehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00845548609132034397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188170322335346780.post-35772391989390516592009-01-09T12:18:00.000-04:002009-01-09T12:18:00.000-04:00I like the phrase 'remaking identity through narra...I like the phrase 'remaking identity through narrative', so Jamaica Kincaid changed her name and acquire another identity to become famous, or to be accepted, wow, she must have had a lot of inner conflict. What Mark said I really liked if she didn't like the plants where she grew up, she must hate the world; does she have Caribbean phobia, instead of homophobia, was she trying to delete her Caribbean past and then ironically she changes her name to sound Caribbean or African. She reminds of a short story, I can't recall the name, I think it's by Alice Walker, the main character changes the name to an <BR/>African name and then when she goes back home, I believe it's in the south, she wants to take the family quilt which was supposed to be for her sister, Cyn, you probably remember the story, wow JK is full of contradictions, I guess people in the Caribbean are very complicated and we can see it with ourselves. What is her nationality right now? British, American, Antiguan-British Commonwealth I'm thinking why write an autobiography when you are going to lie about your identity, write fiction instead, or is it that the drama of autobiography is more appealing to readers and sells more. I saw the movie "Fargo" and in the beginning it states that it is based on true events then, at the end they deny it, I felt fooled just like those people Mark was talking about who saw a play on the HOlocaust. YOu have a lot to analyze with JK, interesting as well.energizeyour lifehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00845548609132034397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188170322335346780.post-46419409919038660642009-01-09T11:52:00.000-04:002009-01-09T11:52:00.000-04:00So her autobiography is fiction, what is she tryin...So her autobiography is fiction, what is she trying to hide from her real life, is she or she is not trying to disguise her true self? What would you call an autobiography that's fiction? How interesting!!Sometimes fact is too painful and we camouflage it with stories, we create stories, I like that saying of calling someone who lies, a person that creates stories, so Jamaica Kincaid created a story of her life. I had a friend like that,she fantasized so much about her life.energizeyour lifehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00845548609132034397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188170322335346780.post-73513024190340594992009-01-08T12:23:00.000-04:002009-01-08T12:23:00.000-04:00As strange as it sounds, I also remember Jamaica K...As strange as it sounds, I also remember Jamaica Kincaid's article on her garden in Vermont and how much she hated her mother's garden with such inelegant plants as panapén. I think I was a bit offended by the column, which may sound strange. If you hate the plants where you grew up, part of you hates the world. I wrote a poem about it. I will try to find it and post it here.Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09120445180158376523noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188170322335346780.post-63984599837438423552009-01-08T09:58:00.000-04:002009-01-08T09:58:00.000-04:00Every time we try to describe what happened there ...Every time we try to describe what happened there are gaping holes in our narrative that the reader or listener has to fill and they are trained through personal experience (similar or what they think is similar events have happened to them) and by narratives. So truth or the level of possible truth also depends on the skill of the listener or reader. How good are we at imagining someone else's world? <BR/> On the other hand, if you think of truth as representative of reality, as we often do with statistics, fiction might be closer than fact, in the sense of the saying that fact is stranger than fiction. Most facts are not stranger than fiction. <BR/> And then if you want to be read, you have to be a little strange or describe the common so that it suddenly seems new. You have to make people see it as a new side of truth.Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09120445180158376523noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188170322335346780.post-25476180751662572282009-01-07T22:53:00.000-04:002009-01-07T22:53:00.000-04:00So true Hector, I know that in Antigua they would ...So true Hector, I know that in Antigua they would not have accepted her new self; but now she has found a status and I noticed some reserved pride in the people there. Only, its reserved. A young girl, nursing student, said that they read her short stories...I'm thinking now that they probably call Annie John short stories. When she told Wendell and I that, I thought ...hum...could she mean "Girl" or one of the word sketches she wrote for the New Yorker? Now I think she must have read the same stories that children in the States and some English private schools in Puerto Rico, such as "A Walk to the Jetty," which is the last chapter of Annie John. I do have all of the New Yorker articles because they were collected together in a book that I bought. Kincaid also wrote The Garden Book: which shows how her identity is shifting. Her more recent work also. I'll have to get into that here with you since we cannot go and have a chat at Borders.Cynthia Pittmannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12656761837022197235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188170322335346780.post-32553468205076309052009-01-07T22:15:00.000-04:002009-01-07T22:15:00.000-04:00The construction of identity in autobiographies ta...The construction of identity in autobiographies takes us back all the way to the beginning of the written word. What fascinates me is that obsession of the author to sound authentic at all costs. I have followed Jamaica Kincaid writings for the last 15 years. I remember checking on the New Yorker at old Bell, Book and Candle in Condado to see if wrote any article or story. There was one that I specially liked. It was a piece on gardening. Jamaica narrated her life in Vermont and reminiscenced about life in Antigua. This specific selection was written in first person was very revealing of her changing identity. By comparing her life then and her life now she was revealing the process of invention. It would be great if you could get a hold of it. I know it appeared in either the New Yorker or The New York Times in the 90's. Of course we cannot forget the importance of the Colonial Complex ( we Caribbean suffer in one way or another)in the shaping of our identity: Eurocentrism etc. I think Jamaica would abhor living in Antigua were people know about her origins and will not put up with her "constructed" identity. God!, I wish I was at Border's having a great conversation on this subject.The Pink Cowboyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09006823919205286012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188170322335346780.post-78908433192257576092009-01-05T01:35:00.000-04:002009-01-05T01:35:00.000-04:00Mark did you stop following this blog? I was tryin...Mark did you stop following this blog? I was trying to get a list of readers that would be closed...then I realized you weren't there...did I accidently take you off the list? or did you take yourself off? <BR/>That scandal you mention is the one on Ophra, right?<BR/>When will you be back in Puerto Rico? Did you read at your aunt's funeral? Thanksfor the book, I want to buy it...so I can write all over it!Cynthia Pittmannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12656761837022197235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188170322335346780.post-86429114434366840752009-01-04T14:35:00.000-04:002009-01-04T14:35:00.000-04:00Cynthia, I went to a presentation about a fake hol...Cynthia, I went to a presentation about a fake holocaust narrative and how the writing had been praised when people believed it was true. The man, who was a holocaust survivor, wrote about how he met his wife in the camp. This was the part that was not true, but as soon as it became exposed as not true, the same people who praised it began to remark on how poorly written or overwritten or superficial the work was. Some at the presentation asked the rather naive question, "How would someone react if someone wrote a book and claimed it was fiction and it was not?" Well, that is done all the time. And books do not sell worse because of that. <BR/> My aunt who just died lived a double life. She was the good daughter who did not smoke or drink, but friends of hers mentioned how when my grandmother or father came to visit, she hectically cleaned ashtrays. Luckily she had a boyfriend who smoked and whom she probably lived with for years, still remaining the good daughter and saintly sister. How did that make her feel? I think a bit of myself. My mother once asked me a question and I retorted, "Do you really want to know?", and she answered, "I don't want to know anything that would hurt me." I said simply, "Then I can tell you nothing," which did not reassure her much. <BR/> Fiction is a wonderful cover for autobiography and also a wonderful chance to be what you would not want to be or could not be.<BR/> I am glad you found the book useful. <BR/>MarkMarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09120445180158376523noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188170322335346780.post-54193380860029387882008-12-23T08:38:00.000-04:002008-12-23T08:38:00.000-04:00Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.Gulfmann Collectionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14384958508671237423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188170322335346780.post-4444734088269744682008-11-28T10:25:00.000-04:002008-11-28T10:25:00.000-04:00I need to check out the method for becoming a foll...I need to check out the method for becoming a follower; this is a test!Cynthia Pittmannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12656761837022197235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188170322335346780.post-86070678128895195972008-11-28T07:57:00.000-04:002008-11-28T07:57:00.000-04:00Caribbean reader, so glad you found my new blog. I...Caribbean reader, so glad you found my new blog. I appreciate your comment about how your identity shifted/expanded from one island/region to include the greater Caribbean through the experience of reading-commonality discovered through literature. Multiple identities in the Carribean are truly paradoxical, and you have first hand experience.Cynthia Pittmannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12656761837022197235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188170322335346780.post-58755130858283405662008-11-26T10:48:00.000-04:002008-11-26T10:48:00.000-04:00I did tell you that about 15 years ago a slim litt...I did tell you that about 15 years ago a slim little book fell on me at the Bookstore in Old San Juan. I was curious about the colorful cover. It was At The Bottom Of The River. I read it twice in four days. I could not believe the direct yet poetic tone. Before, I identified myself mainly as Puerto Rican, maybe Latin American, but then I started seeing myself as Caribbean. We Caribbean people live paradoxical lives, our identities have been defined and redifined by historical factors that not necesarily belong to our rality. We are European, African, Indian and everything in between. Our reality is truly fantastic. Our Caribbean world is inhabited by the living, the dead, the premonition, the miracle,the envious eye,the longing of the sea, the sweet and the putrid. Ours is a geography of abandonment, self reliance and ambivalence. The Caribbean is not the fun loving land tourists want to believe it is. Our islands where forged out of human exploitation throughout the centuries by the European masters. The paradox is that the enslaver gave us civilization. This paradox runs through all of Kincaid's works.The Pink Cowboyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09006823919205286012noreply@blogger.com