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The Undiscovered Country - Essays
Andre Bagoo is the real deal as an essayist in that he asks interesting questions (was there an alternative to the independence that Trinidad sought and gained in 1962?) and is open to seeing where his ideas take him – quite often to unexpected places. He displays an intense interest in the world around him – including literature, art, film, food, politics, even Snakes and Ladders – but is just as keen to share with the reader some sense of how his point of view has been constructed. He writes as a gay man who grew up in a country that still has colonial laws against gay sexuality, as a man whose ethnic heritage was both African and Indian in a country whose politics have been stymied by its ethnic divisions. And just what were the effects of repeat-watching a defective video of The Sound of Music, truncated at a crucial moment? There is an engaging personality present here, a sharp and enquiring mind, and ample evidence that he knows how to write shapely sentences and construct well-formed essays. Encyclopedic knowledge is rarely the point of the essay, but few readers will leave this collection without feeling better informed and more curious about their worlds.
"A manifesto, a literary criticism, a personal chronicle of literary life, a book of days, a stage wherein famous writers such as Walcott, Thomas, Gunn, Espada, and others become actors, The Undiscovered Country discovers many things, but one thing for sure: Andre Bagoo is a fearless, brilliant mind. He can take us from the formal critical perspective to new futurist 'visual essay', to verse essay, to sweeping historical account that is unafraid to go as far in time as Columbus and as urgently-of-our moment as Brexit—all of it with precision and attentiveness to detail that is as brilliant as it is startling. Bravo."
— Ilya Kaminsky, author of Deaf Republic and Dancing in Odessa
"A manifesto, a literary criticism, a personal chronicle of literary life, a book of days, a stage wherein famous writers such as Walcott, Thomas, Gunn, Espada, and others become actors, The Undiscovered Country discovers many things, but one thing for sure: Andre Bagoo is a fearless, brilliant mind. He can take us from the formal critical perspective to new futurist 'visual essay', to verse essay, to sweeping historical account that is unafraid to go as far in time as Columbus and as urgently-of-our moment as Brexit—all of it with precision and attentiveness to detail that is as brilliant as it is startling. Bravo."
— Ilya Kaminsky, author of Deaf Republic and Dancing in Odessa
- GenresEssaysNonfictionLGBT
196 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2020
5 people are currently reading
238 people want to read
About the author
Andre Bagoo
15 books41 followersAndre Bagoo is a poet and writer from Trinidad. He's the author of several books of poetry including Trick Vessels (Shearsman, 2012), Pitch Lake (Peepal Tree Press, 2017), and Narcissus (Broken Sleep, 2022). Additionally, his essay collection, The Undiscovered Country, was published by Peepal Tree Press in 2020 and won the 2021 OCM Bocas Prize for Non-Fiction. His fiction debut, The Dreaming, is published by Peepal Tree in 2022.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 28, 2020
The Undiscovered Country is a love letter to Trinidad and Tobago and every poetry lover out there…
I took my time to read this book and write this review because I wanted to give justice to the brilliance that is this collection of essays. With The Undiscovered Country we got a peek inside the brilliant mind of Andre Bagoo, and if I am being honest, I did not want to leave. In this collection of essays Bagoo questions whether Trinidad and Tobago actually gained independence, how are we still to this day struggling as a country and what independence can actually look like.
In his introduction Bagoo quips that these essays are meant to castigate and praise. They aim to provoke, add fuel to the fire of augmentation.. and he achieved just that. There were some essays that really got under my skin and stayed there, others that hand me going “WOW, I did not know this!” and the rest that left me in wonder and awe of how Bagoo’s brain works.
I loved the essays that talked about Caribbean authors we are familiar with including V.S. Naipaul and Derek Walcott- did yall know they were enemies? I could not get enough of hearing about Naipaul and his layered relationship with his home country. It is clear that he did his research and left it up to us to decide our views on Naipaul.
Other essays that really captured my attention includes, Double a local staple in Trinidad and Tobago- while I don’t eat it, it was impactful getting a look into how this creation came to be. Plato’s Cave and Free Colony did a deep dive into the coup, T&T laws and how outdated they are. I think if you are interested in law and how laws don’t change, even after independence, these two essays will offer a lot. Soca which is the heartbeat of T&T and one of my favorite musical genres is explored through the 2019 giant hits “Savannah Grass” and “Famalaylay”. You Can See Venezuela From Trinidad is another essay that slaps timely and differently, Bagoo shows how the history and cultural of these two countries dates back to over 200 years. I absolutely enjoyed this essay.
I really enjoyed this collection and I think I would enjoy it a lot more if I was a lover of poets and poetry. At times some of the essays went over my head as I could not relate to the writer’s appreciate of these poets. I also think if you are a Trini this book will hold a deeper space in your heart.
A great collection of well researched and sharply written essays that leave you questioning a lot of how the world is around you.
I took my time to read this book and write this review because I wanted to give justice to the brilliance that is this collection of essays. With The Undiscovered Country we got a peek inside the brilliant mind of Andre Bagoo, and if I am being honest, I did not want to leave. In this collection of essays Bagoo questions whether Trinidad and Tobago actually gained independence, how are we still to this day struggling as a country and what independence can actually look like.
In his introduction Bagoo quips that these essays are meant to castigate and praise. They aim to provoke, add fuel to the fire of augmentation.. and he achieved just that. There were some essays that really got under my skin and stayed there, others that hand me going “WOW, I did not know this!” and the rest that left me in wonder and awe of how Bagoo’s brain works.
I loved the essays that talked about Caribbean authors we are familiar with including V.S. Naipaul and Derek Walcott- did yall know they were enemies? I could not get enough of hearing about Naipaul and his layered relationship with his home country. It is clear that he did his research and left it up to us to decide our views on Naipaul.
Other essays that really captured my attention includes, Double a local staple in Trinidad and Tobago- while I don’t eat it, it was impactful getting a look into how this creation came to be. Plato’s Cave and Free Colony did a deep dive into the coup, T&T laws and how outdated they are. I think if you are interested in law and how laws don’t change, even after independence, these two essays will offer a lot. Soca which is the heartbeat of T&T and one of my favorite musical genres is explored through the 2019 giant hits “Savannah Grass” and “Famalaylay”. You Can See Venezuela From Trinidad is another essay that slaps timely and differently, Bagoo shows how the history and cultural of these two countries dates back to over 200 years. I absolutely enjoyed this essay.
I really enjoyed this collection and I think I would enjoy it a lot more if I was a lover of poets and poetry. At times some of the essays went over my head as I could not relate to the writer’s appreciate of these poets. I also think if you are a Trini this book will hold a deeper space in your heart.
A great collection of well researched and sharply written essays that leave you questioning a lot of how the world is around you.
October 18, 2020
One day I may find the time to prepare some well thought out, elegantly composed and insightful review of Andre Bagoo's The Undiscovered Country — affording them with at least a modicum of the appraisal that they justly deserve. In the meantime, I'm offering a quickly thought through impressions on what is undoubtedly one of the best books I've read this year.
Bagoo writes with the fastidiousness of a curator, with the kind of insatiable attention to even the smallest detail, whereby reading them feels like a deeply engaging walkthrough of an art gallery.
Bagoo often begins his essay with a daily encounter — a popular street food, a memory, soca music, or a passage from a book — and links that subject to others, drawing fascinating connections, until you can almost feel the texture of his thinking. Throughout the writing, he weaves together several artists, poets and novelists — V.S. Naipaul, Dylan Thomas, Blue Curry, Lauren K. Alleyne, Ishion Hutchinson and Derek Walcott — layering narratives to reveal, in a rather distinctive manner, a palimpsestic archive of the Trinidadian society.
One of my favorite Carl Rogers quote is, "what is most personal is most universal", a dictum that acts as a primer throughout Bagoo's text. For instance, in the essay "Dylan Thomas: Three Encounters" Bagoo recounts his trip to Laugharne with his aunt, Ann Marie. Moving through the Dylan Thomas Walk that overlooks the city, Bagoo negotiates memory and space, musing all the while on the writings of Thomas. This homage to Thomas, punctuated by Bagoo's own personal enquiry — Why was Thomas so important to me? Did it have something to do with the context of my own life as a gay person from the Caribbean, a queer person, seen and unseen, perpetually coming out to people? — act as hinges between passages as well as a digressive analysis of Bagoo's emotional and artistic process.
There’s also a genuine thrill in the way Bagoo articulates, for example, in "Crusoe's Island" Bagoo reconsiders Dafoe's work and presents the relationship of Crusoe and his servant Friday as an allegory for British imperialism. Unlike James Joyce, who regarded the “whole Anglo-Saxon spirit” as being in Crusoe, Bagoo sees this "English fantasy" as "a virus, a constellation of malarious ideas: the utopian notion of a pure, untouched land; the image of a man-god in Eden; and the dream of the all-conquering male in virgin terrain."
In a short, diaristic piece titled “What Happened On December 21, 2019,” Bagoo chronicles for the first time the intimate scenes of his domestic interiors. He takes Chaplin for a walk; He feeds him leftover lasagna: He reads Robinson Crusoe; He gets ready for a Christmas party, while he deliberates what 'festive chic' dress code means. He is both the narrator and the protagonist of his work. This is the essence of Bagoo's work in general – dedicated not only to his writerly influences, but to their derivative, the collective text that his lifelong and repetitive indulgences have inscribed: himself. And the last passage is as pithy a summation as anyone could possibly wish: "I'd planned to write this at the end of the day, so that the exercise to write what happens on a particular day would include the act of writing — a kind of infinity mirror." Here, writing—with all its compulsions—is a mode of thinking in itself: a kind of striving, intimate and tangled, as emotional as it is intellectual, held together by nothing so much as their desire to be discovered. It is this simplicity that makes The Undiscovered Country a great read.
Bagoo writes with the fastidiousness of a curator, with the kind of insatiable attention to even the smallest detail, whereby reading them feels like a deeply engaging walkthrough of an art gallery.
Bagoo often begins his essay with a daily encounter — a popular street food, a memory, soca music, or a passage from a book — and links that subject to others, drawing fascinating connections, until you can almost feel the texture of his thinking. Throughout the writing, he weaves together several artists, poets and novelists — V.S. Naipaul, Dylan Thomas, Blue Curry, Lauren K. Alleyne, Ishion Hutchinson and Derek Walcott — layering narratives to reveal, in a rather distinctive manner, a palimpsestic archive of the Trinidadian society.
One of my favorite Carl Rogers quote is, "what is most personal is most universal", a dictum that acts as a primer throughout Bagoo's text. For instance, in the essay "Dylan Thomas: Three Encounters" Bagoo recounts his trip to Laugharne with his aunt, Ann Marie. Moving through the Dylan Thomas Walk that overlooks the city, Bagoo negotiates memory and space, musing all the while on the writings of Thomas. This homage to Thomas, punctuated by Bagoo's own personal enquiry — Why was Thomas so important to me? Did it have something to do with the context of my own life as a gay person from the Caribbean, a queer person, seen and unseen, perpetually coming out to people? — act as hinges between passages as well as a digressive analysis of Bagoo's emotional and artistic process.
There’s also a genuine thrill in the way Bagoo articulates, for example, in "Crusoe's Island" Bagoo reconsiders Dafoe's work and presents the relationship of Crusoe and his servant Friday as an allegory for British imperialism. Unlike James Joyce, who regarded the “whole Anglo-Saxon spirit” as being in Crusoe, Bagoo sees this "English fantasy" as "a virus, a constellation of malarious ideas: the utopian notion of a pure, untouched land; the image of a man-god in Eden; and the dream of the all-conquering male in virgin terrain."
In a short, diaristic piece titled “What Happened On December 21, 2019,” Bagoo chronicles for the first time the intimate scenes of his domestic interiors. He takes Chaplin for a walk; He feeds him leftover lasagna: He reads Robinson Crusoe; He gets ready for a Christmas party, while he deliberates what 'festive chic' dress code means. He is both the narrator and the protagonist of his work. This is the essence of Bagoo's work in general – dedicated not only to his writerly influences, but to their derivative, the collective text that his lifelong and repetitive indulgences have inscribed: himself. And the last passage is as pithy a summation as anyone could possibly wish: "I'd planned to write this at the end of the day, so that the exercise to write what happens on a particular day would include the act of writing — a kind of infinity mirror." Here, writing—with all its compulsions—is a mode of thinking in itself: a kind of striving, intimate and tangled, as emotional as it is intellectual, held together by nothing so much as their desire to be discovered. It is this simplicity that makes The Undiscovered Country a great read.
January 26, 2021
The Undiscovered Country is Bagoo's attempt to explore the figures in the literary canon that he most relates to. In some of the essays, he strips certain literary icons to their most vulnerable, imagining alternative understandings of their behaviour so as to warrant pathos to their psychology (I'm mostly thinking of the essay on VS Naipaul, which argues that childhood sexual abuse pushed Naipaul towards his curmudgeon way of acting). In others, Bagoo visits the homelands of his literary icons, or imagines them in his homeland, giving a new flavour to their imagination as literary figures. He posits a lot on their sexuality; he believes the lack of ability of former past artistic geniuses to express themselves freely had great strains on their writing and personal lives. He also tries to uplift a lot of voices from the Caribbean who have not been heard about much, from Martin Espada to Ishion Hutchington.
Bagoo's literary criticism is as much an attempt to rewrite the Western canon, to queerify it, to give it an islander charm. It's valuable for those who want to learn about Trinidadian culture, as well as for those who want to peer into the mind of various writers, and wonder why it is that they created what they felt they had to.
Bagoo's literary criticism is as much an attempt to rewrite the Western canon, to queerify it, to give it an islander charm. It's valuable for those who want to learn about Trinidadian culture, as well as for those who want to peer into the mind of various writers, and wonder why it is that they created what they felt they had to.
November 16, 2020
"Art encourages us to look, to reflect, and, in the process, to re-imagine. It provokes opinions. It encourages people to speak up, to add their voices to a discourse that, over time, flows as a river, eroding the banks of ignorance. It transports and spreads ideas, sorting and refining the sediment of controversy, nourishing the floodplain of society."
RATING: 4.5/5
The introduction invokes Margaret Atwood who, while writing on Kafka, had said that her real subject was not the author of the books but the author of the essay, herself. Andre Bagoo has set out to do something similar in this brilliant collection of critical essays. He tells us, "Here, then, is a history of myself told in many voices, ranging across genres and nations." His main goal is to look at how art and politics interact, how they feed into each other and can't really be independent. He says, "I am just as interested in observing the world as reading the text—particularly when the one throws light on the other. This book discusses food, film, music, and other forms of culture that infuse literature." His home, Trinidad, looms large on the horizon and grounds Bagoo's literary wanderings. The personal is mapped onto the universal, everything leads back to the self, to identity.
Bagoo has an imagination which refuses to be anchored. It soars high in the sky, parting air to gather the minute flotsam which acts as the nexus around which are built magnificent cloud castles. It then digs deep into the earth, bringing up unknown gems from the ground to adorn his wispy creations. He is quite a consummate critic and essayist, overturning assumptions on their heads while crafting new ways of looking at various phenomena. Queerness, his own and of other artists, is a topic worth much exploration for him and he attempts to queer the archives, rescuing the person in question from the straitjacket of society and illuminating their full lives. He is also deft at making connections, employing personal anecdotes as jumping-off points, revealing an astute mind capable of weaving together disparate threads of thought into a seamless tapestry. While to subjects of the essays collected here is truly wide-ranging, they all reflect Bagoo's complex lived reality in the way they refer to each other, as lines get duplicated in a display of intertextuality.
A crucial aspect to note is Bagoo's constant play with form. In "On Henry James", he uses the first four pages of The Turn of the Screw as material for a blackout poem, completely transforming the original horror novella into a tender verse, literally blacking out the white page. In "An Essay into the Visual Poetry of "S J Fowler", the page is turned into canvas, splashed with images and symbols, ending with a typewritten note insisting the inherent visuality of poems. In " Boris Johnson in the Eyes of a Poet", a verse essay, he talks of the artist Heathcote Williams and his scathingly critical book about the UK politician, Boris Johnson, interrogating the boxing of poetry into the lyrical and showing the limitations of such a category. "Michel Jean Cazabon" is a cento, composed wholly of quotations from other writings and authors, named after the first great Trinidadian painter and looking at his paintings, styles and themes. This is just a small sample of Bagoo's untethered vision, his boundless creativity that animates every page, giving them the spark of life.
It's difficult to pick favourites from this great collection but I absolutely loved "The Secret Life of a Dyslexic Critic". Cosy and intimate, it narrates his discovery of dyslexia and how he deals with it. Marked by quaint divergent asides written in italics and bracketed within the main text, it's a humorous glance at the writer talking to himself through his writing and makes some space for a vibrant internal monologue. Another close favourite is "Mark Twain's Corn-pone Opinions" where Bagoo dissects Twain's assertion that free thought is non-existent in a society where a person is beholden to others for his own opinions and follows the majority. Channelling Thom Gunn, he talks about how conformity can be a form of rebellion, a silent yet potent insurrection.
Bagoo's writing is crisp and articulate, even as it moves from discussing the queerness of Langston Hughes to talk about the music genre of soca. Food has a huge presence as both meal and metaphor, board games are a way to discuss pluralistic cultures. "The Free Country", the longest essay in the book and divided into three sections, is also perhaps the most unique. It is the most impersonal piece, heavily built upon facts and figures. Using Caribbean history, especially that of Trinidad and Tobago, he talks about British colonialism and how granting independence was a different kind of discrimination. While dry and research-heavy, it does make for a fascinating study of the republic. Overall, a masterful collection of must-read essays.
(I received a finished copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review)
July 29, 2021
This collection of essays by Bagoo examines his past experiences with reference and critical analysis of Trinidad Tobago’s history, culture, music, etc...one common theme across these essays is this struggle of acceptance as a gay man and the benefits of not conforming to ethics as developed and sometimes forced by society. This book isn’t one to whisk quickly through, but rather at the end of each story you may cause you to stop to do additional research, highlight a quote or even verbalize….”oh, I didn’t know this….interesting.”
I have some favourites and they include:
1. Naipaul’s Nightmare: the author skillfully assesses Naipaul’s writing through analysis of his works and his references to namely homophobia, condescension and his misogynistic ways. Bagoo was very skillful in his analysis despite being a gay man to whom a jab is being directed to...he offered the reader to think critically whether we know the real Naipaul? Naipaul isn’t a favourite amongst Trinbagonians but it was a great read nevertheless….
2. Doubles: the author examines the history of each ingredient of doubles and the “argument” which is the main ingredient...I love the knowledge sharing of each ingredient heritage. If you are from T&T or ever visited you would appreciate this story as this is a street food enjoyed my most.
3. In Plato’s Cave: The short story references Bagoo recollection of the 1990 coup in Trinidad & Tobago. It refers to ignorance of humanity trapped in the conventional ethics formed by society. Bagoo makes reference to his life as a gay man
4. Romantics in Trinidad: in this essay, Bagoo examines the similarities to his life as a gay man and it’s analogy to the Romanticism period.
5. Snakes & Ladders: In this essay I learnt of the origin of the game Snake & Ladders. The author also made an analogy of the game to teaching of binary.
6. You Can See Venezuela From Trinidad: This essay looks at the irony that Trinis are complaining of the migration of Venezuelans from their homeland to Trinidad when we also did it to other places....Bagoo looks are our ties to Venezuela via their our similar food, love and support of the Ms. Universe competition,music...etc. I also learnt about Angostura bitters: it’s origin and its historical use.
7. Free Colony: Are we really free from British rule?
8. The Agony and Ecstasy of Eric Williams: this essay sort to assess the mystery behind the T&T’s 1st PM.
Additionally I wanted to really love this essay:
• Soca: I wanted to love Bagoo’s viewpoint in this short but the ending had some dissonance. I particularly loved his description of Kees’s “Savannah Grass” as “an unabashed poem to the land, the Queen’s Park Savannah”. What I didn’t like was his notion that race was a factor in “Famalay” sung by Machel, Bunji and Skinny Fabulous winning the Road March title over the former...simply put...Road March needs a fast we song and this what I think was the reason Famalay edged out Savannah Grass in this race together with it being collaboratively sung by two initially rival soca singers (Machel & Bunji) who for years were bitter competitors in the soca arena and as such it was a joy by the people to see them come together for the culture...otherwise, I love me some Kees
Though some of the essays may have not gel well with others, this well-researched book of essays is definitely worth a read at a. slow pace which would allow you to assimilate each story.
I have some favourites and they include:
1. Naipaul’s Nightmare: the author skillfully assesses Naipaul’s writing through analysis of his works and his references to namely homophobia, condescension and his misogynistic ways. Bagoo was very skillful in his analysis despite being a gay man to whom a jab is being directed to...he offered the reader to think critically whether we know the real Naipaul? Naipaul isn’t a favourite amongst Trinbagonians but it was a great read nevertheless….
2. Doubles: the author examines the history of each ingredient of doubles and the “argument” which is the main ingredient...I love the knowledge sharing of each ingredient heritage. If you are from T&T or ever visited you would appreciate this story as this is a street food enjoyed my most.
3. In Plato’s Cave: The short story references Bagoo recollection of the 1990 coup in Trinidad & Tobago. It refers to ignorance of humanity trapped in the conventional ethics formed by society. Bagoo makes reference to his life as a gay man
4. Romantics in Trinidad: in this essay, Bagoo examines the similarities to his life as a gay man and it’s analogy to the Romanticism period.
5. Snakes & Ladders: In this essay I learnt of the origin of the game Snake & Ladders. The author also made an analogy of the game to teaching of binary.
6. You Can See Venezuela From Trinidad: This essay looks at the irony that Trinis are complaining of the migration of Venezuelans from their homeland to Trinidad when we also did it to other places....Bagoo looks are our ties to Venezuela via their our similar food, love and support of the Ms. Universe competition,music...etc. I also learnt about Angostura bitters: it’s origin and its historical use.
7. Free Colony: Are we really free from British rule?
8. The Agony and Ecstasy of Eric Williams: this essay sort to assess the mystery behind the T&T’s 1st PM.
Additionally I wanted to really love this essay:
• Soca: I wanted to love Bagoo’s viewpoint in this short but the ending had some dissonance. I particularly loved his description of Kees’s “Savannah Grass” as “an unabashed poem to the land, the Queen’s Park Savannah”. What I didn’t like was his notion that race was a factor in “Famalay” sung by Machel, Bunji and Skinny Fabulous winning the Road March title over the former...simply put...Road March needs a fast we song and this what I think was the reason Famalay edged out Savannah Grass in this race together with it being collaboratively sung by two initially rival soca singers (Machel & Bunji) who for years were bitter competitors in the soca arena and as such it was a joy by the people to see them come together for the culture...otherwise, I love me some Kees
Though some of the essays may have not gel well with others, this well-researched book of essays is definitely worth a read at a. slow pace which would allow you to assimilate each story.
September 30, 2021
I love this book of #essays
He’s an art critic, a poet, a political historian, a keen observer of culture.
He writes about the Caribbean and other places and things; he writes diverse pieces, no two are alike.
He wrote an essay on V.S. Naipaul that left me gutted.
He has an incredible intellect.
He writes beautifully.
This work is the product of deep thought, research, and meticulous piecing together of disparate events, times, places, and people.
This is some of the best Caribbean writing.
Take out the word Caribbean even—this is just great writing.
But how sweet it is that so much of it is about right here, in a familiar voice.
He’s an art critic, a poet, a political historian, a keen observer of culture.
He writes about the Caribbean and other places and things; he writes diverse pieces, no two are alike.
He wrote an essay on V.S. Naipaul that left me gutted.
He has an incredible intellect.
He writes beautifully.
This work is the product of deep thought, research, and meticulous piecing together of disparate events, times, places, and people.
This is some of the best Caribbean writing.
Take out the word Caribbean even—this is just great writing.
But how sweet it is that so much of it is about right here, in a familiar voice.
March 6, 2021
I love the perspective in this book. There is the personal, the essayist's well researched points and things about T&T a lot of people have probably never heard. Pick it up if you can. It's a short book. Completely worth it.
October 9, 2020
Utterly illuminating, insightful and beautifully written. Andre's transition from poetry to prose is gorgeously effortless. A wonderful read.
June 10, 2024
Written by a true artist in all forms of the word, @pleasureblog delivered with this short story collection, which also won the OCM Bocas Lit Prize in 2021. While it he isn't new to the publication world, this is my first read by him, and it certainly isn't my last. 📚✨️
As readers traverse these 27 stories, Bagoo addresses other avenues certain events and themes could have gone and how it would change present-day outcomes. Mainly centered on Trinidad and Tobago culture, I thoroughly enjoyed this insight and knowledge of my homeland. That being said, I can understand why some may not feel connected or drawn to it.
These creations also gave me insight into Bagoo's personality, interests, and intellectual, which, by the way, is remarkably beautiful. While I did not relate to some pieces, others did stand out to me. 😍
'Doubles' was an eye-opening rendition on how Trinbagonians only really pride themselves in it and claim it as their own when it is featured by foreigners. 🧆
'Soca' rejuvenated my love for the local music genre, especially in 2019 when Famalay won Road March which should have gone to @kesthebandofficial Savannah Grass which captured the beauty and history of Trinidad Carnival and the Queen's Park Savannah, the biggest roundabout in the world. 🎶
'Snakes and Ladders' reminded me of my childhood but also taught me where the game really originated from and how through our forefathers, distance and time, communication changes things. Snakes and Ladders was originally called Moksha Pat, where moksha is the ultimate goal in Hinduism, union with God, and freedom from rebirth. This is influenced through good deeds (ladders) and bad deeds (snakes).
'The Secret Life of a Dyslexic Critic' is perfection. I can't explain its beauty, but please read it if you get the chance to. 🎨
'What Happened on December 21, 2019' took something so ordinary in the author's life and made it into something of beauty. A must-read! 👌
'Michael Jean Cazabon' taught me more of the plantation owner whom I only knew through his exhibition which stands tall at @c3centre, a social hub, on his own land. 🛍
As readers traverse these 27 stories, Bagoo addresses other avenues certain events and themes could have gone and how it would change present-day outcomes. Mainly centered on Trinidad and Tobago culture, I thoroughly enjoyed this insight and knowledge of my homeland. That being said, I can understand why some may not feel connected or drawn to it.
These creations also gave me insight into Bagoo's personality, interests, and intellectual, which, by the way, is remarkably beautiful. While I did not relate to some pieces, others did stand out to me. 😍
'Doubles' was an eye-opening rendition on how Trinbagonians only really pride themselves in it and claim it as their own when it is featured by foreigners. 🧆
'Soca' rejuvenated my love for the local music genre, especially in 2019 when Famalay won Road March which should have gone to @kesthebandofficial Savannah Grass which captured the beauty and history of Trinidad Carnival and the Queen's Park Savannah, the biggest roundabout in the world. 🎶
'Snakes and Ladders' reminded me of my childhood but also taught me where the game really originated from and how through our forefathers, distance and time, communication changes things. Snakes and Ladders was originally called Moksha Pat, where moksha is the ultimate goal in Hinduism, union with God, and freedom from rebirth. This is influenced through good deeds (ladders) and bad deeds (snakes).
'The Secret Life of a Dyslexic Critic' is perfection. I can't explain its beauty, but please read it if you get the chance to. 🎨
'What Happened on December 21, 2019' took something so ordinary in the author's life and made it into something of beauty. A must-read! 👌
'Michael Jean Cazabon' taught me more of the plantation owner whom I only knew through his exhibition which stands tall at @c3centre, a social hub, on his own land. 🛍
February 17, 2021
I thoroughly enjoyed this smart, thoughtful yet unguarded and readable essay collection by the Trinidadian writer and poet Andre Bagoo. Like the title, which suggests every possibility (is it about Star Trek? Tom Stoppard? Hamlet?) he considers and explores varied and eclectic ideas in each essay and chapter, writing about everything from the uniqueness of life in a city confined to an island, to world history, regional politics, colonialism - all told from a fresh perspective. Bagoo's essays are like looking at the world through (I delete the obvious cliche here) a fresh perspective and unique eye, offering one surprise after another: Shakespeare, Merchant Ivory, Eric Williams, Naipaul, corn pone.
Bagoo's writing is not just sorrel mojitos and cornpone either, and there is always the thrill of what might be on the next page. Art? Music? Prostitution? These essays ask as much as they tell, forcing me to put them down to go searching for Naipaul stories, and wondering where I left my old Schumann CDs and Merchant Ivory DVDs. He can go from cheeky to critical, especially on Trinidad's domestic issues, foreign policy, migration and diaspora, with flourishes that warrant highlighting - “we leave it as much as we love it".
While the nations and territories of the Caribbean have made remarkable progress in recent decades to decriminalise homosexuality, homophobia in the region is still as commonplace as it is acceptable. Writing unapologetically as a gay man in Trinidad is itself a brave act; Bagoo charges into this territory fearlessly in one piece that disambiguates homosexuality and paedophilia (I couldn't help but think it might be enunciating it slowly for the benefit of a reader like the auntie who discouraged a young Andre from singing in a choir or overeating) explores Naipaul's possible childhood sexual abuse and the connection between his legendary cantankerous disposition, and childhood trauma. In a region that seems to elevate Naipaul to near-deity status in spite of his reputation for cruelty and misogyny, where it is not uncommon for some to connect homosexuality and paedophilia with a line, Bagoo's clarity made me want to stand up and cheer.
I had to go back and read 'The Secret Life of a Dyslexic Critic' a third time before completing this review. You will too if you have ever fought distraction while trying to sit still, concentrate and write. Bagoo combines world affairs with his own coming out (as dyslexic) like a good conversation peppered with wit and confessions. If you are studying or even interested in the Caribbean, its cultures or social issues, you should read this collection. A professional reviewer would probably refer to it as a slim volume filled with insight. I can't say how thin, reading it on a Kindle and not being a professional, but it's stuffed with wisdom, and you will find the world inside.
Bagoo's writing is not just sorrel mojitos and cornpone either, and there is always the thrill of what might be on the next page. Art? Music? Prostitution? These essays ask as much as they tell, forcing me to put them down to go searching for Naipaul stories, and wondering where I left my old Schumann CDs and Merchant Ivory DVDs. He can go from cheeky to critical, especially on Trinidad's domestic issues, foreign policy, migration and diaspora, with flourishes that warrant highlighting - “we leave it as much as we love it".
While the nations and territories of the Caribbean have made remarkable progress in recent decades to decriminalise homosexuality, homophobia in the region is still as commonplace as it is acceptable. Writing unapologetically as a gay man in Trinidad is itself a brave act; Bagoo charges into this territory fearlessly in one piece that disambiguates homosexuality and paedophilia (I couldn't help but think it might be enunciating it slowly for the benefit of a reader like the auntie who discouraged a young Andre from singing in a choir or overeating) explores Naipaul's possible childhood sexual abuse and the connection between his legendary cantankerous disposition, and childhood trauma. In a region that seems to elevate Naipaul to near-deity status in spite of his reputation for cruelty and misogyny, where it is not uncommon for some to connect homosexuality and paedophilia with a line, Bagoo's clarity made me want to stand up and cheer.
I had to go back and read 'The Secret Life of a Dyslexic Critic' a third time before completing this review. You will too if you have ever fought distraction while trying to sit still, concentrate and write. Bagoo combines world affairs with his own coming out (as dyslexic) like a good conversation peppered with wit and confessions. If you are studying or even interested in the Caribbean, its cultures or social issues, you should read this collection. A professional reviewer would probably refer to it as a slim volume filled with insight. I can't say how thin, reading it on a Kindle and not being a professional, but it's stuffed with wisdom, and you will find the world inside.
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