An Interview With Olive Senior
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3517344 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Charles H Rowell (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1988 |
| Issue | 36 |
| Pages | 480 |
| Publication date | 1988-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Callaloo (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0161-2492 • E-ISSN: 1080-6512 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/2931520 |
| OpenAlex | W2323721031 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
SENIOR: I didn't grow up influenced by what I suppose you would call arts. I was born and grew up in rural Jamaica and my early childhood was far removed in space and time from any substantive external contacts and influences. My major influence then was the oral tradition-storytelling, hot preaching, praying and testifying (for religious influence was strong), concerts, tea-meetings, and so on. Later came formal exposure English literature in high school, encouraged by succession of teachers who were, I suppose, delighted find student who was so avaricious for books, so seduced as I was by words well crafted. I also from earliest childhood had very strong visual sense which was nurtured by studying art and things like art history in high school-at one time I wanted be painter; and I have always had an intense curiosity about the natural world, natural phenomena, though I can't say I really applied myself very much the sciences. But these three elements-word, vision, nature-have remained important me. Of course not be overlooked as profound influence in determining what I have become are the socio-psychological elements of my childhood which made me extremely introverted and introspective, which caused me create imaginary universes as an escape from the realities of everyday existence, perceive (subconsciously then of course), books, knowledge as embodied in the word, as key personal affirmation and power. For there is absolutely nothing literary in my family background or social heritage. I don't know what motivated me become writer other than passion for the written word, for books. My teachers encouraged me be sure, because I suppose I showed early promise of skill, but to write is far different thing from being a writer. There were many examples in Jamaica of people who wrote -i.e., poems and stories which were published in the newspapers and various periodicals though I don't think I knew any of them; in fact I didn't know of any Jamaican who was writer in the sense of having that as vocation. So even though all my life I have wanted to write, it is only the last few years that I have come acknowledge myself
Aesthetics · Art · Epistemology · Introspection · Literature · Narrative · Nothing · Power (physics · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · Storytelling · Subconscious · The arts · The Imaginary · Visual arts · Caribbean history, culture, and politics · History · Philosophy · Psychology
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,14 |
| Citation span | 2004 - 2017 (14) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |