KJ's WAYS OF BEING (Part 9)
PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM Samuel Selvon by Jayesh Sivan I see him one January evening quarter-century ago, four months before his death in 1994. He is only 70 but shuffles into the room slowly. It is a small seminar space in the Creative Arts Centre of the University of the West Indies, an old wooden building whose floorboards creak. He is medium height but appears taller because he is thin. He sports jeans and sandals. His neat beard and ponytail are silver, and his eyes are sad and ancient as if they have seen too much, including his own impending death. Once seated he fidgets with the books on the table before him while novelist Earl Lovelace introduces him as "a beleiver in Trinidad". Lovelace says that Selvon's work proclaimed and affirmed the lives and dreams of ordinary people. "I dunno what else to say," admits Lovelace. "Go on, go on, it sounding good," prompts Selvon, forcing a smile. But Lovelace is dry. He squeezes out the "idea" that ...