·       Write a letter (1,000 words) to the audience of your choice reflecting on Cole,

·       Write a letter (1,000 words) to the audience of your
choice reflecting on Cole, Naipaul, and Walcott and their varying perspectives
on culture and identity. This assignment is a little complicated and
experimental. Please follow the reading instructions: A) First, read Teju
Cole’s essays “Natives on the Boat” and “Housing Mr. Biswas.” Both of these are
on the writer V.S. Naipaul (1932-2018), a Trinidadian writer of Indian descent,
who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001. B) Next, read some of Naipaul’s
book A Writer’s People to see how his mind ranges from topic to topic, from the
Caribbean in the 40s, to England in the 50s, to the Roman Empire, to the life
of Gandhi. You do not have to read the whole thing, but be sure to read Naipaul
on another Nobel winner from Caribbean, Derek Walcott (19302017). C) Then, read
Walcott’s “The Antilles: Fragments of Epic Memory,” in which, among much else,
he reflects on an older Caribbean writer, St. John Perse (1887-1975). Then,
read Cole’s short essay on Walcott.