Why Canada Reads finalist David Chariandy thinks memory is a powerful tool
In Brother, a young life is cut short in the context of escalating tension with police. This is one of the realities of life in 'The Park,' the suburban Toronto neighbourhood that's at the heart of David Chariandy's latest novel. The story follows the daily lives of Michael and Francis, the sons of Trinidadian immigrants, living in Scarborough, Ont.
Rooted in Chariandy's own experience growing up as a person of colour in Scarborough, Ont. the novel is a beautiful meditation on discrimination, agency, grief and the power of human relationships. Chariandy spoke with Shelagh Rogers on The Next Chapter about Brother, which is currently in contention for Canada Reads 2019.
The Canada Reads debates take place March 25-28, 2019. They will air on CBC Radio One at 11 a.m. (1 p.m. AT/1:30 p.m. NT), on CBC at 3 p.m. (3:30 NT), live streamed online at CBC Books at 11 a.m. ET and will be available on the free CBC Gem streaming service.
Memories in the present
"Memory, for me, isn't an exercise in recalling abstract and distant pasts. It is the muscle sting of now. It is something that's always very urgent, an act that is very urgent, that is very necessary and very practical. At least this is how the boys see it. To remember who you are, what you've experienced — to remember your place in a bigger story, a history, in a sense — is an act that is urgently needed in order for you to make your way in the world."
Challenges of representation
"It took me a long time to write this particular story. I needed to get the words right, the story right, the voice right. But I was also thinking about how to handle the complicated politics of representation.
"I know the story represents communities that have themselves often been misrepresented, and people who have often been misrepresented. I wanted to take care to represent those very same communities and people in ways that drew attention to the resilience, the imagination, the the sheer intelligence of the individuals in the Scarborough that I'm representing."
Chariandy's Scarborough
"The Park is populated by working class immigrants. Because of that, it faces specific challenges — challenges relating to poverty and security in various ways. Youths within that community are constantly trying to maintain hope when, at times, hope and belief in the future — a future for them — seems distant and faint."
Music as escape
"Music provides a glimpse of a bigger world than the world they inhabit. A world that stretches to beyond the oftentimes constraining neighborhood of The Park to the glamour of certain cities in the U.S., to the Caribbean, to Africa and to other places in the world."
David Chariandy's comments have been edited for length and clarity.