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Cereus Blooms At Night
''Cereus Blooms at Night'' (1996) is the first novel published by film-maker, artist, and writer Shani Mootoo. The novel recounts the story of an old lady named Mala Ramchandin through the narrative of Tyler, a nurse at Paradise Alms House. Although the setting of the novel (the town of Paradise in the country Lantanacamara) is deliberately left ambiguous, it is thought to be patterned after the island of Trinidad, where Mootoo lived as a child. Ceroid cactus, Cereus and other flora found throughout the novel, the creolized dialect spoken by the inhabitants of Lantanacamara, and the racial composition of its population (white people, Non-resident Indian and person of Indian origin, Indians, black people) are all suggestive of Caribbean society. Other possibilities would include Guyana, Suriname, and Mauritius, all of which have sizable Indian populations. Plot summary At the beginning of Part I, Tyler addresses the general audience. His intention for telling the story of Mala is in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shani Mootoo
Shani Mootoo, writer, visual artist and video maker, was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1957 to Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidadian parents. She grew up in Trinidad and relocated at the age of 19 to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She currently lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Biography Early life and education At an early age Mootoo showed a talent for drawing, painting, and writing, and expressed interest in becoming an artist at the age of 10. Her early efforts were encouraged by her mother Indra (''née'' Samaroo). Mootoo's father, Ramesh Mootoo, was a medical family doctor and Trinidadian politician; much of Shani Mootoo's personal and literary life has been focused on political activism. According to Mootoo, her parents were upset by some of her earliest poems because they described love between two men or love between two women. She has also said that her parents worried for what those themes might mean for her future, which is why she put her words away and chose to pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |