“The Blasted Man Made Me Vex”: Artistic Vulnerability, Satire, and Caribbean Literary Historiography

This article explores an incident during the 1986 Caribbean Writers’ Conference in London, where Trinidadian writer Samuel Selvon faced a public assault while reading from his 1975 novel, Moses Ascending. This incident, I argue, prompts a closer examination of the dynamics between writers and readers, the impact of personal attacks on artistic pursuits, and the treatment of Black women artists by male writers in the late twentieth-century Caribbean. Drawing from Austin Clarke’s first-hand account and Susheila Nasta’s analysis, the article explores the portrayal of the assault resulting from a misinterpretation of Selvon’s work, particularly a failure to recognize its “subversive and satirical” components. The essay extends to critical perspectives on satire and Selvon’s own satirical response to the incident, arguing that misogynist satire exposes vulnerabilities for both author and reader, and can cause violence. By revealing the complexities of artistic expression, the paper critically examines the responsibilities of authors and readers, offering an orientation towards Caribbean literary historiography that goes beyond institutional narratives, incorporating accounts of friendship, community, and intimacies.