Biography Jan Carew

1 biography

1.1 childhood in british guiana
1.2 university years
1.3 exile , later years

biography
childhood in british guiana

jan rynveld carew born on 24 september 1920 @ agricola, coastal village called rome, in british guiana, south american colony of british empire become guyana. middle child , son of ethel robertson , alan carew. 1924 1926, carews lived in united states jan carew , elder sister had come guyana after kidnapping of younger sister in new york in 1926. child recovered , sent family in 1927. carew s father lived on several occasions in united states , canada, working while canadian pacific railway, , crossing american continent halifax vancouver. memories fuel imagination of young carew. 1926 1938, educated in guyana, first attending agricola wesleyan school, catholic elementary school , berbice high school, canadian scottish presbyterian school, in new amsterdam. passed senior cambridge examination in 1938.

in 1939, became part-time teacher @ berbice high school girls, , called british army second world war broke out in europe. served in coast artillery regiment until 1943. 1943 1944, customs officer in georgetown. @ time, published first text in christmas annual , working lot on painting , drawing. 1944 1945, worked @ price controls office in port-of-spain, trinidad.

carew felt himself part of caribbean world him included island archipelago, countries of caribbean littoral , guyana, surinam, , cayenne. found paradoxical unity of caribbean way of life in successive waves of cultural alienation shaped caribbean frame of mind mosaic of cultural fragments - amerindian, african, european, asian.

the university years

at age of 17, left guyana united states, studied @ howard university , western reserve university (1944-8), predecessor of case western reserve university. went charles university in prague (1948–50) , sorbonne in paris.

exile , later years

in described endless journeyings , lived @ different times in netherlands, mexico, england, france, spain, ghana, canada , united states. in england, acted laurence olivier , edited kensington post. worked broadcaster , writer bbc , lectured in race relations @ london university.

he maintained caribbean links, , in 1962 served director of culture in british guiana under jagan administration. according york university professor emeritus dr. frank birbalsingh, strong supporter of late dr. cheddi jagan , people s progressive party. quite fearless when came politics.

between 1962 , 1966 carew lived in jamaica wife sylvia wynter, , moved canada years before settling in usa.

he taught @ princeton, rutgers, illinois wesleyan, hampshire college, northwestern , lincoln universities. emeritus professor of african american studies @ northwestern university.

jan carew died @ home in louisville, kentucky, usa, @ age of 92, survived widow dr joy gleason, daughters lisa st aubin de terán , shantoba eliza carew, , son, david christopher carew.

his memoir potaro dreams: youth in guyana posthumously published in 2014. envisaged first volume, covering period birth in 1920 1939 when carew drawn second world war, described author prism through approach life.