SOURCE: Walcott, Derek, and William R. Ferris. “A Multiplicity of Voices: A Conversation with Derek Walcott.” Humanities 22, no. 6 (November-December 2001): 4-7, 50-53.

The following interview focuses on influences on Walcott's literary career including Caribbean history, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, and the language of Shakespeare.

[Ferris]: I want to begin by quoting Joseph Brodsky's remark that “The West Indies were discovered by Columbus, colonized by the British, and immortalized by Walcott.”

You were born and raised in the West Indies and spend a good bit of each year in St. Lucia. What do you feel are the basic elements that make up the Caribbean culture?

[Walcott]: I think its multiracial character is a basic component, particularly in cases like Trinidad and the larger islands. All the races are represented here, not only the African, but the East Indian and the Chinese and the Mediterranean and the European. You can trace...