The Words, November 2015
Macalester Celebrates Marlon James Day
By Molly Sowash ’16
Students, faculty, community members, and friends gathered Wednesday to celebrate Marlon James and his recent achievement winning the Man Booker Prize. Before the program began, people mingled over wine and hors d’oeuvres, listened to a live jazz trio, and talked about Marlon’s novel, his classes, and the award. One of his students, Svitlana Iukhymovych ‘16, shared her reaction when she found out he had won the prize. “I was really proud,” she said, “I was impressed with his ability to represent his own country while being abroad and not being detached from either country.”
President Brian Rosenberg introduced the program, joking about how he always made bets that Marlon would win a big award for his writing. “He bets against himself, I bet on him,” he said, “This time we didn’t bet, he won. So I blew it.” Daylanne English followed Rosenberg and gave a touching account of Marlon’s excellence as a colleague, friend and teacher. She told the crowd how Marlon lives to the fullest at every occasion, at a concert, in the classroom, during a bike race, while enjoying a cocktail, or conducting research. “He not only makes the most of these occasions, he gives the most,” she said. Holding back her tears, Daylanne shared, “To know Marlon is to experience a generous heart, an expansive spirit, an incisive intellect and of course, thrilling creativity.” She brought it back to Marlon’s entrance into the Macalester community, when he sent an application to the English Department “nine years ago this very day.” Daylanne commented on his originality as a writer, reinventing even the genre of the application letter and creating characters that live beyond the pages of his books. “And let me close by pointing out something Marlon’s students will understand,” she joked, “note that I have used not one adverb today.”
As the crowd laughed, Rosenberg returned to read Governor Mark Dayton’s formal declaration of October 28th, 2015 as Marlon James Day, full of “whereas’s” and many proclamations of Marlon’s achievements. Always eager to crack a joke, Rosenberg proceeded to prevent Marlon’s ego from inflating by listing the other recent proclamations made by the Governor, which include Credit Union Day, Septic Smart Week, and Tooth Disease Awareness Month. Rosenberg invited Marlon to the stage to gift him his personal “bullshit button,” informing him that now that he is famous, he will be hearing a lot of this. On a more serious note, Rosenberg reminded the crowd of the enormity of the Man Booker Prize, claiming, “This is the world cup if you are a writer of fiction,” and listed some of the renowned writers who have won this prize in the past. The crowd raised their glasses to the latest winner and at last, heard from the man himself.
Marlon joked with the crowd and shared some of his memories of Macalester, including his first interview and the department’s offer of a one year appointment as a visiting professor. “What they didn’t know is that I packed everything anyway,” he said, “so thank God they liked me, cause it would’ve been really awkward being deported.” Marlon expressed his love of this college and his pride in being part of a school with such a great reputation of always engaging with the world. Then he turned to his recent accomplishment and the experience of receiving the prize.
Convinced that he would not win, Marlon did not listen to the directions about where the photographers would be positioned or even write a speech. “Then they announced it and I still kind of didn’t believe it,” he said, although from his angle he could see the judge unveil his book before he announced it. Marlon shared his four-year journey with his novel, “the loosest and the craziest novel” he has ever written. Picking up Daylanne’s comment about his ability to reinvent genres, Marlon shared how he got rid of any notions about what a novel should be when writing this book. He explained how a creative idea often leaves the writer’s head in the form of what art or prose should be, leaving its raw form behind. “Your internal critic got to you before you could even get the work out,” he said. To forget narrative and some of those guidelines taught in creative writing classes is scary and difficult. A Brief History of Seven Killings certainly provides an example of what happened when Marlon turned off that internal critic and wrote the book that was in his head.