Jan Carew’s time line of life begins in 1920 on the Guyana coast. And in the year 2000, the time line notes, "Moved to Louisville, Kentucky."

What happened in between involves countless manifestations of enlightenment through novels, poetry, essays and plays, and a world of academia where Jan both studied and taught, having been one of the first black professors to teach at Princeton University.

Jan has lived in Paris, Amsterdam, England, and Prague — to name just a few places — and most likely crossed nearly every line of latitude and longitude visible on a map.

He was brought to the University of Louisville after an endowment to the Liberal Studies program made it possible to pull from an internationally renowned talent pool in which Jan was no doubt calmly floating on the surface.

He was among the first generation of scholars brought in by UofL’s art historian, Robert Douglas. "I never heard much about Louisville," Jan says, "and a place itself doesn’t become interesting until the people emerge out of it. And there are interesting groups scattered around here, I’ve found."

Jan gravitates toward the artists, he says, and exhibited visual work of his own here just three years ago. Of the precious few who even knew he lived in Louisville, most thought of him as an academic, so this show started to reveal a multifaceted personality. Decorative village scenes and functional plates and trays for serving food were part of the show, which is in keeping with his practical application of knowledge. Still, the layers of this intellectually powerful and gentle man will certainly never be fully known. His accomplishments are as diverse as the culture he hails from in Guyana . . . known as “The Land of Six Peoples” because of its multi-ethnic population.

But if we Louisvillians can be gated into the company of Jan Carew (if only by the geography of our city limits) then take advantage of knowing he has established this city as his home — and we are the cultural beneficiaries.

Seek out his work and enjoy calling him a neighbor.