Saint Lucian Writers and Writing


Book Description

This superb author index of poetry, prose and drama explores the writing landscape of Saint Lucia. Everyone - from the internationally acclaimed Derek Walcott to self-published unknowns - are there. But this bibliography is not just about literature, it also features the social, political and cultural dimensions of Saint Lucia, from scholarly essays to the ephemera of funeral pamphlets and recipe books. Foreword by Antonia MacDonald.




Bibliography of St. Lucian Creative Writing


Book Description

Bibliography of St. Lucian Creative Writing: Poetry, Prose, Drama by St. Lucian writers is an invaluable reference tool for those researching St. Lucian literature, including the work of internationally recognised St. Lucian-born Nobel laureate Derek Walcott. It lists published and unpublished literature by St. Lucians writing poetry, prose, and drama. Reviews and articles on St. Lucian literature are also cited in a substantial section. Also included are a listing of background readings that throw light on the literature. While the book was several years in the making, its completion was commissioned by the Cultural Development Foundation of St. Lucia.




Bodies, Memories and Spirits


Book Description

The island of Saint Lucia possesses a vibrant Creole culture that has given shape to a lively and creative people. Cyclical traditions akin to Community Theatre emerged out of discourses, counter-discourses and work practices during centuries of European slavery and/or colonization of the Amerindian, the African and the East Indian. This text provides descriptions of a selection of those traditions. The research was conducted when the author was employed with the Folk Research Centre and while he was engaged in graduate research as a student of Cultural Studies at UWI, Cave Hill. Although the author attempts to place the traditions under study in their historical context, his focus however is on a discussion of the impact of those traditions on the people and their society.







Three Plays


Book Description

The three plays in this collection form a triptych--the central play, a farce, is flanked by two dramas. Together they span the last four decades of Trinidad's social and political history, beginning, in The Last Carnival, with the colonial life-style of a French Creole family faced with the emergence of the Black Power movement, and ending, in A Branch of the Blue Nile, with the conflict among members of a small theatre company in contemporary Port-of-Spain. Beef, No Chicken, the middle play, deals with the corruption of a small town in a hurry to catch up with the industrialization that a new highway will bring. The Last Carnival is an entirely new version of Walcott's earlier, unpublished play, In a Fine Castle. It had its American premiere with the Group Theatre Company in Seattle in 1983. Beef, No Chicken premiered at the Yale Repertory Theatre's Winterfest series in 1982. A Branch of the Blue Nile was given its Caribbean premiere by State One in Barbados in 1983.




Dream on Monkey Mountain and Other Plays


Book Description

On a Caribbean island, the morning after a full moon, Felix Hobain tears through the market in a drunken rage. Taken away to sober up in jail, all that night he is gripped by hallucinations: the impoverished hermit believes he has become a healer, walking from village to village, tending to the sick, waiting for a sign from God. In this dream, his one companion, Moustique, wants to exploit his power. Moustique decides to impersonate a prophet himself, ignoring a coffin-maker who warns him he will die and enraging the people of the island. Hobain, half-awake in his desolate jail cell, terrorized by the specter of his friend's corruption, clings to his visionary quest. He will try to transform himself; to heal Moustique, his jailer, and his jail-mates; and to be a leader for his people. Dream on Monkey Mountain was awarded the 1971 Obie Award for a Distinguished Foreign Play when it was first presented in New York, and Edith Oliver, writing in The New Yorker, called it "a masterpiece." Three of Derek's Walcott's most popular short plays are also included in this volume: Ti-Jean and His Brothers; Malcochon, or The Six in the Rain; and The Sea at Dauphin. In an expansive introductory essay, "What the Twilight Says," the playwright explains his founding of the seminal dramatic company where these works were first performed, the Trinidad Theatre Workshop. First published in 1970, Dream on Monkey Mountain and Other Plays is an essential part of Walcott's vast and important body of work.




In Turbulent Waters


Book Description

A provocative piece of literary work! Provides a vivid exposition of the evil within our midst, the truly dark side of our Saint Lucian culture. Disturbing in its tortuosity, it is not for the faint of heart or those with deep dark secrets. It may be found offensive, inflammatory, and challenging to many of previous eras and also to those in this current era who sing and dance to the words I wanna be a billionaire so freaking bad! . . . Wanna be on the cover of Forbes magazine . . . buy the things I never had! A must read, however, for those seekers of wealth, power, and status! The book does a great job of characterizing the escalating problem of depravity of the human soul stemming from social, cultural, and spiritual deficiencies. It begs the question, Has our holy mother, the Catholic church, been able to attain that nexus between Saint Lucias Afrocentric culture and Christianity? Has our local church been able to challenge and confront what has been deemed acceptable to the bourgeoisie as inherent social/cultural/spiritual values reflected in duplicity in religious outlook? The book however provides a ray of hope as it culminates in an expression of the beauty of the sacramental life provided by mother church, which is available to all in order to put on Gods armor so as to be able to resist the devils tactics. It is hoped that there are still many God-fearing persons in our society who continue to strive for the virtues of honesty and integrity, not willing to compromise the well-being of their fellowman for the sake of an insatiable ambition for power, wealth, and fame! This brilliant exposition then ought to move those who possess a genuine soul, a social and moral conscience, those who still bear light in their hearts, to bring light and life into successive generations of our beloved country, Saint Lucia, seeking to reject evil under all conditions.




Theatre


Book Description




Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English


Book Description

" ... Documents the history and development of [Post-colonial literatures in English, together with English and American literature] and includes original research relating to the literatures of some 50 countries and territories. In more than 1,600 entries written by more than 600 internationally recognized scholars, it explores the effect of the colonial and post-colonial experience on literatures in English worldwide.