“The Caribbean Writer (TCW) mourns the passing of its
esteemed founding editorial board member, Nobel Prize Winner, Playwright, Poet and Artist, Derek Walcott, who
passed away earlier this morning," said, Alscess Lewis-Brown, editor of The
Caribbean Writer, a refereed, international
journal published by the University of the Virgin Islands annually. She added that “,Walcott’s meticulously woven
metaphorical poems and plays captured the essence and spirit of Caribbean
expressivity across a spectrum of Caribbean political and social consciousness.
His support and insight helped to shape and guide “The Caribbean Writer’s” path
over the pass thirty years. For this, we
are grateful. We will miss his abiding frank and witty manner.”
“He was a great advocate for the Caribbean,” said
Lewis-Brown. She added that in an
interview with Walcott in 2014, from his home in St. Lucia, in response to her
question about “his thoughts on what
might be considered idealism in the notion of pulling the fragments of the Caribbean
together,”
Walcott had this to say:
“Everywhere has division in all countries. I don’t know
what the division comes from, but of course there is a difference in things:
difference in pronunciation, accent, and stuff like that. Even in little St.
Croix there is a division between Christiansted and Frederiksted. Each island
has different qualities assigned to it by other islands. However, I think that
regionally we are coming together through the products of our creative
imagination. The Caribbean Writer is a good example of that effort. So, no. I
don’t think we are being idealistic when we talk about pulling the fragments of
the Caribbean together. Poets are doing it”.
UVI Professor and The Caribbean Writer Editorial Board
Member Dr. Vincent Cooper, fondly
recalls that during the 1970s Derek Walcott either directed or provided advice
on the staging of several of his plays in the Virgin Islands. Between 1973 and
1978, he directed scenes from “Dream on Monkey Mountain”, “The Charlatan”, and “Franklyn”,
on St. Croix, and later that year on St. Thomas. In 1974, he directed Ti Jean
and his Brothers on St. Croix, as well as on St. Thomas, as well as on Tortola.
In April 1977, he directed Remembrance on both islands. During the Fall of
1978, he directed Pantomime on both islands. Throughout the Fall of 1979,
Walcott taught a seminar on Tirso de Molina’s The Trickster of Seville (El
Burlador de Sevilla) and Walcott’s adaptation of Molina’s play, “The Joker of
Seville”. Walcott also spent part of the summer of 1979 revising his new play, “Marie
Laveau”, while residing at the University of the Virgin Islands ( then known
as CVI) campus. Tirso de Molina’s The Trickster of Seville
and Derek Walcott’s adaptation, “The Joker of Seville”, as well as Walcott’s
musical, “Marie Laveau” were first produced at the University of the Virgin
Islands in St. Thomas, in November 1979.
“ …He reaches for his poems, curled in a coat-pocket –
and begins to read, the lady shifts her weight, and clamps her feet about her
bags, Walcott caught his breath and
leapfrogs to another page. He’s accustomed to this silence, pigeons caught in
eaves some simile, once winged, and now fretting for the rhyme Walcott,
litany-voiced, free-verses about sea-grapes…”
“Walcott has had a long
history with the University of the Virgin Islands and The Caribbean Writer,”
said Emily A. Williams, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social
Sciences. “Our writers and scholars have
been enriched by their drinks at his intellectual and artistic font. May the
spirit of his creative genius continue to inspire us all.”
