Authors urged to use local ‘mythology’ in their work

by David Hinkson

Barbadian authors have been encouraged to write more about Barbados’ more colourful characters, as well as urban legends that have been passed down for generations.

In commending local author Wilmont St. Cyr at the launch of his latest mystery novel, “The Vault”, historian Trevor Marshall stated that: “A country’s mythology is something that perhaps we spend too much time trying to explain, but instead I believe it should be highlighted. Jamaica currently rules the roost in that regard, and there are similar stories out of Trinidad and Guyana as well, but to my knowledge this is the first one done in Barbados.”

St. Cyr’s book in part speaks about the Chase Vault located in the churchyard at the Christ Church Parish Church, where it is claimed that whenever bodies were buried in it, “it was discovered that the caskets already there seemed to have shifted position.”

Marshall explained that according to other historians, “There is nothing really sinister about it; it was simply that when gases from de-composing bodies escaped within an enclosed area there was some “rumbling and tumbling” that occurred, and there are similar stories about vaults in St. Thomas, in Eagle Hall and other parts of Barbados.”

Marshall noted that St. Cyr was the first local writer to deal with this topic, stating that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the British author best known for creating Sherlock Holmes, had written about it, as well as Algernon Aspinall, another British author.

The book, which is set between 1800 and 1820, tells the story of a Scottish mulatto with Barbadian roots, William Stalker, who is sent to Barbados as punishment for killing a man in a duel.

Marshall described Stalker as an “alienist, something akin to a psychopathologist, who goes through several scrapes on his arrival in Barbados, and the book is an insight into many different aspects of Barbadi-an life in the early 19th century.

One of the people he meets in Barbados is the brother of the man he killed in the duel, who is “out to get him”, and that man is part of the Chase family, which is where the vault comes into the picture.”

In his address, which he titled, “My Odyssey” the author Wilmont St. Cyr stated that “When I dropped out of school in fourth form, I never dreamed that I would become a writer, but my brother Lewin, as well as a man I met named Lisle Everton Rowe who had lived in the Far East for many years, inspired me to write. My interest
in Barbadian culture has provided me with lots of stories to tell.”

He noted that his writing journey began in earnest in 2004. “I found myself in an unfortunate situa-tion during which I began reading everything I could get my hands on, including the entire Bible and Qur’an, and many different books and magazines.

In effect, those words became my “televi-sion”. During that time, I ended up writing four novels, namely my first release, Fields of Death, about the so-called ‘Canefield Murders’ that occurred in Barbados between 1973 and 1982; my memoirs and another novel entitled Blackberry, which have yet to be released, and this current book, The Vault was actually the last one I wrote.”

He has received numerous commendations for “Fields of Death”, including a NIFCA award when it was released in 2016, and on the strength of that book he has been asked to participate in writers’ fora all across the world.

“Over the last two years, I took part in a Writers Roundtable at the Toron-to Book Expo in 2021, where I was on a panel with fifty writers from Jamaica, the United States, Canada and parts of Africa. I also met with a Liberian filmmaker named Ural Francis who has worked with Tyler Perry, and he recommended that “Fields of Death” be placed in the Library of Africa and the African Diaspora.”

Meanwhile, his manager Tessa Chaderton Shaw described St. Cyr as “extraordinary” in terms of how he sought to improve his life after a challenging start. “Over the years I have seen him take courses in fiction writing as well as screen writing, and he passed them with full marks, and I was also im-pressed with how he handled himself when I asked him to do a presentation at the Regional Secu-rity System in a meeting which included the former CARICOM Secretary General, Irwin La Rocque, and other high- ranking officials. Seeing his progress has also inspired me to draft the chapters of my first book.”

St. Cyr quoted American author Ernest Hemingway who once said: “The world breaks everyone but at the end many are strong in the broken places.”

“I dedicate this book to anyone who has faced challenges in life, to let them know there is always a way out,” St. Cyr said.