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St. Omer In Spotlight at FRC Wednesday

Image : Dr.Breslin, with Marion Nelson and Hilary La Force of the FRC on a recent visit.

THE Folk Research Centre, in association with the Nobel Laureate Festival Committee will present Dr. Paul Breslin, a Walcott scholar, who will speak on the “St. Lucia Oral History : Dunstan St. Omer” on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the FRC Headquarters, Mount Pleasant.

Professor Emeritus Paul Breslin (who delivered the Derek Walcott lecture in 2003) will present material from the St. Lucia Oral History, which Allen Sherman and Marion Nelson began compiling in 2007. They have interviewed 80 St. Lucians, and are now working with Professor Breslin to edit and organize this rich collection.

Image : Dr.Breslin, with Marion Nelson and Hilary La Force of the FRC on a recent visit.
Dr.Breslin, with Marion Nelson and Hilary La Force of the FRC on a recent visit.

When this work is finished, the edited audio files will be archived at the Folk Research Centre, where visitors will be able to access them. One goal of the project is creating a book, a narrative from the roughly 5,000 pages of transcripts.

The presentation will begin with Professor Breslin introducing the project. Sherman and Nelson were inspired by their meeting with the late Sir Dunstan St. Omer and by seeing the altarpiece in the Holy Family Church, Jacmel.

Professor Breslin will explain how his admiration for the poetry of Derek Walcott and Sherman’s and Nelson’s exploration of the art of Sir Dunstan St. Omer led them all to a deeper exploration of St. Lucia’s cultural and creative achievements.

Since Sir Dunstan St. Omer passed away in 2015, they thought it fitting to focus the presentation on his life and work.

Professor Breslin will play audio files, in which interviewees speak about the man, his life and his art. These include commentary from Sir Dunstan’s sons Alwyn, Giovanni, Julio, and Luigi. The audio will be accompanied by photographs taken by Sherman and Nelson of St. Omer and the interviewees, as well as images of the art under discussion.

The presentation will close with MacDonald Dixon’s reading (recorded by Nelson in August 2016) of the last section of Derek Walcott’s “St. Lucie,” a praise song for the Jacmel altarpiece and the people depicted within it. Details from the painting and of the surrounding landscape will be shown as cited in the poem.

The audience will be able to ask questions about the project after the lecture.

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