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Although A Dream Across Time is fiction, St. Lucia is a real place with a wonderful story of its own. We are also psychotherapists with an intimate knowledge of psychological processes and motivations. The columns in this section provide insight into the settings, culture and characters in our works. We want to share this material and our perceptions with other authors but believe that many of our readers will find these columns of interest as well.
If you would like to see what we have been up to and to see some of what we are dealing with as we move to self publish, go to our blog at http ://letmedigress.blogspot.com. We want it to be interactive so join in. The columns from this section will also appear in the blog.
At the end of the latest column, you'll find clicks for past columns.
Column 1
St. Lucia - Helen of the Antilles
We have been told that St. Lucia as depicted in A Dream Across Time is essentially a character in the book. So, let's begin by acquainting our readers with this wonderful place.
St. Lucia is a real island, one of the Windward Islands (eastern Caribbean). It is known as Helen of the Antilles because of its extraordinary beauty. Soaring volcanic peaks, lush vegetation, rain forest, turquoise and emerald waters.
It is an island rich in natural beauty and in the multiple hues of its people who come from Africa, Europe, East India, South America and Asia. It has an equally colorful history having changed hands fourteen times between the British and the French. St. Lucians use English predominantly but there is also a widely spoken French based patois which is spoken with a west African cadence.
We tried to be historically accurate in A Dream Across Time. There was a guillotine erected in the square in Soufriere during the terror of the French revolution. And there were brigands, slaves fighting for their freedom.
In recent history St. Lucia was a colony of Great Britain. They gained their independence in 1979, just one year before our heroine came to the island. At the time the island was poor and primarily dependent on its banana industry. Tourism was in its infancy. As Andre saw so clearly, tourism was to become the primary industry. The St. Lucians have undertaken to protect their beautiful island including their precious rain forest and their endangered parrots which at that time numbered about one hundred. Now St. Lucia has a parrot breeding program and the decline of the wild population has been reversed. We chose parrots as a symbol of the island's heritage and its struggle for responsible development.
The story of St. Lucia since independence is remarkable. The people of this country have worked hard to protect and develop their agricultural industry and develop tourism. It has not always been easy but the transformation indicates success.
When we first came to St. Lucia in 1987 the roads were terrible and the infrastructure strained almost beyond belief. The effects of colonialism were apparent. We displayed one of them in the incident where Jamie and Barbara encountered a sullen shop girl who "accidentally" broke the mirror Jamie wished to purchase. This type of behavior is technically called passive-aggression and is one of the few ways that people who live under colonialism and slavery can fight back against those who are in power. It is a tribute to the St. Lucian people that this type of behavior is on the wane. Now when we go into a store we are greeted almost immediately by someone who asks, "May I help?"
In recent years we have seen a burgeoning middle class, a greater distribution of economic benefits and a much improved infrastructure. Also, very importantly, St. Lucia now has a transparent government. In short, in a brief period of time this society has made great strides. What they have achieved by their efforts is a model for developing countries everywhere. You can see that the St. Lucians have inspired us and the dedication of this book to the people of St. Lucia was the only logical choice.
Past Columns
Column 1 - St. Lucia
Column 2 - Jamie Elliott
Column 3 - Andre Demontagne
Column 4 - Paul and Danielle
Column 5 - Marcus Deroche
Column 6 - Bertille Deroche
Column 7 - What It's Like Living in the Tropics, Part 1
Column 8 - What It's Like Living in the Tropics, Part 2
Column 9 - Taylor, Clarisse and Barbara
Column 10 - How Does Our Writing Partnership Work?
Column 11 - Goal, Motivation, Conflict and Creativity
Column 12 - Family Life is a Saga
Column 13 - Toward A Circle of Dreams; I don't believe in ghosts.
Column 14 - A Book Walked in the Door
Column 15 - Every Woman Knows This Story
Column 16 - The Bridge
Column 17 - Why the Mystical Element in A Dream Across Time?
Column 18 - Gaia and myth in the Demontagne Saga
Column 19 - Carl Jung, Mythology and the Demontagne Saga
Column 20 - Carl Jung's Concepts in the Demontagne Saga
Column 21 - Martinique
Column 22 – Janine-Yvette Demontange (Yvie)
Column 23 – Anne-Clarisse Demontagne (Lissa)
Column 24 - Philippe Diamant Demontagne (Philippe)
Copyright© 1987-2006 Annie Rogers LLC dba Bivens and Jensen Publishing. All rights reserved |
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