Preserving Our Literary Heritage – Welcome to Guyana 7
James Rodway
James Rodway

It would be fitting here to give credit where it is due. The idea for this article came by way of my granddaughter rearranging, according to her three-year-old sensibilities, a few books in my library. As I attempted to replace the books, the following two publications caught my attention: ‘The Story of Georgetown’ and ‘Georgetown Journal’.

‘The Story of Georgetown’ by James Rodway was first published as a series of articles in the ‘Argosy’ during 1903, and later (1920), collected into book form. The book was reprinted by the Guyana Heritage Society in 1997 and the project was well received. The Guyana Heritage Society was formed in the early 1980s ‘to promote the knowledge and the preservation of Guyana’s social and material heritage’.
‘The Story of Georgetown’ is divided into sixteen chapters which are further sub-divided into various subject areas, all guiding you step by step through the birth and development of Georgetown. The reprinted issue carries a foreword by David Ford and a preface by J. G. Cruickshank. The illustrations (almost thirty) are treasures to behold and the notes affixed to some chapters are elucidating. A very helpful index puts closure to the publication. Allow me to rephrase that, the helpful index opens the interested to further adventure into Georgetown, Guyana, South America.
‘Georgetown Journal’ by Andrew Salkey was published in 1972. It is ‘a diary kept by the author during a visit to Guyana between Sunday February 15, 1970 and Sunday March 1, 1970’. The book captured the social and cultural life of the time. In this book you would find coverage of the two main events of the day namely the Caribbean Writers and Artists Convention and celebration to mark Guyana becoming a republic state. This status was a development from independence (1966) which marked the end to colonial rule.
The deliberations of the Caribbean Writers and Artists Convention resulted in the birth of regional cultural extravaganza – Caribbean Festival of Arts (Carifesta) and the staging of the event in Guyana in 1972.
‘Georgetown Journal’ featured the many bookstores of the time including Universal Bookstore, S. P. C. K., Michael Ford Bookstore, and the book shops in Booker and Fogarty’s – five bookstores within walking distances of each other.
At the beginning of the author’s sojourn in Guyana, the beginning of the journey from Timehri airport to Georgetown, Salkey mentioned Zahra Freeth’s ‘Run Softly, Demerara’, labelling it a ‘silly and hostile little travel book’.
Just before the travelling party reached the city, you would find some elucidating notes on Wilson Harris’s novel, ‘Ascent To Omai’ to be released later that year. That discussion took place as Harris with wife, Margaret, Sam Selvon and Salkey were passing through Albouystown, the setting of the novel.
Arriving in Georgetown, you would discover or re-discover, from the book, that the National History and Arts Council was set up in 1965, incorporating the History and Culture Council, the Council of the Arts, and the History and Culture Week Committees founded by the previous administration.
You would also find Martin Carter singing, ‘Where have all the flowers gone’ and Austin Clarke in African toga. You would learn about soft water (that the author was enjoying in Station Street) and hard water in a land of many waters where we show scant regard for the difference. Talking about water, he mentioned a most refreshing local beverage, ‘Puma’. Salkey also mentioned that local shoes to go on sale shortly, Cheddi Jagan’s revolutionary dress, the ‘sports shirt’, and the revolutionary dress of the time, shirt jac and dashiki.
The book also afforded you a tour of Sheik Sadeek’s home in Newtown and the home of Derek Bicketon in Bel Air Springs. Bickerton is more known for ‘Dynamics of a Creole System’.
These two books depict Georgetown at different phases of its development and offer you a key to the city.

What’s Happening

• The book, ‘From ashes to Ferro-Concrete: A History of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, 1914 -2014’ by Joanne Collins-Gonsalves, published by the Guyana Heritage Society will be launched on December 8, 2014, at 6.30 pm in the Church.
• Coming soon: ‘Love in the time of technology’ poems by Sasenarine Persaud. This is Persaud’s seventh book of poetry.
• ‘An Introduction to Guyanese Literature’ by Petamber Persaud is available at the National Library, Austin Book Service and the author.

(Responses to this author telephone (592) 226-0065 or email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com)

(By Petamber Persaud)

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