Paul Keens-Douglas shared with Mélange...
How early in life did you discover your love for the literary field?
As a young boy growing up and going to secondary school I was a prolific reader, sometimes taking home as much as three books at a time from the library. In those days you had the popular Biggles series and the Zane Grey western novels. My strongest subjects at school were always the literary ones, those involving writing … English Language, Literature, History, Geography, and Scripture. I guess that also lead to my interest in the field of Sociology which involved a lot of exciting reading. Add to this my love of drama and acting. So guess I always had a literary bent from my early days.
Your colourful story-telling has entertained audiences for many years and your style captivates, while leading one through various stages of intense laughter- the Caribbean’ s best raconteur. Why did you decide to use humour to tell your story?
The truth is I did not start out to be a humourous writer. I just wrote what came to my mind, the way things appeared to me naturally. Most of my stories grow out of fact, things that happened, funny but true. But I was being serious. I was most surprised when people laughed, especially when they laughed at something that was not meant to be funny. Maybe it was my face, my voice, my choice of descriptive word-connection. It took a while for me to accept myself as being humourous. That’ s why I am so careful in ensuring my serious pieces are seen as serious pieces. I may even say that“ this is a serious piece”. But I grew to enjoy the happiness that humour brought to people, the love that was returned through the response to that humor. But more so the power of reaching people with humor, of getting an idea fortified and engrained, with the gentle cement of humor and imagination. Now when I am writing something meant to be funny, I can hear the laughter, I can see the response, I can see me doing it, and as long as that is happening I know it’ s going to be good.
In addition to being highly entertaining, your work also paints a clear picture of various aspects of Caribbean life. Tell us about some of your characters.
When it comes to characters I guess the one most people relate to right away is Tanti Merle at the Oval, because that’ s the story that made me popular up and down the cricket-loving Caribbean. Tanti Merle really represents the strong Caribbean woman who takes responsibility in the absence of the man, making her opinion known, and taking leadership wherever and whenever. Everyone knows somebody like that. It’ s all summed up in the saying“ It takes a village to raise a child.” The characters are all designed to reflect our Caribbean lifestyles. Vibert and his kite-flying, Slim and Tall- Boy-- our love of freeness and partying, Sugar George-- our pan history, Bobots and Lal Shop-- the place where our local philosophers gather. Certain names somehow have the power of description in them, as if for some reason they represent a certain type of person. Mavis, Doris, Veda-- short powerful names. Tingalae-- you can almost see the person with such a name. Locks-Heed the Rasta. A name
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