Conference Presentations

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    An evaluation of the intuitive fusion of the Haitian vodun possession trance/dance and the ancient Mayan linguistic representation of the past, present and future time in Wilson Harris’s Palace of the Peacock
    (2019-06) Mohammed, Shareed
    The Guyanese/British writer, Wilson Harris, in his theoretical essay “Apprenticeship to the Furies”, Harris argues with hindsight that the ancient Mayan “concept of blended pasts and futures … was intuitively alive in [his] own work” (233-234). Above all, Harris contends that such pre-Columbian vestige has an “intuitive ...correspondence” with “the black West Indian presence” in his fictional narratives (“Jean Rhys’s ‘Tree of life’” 119-120). This essay will demonstrate that Wilson Harris has intuitively infused the ancient Mayan linguistic representation of the past, present and future time with the Haitian vodun possession trance/dance in his first novel Palace of the Peacock to create a cross-cultural and re-visionary narrative.
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    Wilson Harris’s revisionary strategy is influenced through the intuitive blend of quantum physics and the Shamanistic concept of ‘Timehri Script’
    (2017-10) Mohammed, Shareed
    Wilson Harris claims in his theoretical writings that the major task of the imaginative genius or artist is to engage with “the genuine rehearsal of legacies of tradition” (“In the Name of Liberty” 219). Harris further argues that such ‘rehearsal’ involves the “transformation of the conventional and consolidated language of fiction” (“In the Name of Liberty” 217). The major objective of this paper is to demonstrate that Wilson Harris’s re-visionary strategy has been influenced by the intuitive fusion of quantum physics with the pre-Columbian shamanistic vestige known as the Timehri markings. This essay will be guided by Nick Herbert’s theoretical perspectives of quantum reality and Carl Gustav Jung’s notion of synchronicity. Most significantly, Wilson Harris’s shamanistic notions of the Timehri script or Timehri markings will undergird the central argument of this essay. The findings of this research will highlight that the intuitive blend of the Timehri script with quantum physics results in Harris’s promotion of the re-visionary artistic vision.
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    Wilson Harris’s re-visionary strategy in his second novel, The Far Journey of Oudin, is influenced by the intuitive blend of quantum physics and the Haitian vodun belief of expedition or l’envoi morts (sending of the dead)
    (2018) Mohammed, Shareed
    In his theoretical writings, Wilson Harris asserts that the revisionary momentum in all proportions of narrative convention represents an essential aspect of artistic creativity. Above all, Harris’s revisionary dynamic or alterations of absolute models of fiction is most influenced by his intuitive combination of shamanistic beliefs and quantum physics. The Far Journey of Oudin is one of Harris’s fictional works that reflects such an assertion. The major objective of this paper is to demonstrate that Wilson Harris’s revisionary strategy in the novel, The Far Journey of Oudin is influenced by the intuitive blend of the Haitian vodun practice of expedition or l’envoi morts (sending of the dead) and quantum physics. Harris’s intuitive combination of l’envoi morts, parallel universes and quantum entanglement has allowed him to create a novel which “diverges from one-track realism” (“Apprenticeship” 233). The parallel universes of quantum physics combined with the resurrected body of l’envoi morts creates a “breach … in the tautology of … the [conventional] story-line” (“The Unfinished Genesis” 250). Most importantly, Harris’s unconscious or intuitive dialogue with l’envoi morts, parallel universes and quantum entanglement offers him the opportunity to “revise the one-sided moral conclusions built into the … premises of the novel” (“Reflections” 94). Furthermore, this essay will be guided by Alfred Metraux’s and Maya Deren’s anthropological and psychological explanation of the Haitian vodun practice of l’envoi morts. Above all, Reginald Crosley’s analysis of the shamanic practice of l’envoi morts in a quantum physics framework, will be referenced in this essay.