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)

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dc.contributor.author Mohammed, Shareed
dc.date.accessioned 2020-04-05T15:01:50Z
dc.date.available 2020-04-05T15:01:50Z
dc.date.issued 2018
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/2139/48947
dc.description This paper was presented at the Bridging Wor(l)ds Conference: A Postgraduate Conference, held on April 28th, 2018 at the Centre for Language and Learning at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus. en_US
dc.description.abstract 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. en_US
dc.description.sponsorship The Faculty of Humanities and Education, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. en_US
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.title 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) en_US
dc.type Presentation en_US


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