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
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2019-06
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Abstract
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.
Description
This paper was presented at the National Association of African American Studies and Affiliates, The University of the West Indies International Conference, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago, held June 20-22, 2019.
The University of the West Indies
The University of the West Indies
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Caribbean literature--20th century--History and criticism, Religion and literature--Caribbean Area