Wilson Harris is a major contemporary novelist and critic. His vision and the original form of his fiction have opened up new territory and revealed the still immense possibilities of the novel. The essays contained in this book were written over the last fifteen years. They complement his novels by illustrating his development as a thinker and contain his highly personal views on the nature of art, of creativity and of community. They also throw an entirely new light on the works of such writers as Joseph Conrad, Patrick White, Wole Soyinka, Janet Frame, and Jean Rhys.

The introduction to this book is available online via the University of Liège's institutional repository ORBi.

Table of contents

Introduction

The Place of the Poet in Modern Society: a Glance at two Guyanese Poets

Interior of the Novel: Amerindian/European/African Relations

History, Fable and Myth in the Caribbean and Guianas

The Phenomenal Legacy

The Native Phenomenon

A Talk on the Subjective Imagination

Fossil and Psyche

Reflection and Vision

The Making of Tradition

Some Aspects of Myth and the Intuitive Imagination

Scented Gardens for the Blind

The Complexity of Freedom

Carnival of Psyche: Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea

The Frontier on Which Heart of Darkness Stands

Selected Bibliography