The Guyana Quartet (Masterplots II: African American Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Wilson Harris
- First Published: 1985
- Type of Work: Four short novels
- Type of Plot: Allegory
- Time of Work: The twentieth century
- Setting: Guyana
- Principal Characters: Donne, Oudin, Mohammed, Beti, Ram, Magda, Cristo, Sharon, Russell Fenwick, Poseidon
- Genres: Long fiction, Realism, Mythological literature
- Subjects: Voyages, Blacks, Colonies or colonization, Race, Twentieth century, Nature, Other worlds, Virginity or virgins, Ethnic groups, Fantasy, Imagination, Antichrist figures, Assassins, hit men, or contract killers, Forests or forestry, Guyana or Guyanese people, India or East Indian people, Jungles or rain forests, Rivers or waterways
- Locales: Guyana
The Novels
The Guyana Quartet is an omnibus volume made up of four novels originally published separately. The first of these is Palace of the Peacock, a strange story about a crew of men fighting their way into the Guyanan jungle on a small riverboat powered with an outboard motor. The mechanical power is supplemented by oarsmen at the many passages where roaring rapids threaten to capsize the fragile craft. Harris’ densely metaphorical style of writing is strongly reminiscent of Joseph Con- rad’s rich, impressionistic prose. Like Conrad, Harris is keenly...
[The entire page is 2405 words long]
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