The reality of trespass
Wilson Harris and an impossible poetics of the Americas
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2178748 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Gemma Robinson |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 49 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 133-147 |
| Publication date | 2013-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Postcolonial Writing (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1744-9855 • E-ISSN: 1744-9863 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17449855.2013.776372 |
| OpenAlex | W2029824264 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 11 |
This article revisits Wilson Harris’s early work from the 1940s and 1950s within the context of his interests in the Americas. Looking at his poetry, non-fiction and later novels, I argue that his “geological turn” opens up ways to think about the wholeness of Guyanese, Caribbean and American identities and poetics. In particular, I consider Harris’s 1949 essay “The Reality of Trespass” in relation to his 1952 short pamphlet of poetry, Eternity to Season. I show how the notion of trespass is advanced by Harris in order to reimagine the apparently fixed cultural logic of conquest, colonialism and indigeneity in the Americas. Furthermore, I link trespass to his defining beliefs in cross-cultural bridging. The essay traces how Harris’s cross-cultural poetics are embedded in a commitment to intimate, even microscopic, geographies of place as well as to the transcontinental sweep of land, sea, river and symbols of belonging and wholeness
Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Colonialism · Literature · Poetics · Poetry · Political science · Relation (database · Sociology · Trespass · Caribbean and African Literature and Culture · Philippine History and Culture · Travel Writing and Literature · History · Law · Philosophy
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,17 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2020 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |