Memory of a Landscape: Resurrection of the Past and a Community in the Works of Wilson Harris

KLÍMOVÁ, Zuzana. Memory of a Landscape: Resurrection of the Past and a Community in the Works of Wilson Harris. Ostrava Journal of English Philology. Ostravská univerzita, Filozofická fakulta, 2016, vol. 8, No 1, p. 41-61. ISSN 1803-8174.

Basic information

• Original name: Memory of a Landscape: Resurrection of the Past and a Community in the Works of Wilson Harris
• Authors: KLÍMOVÁ, Zuzana (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution).
• Edition: Ostrava Journal of English Philology, Ostravská univerzita, Filozofická fakulta, 2016, 1803-8174.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Article in a journal
• Field of Study: 60206 Specific literatures
• Country of publisher: Czech Republic
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: URL
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14410/16:00091833
• Organization unit: Faculty of Education
• Keywords in English: memory; landscape; Wilson Harris; postcolonial
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

In the early stages of political independence, nations in the regions formerly colonized by the European empires had to face a problematic situation. Trying to define their new independent identity, some of them had to deal with a complicated question of their origins. Shared cultural tradition and history belong to the main principles through which identification processes take place. In the absence of a clearly defined tradition and under the influence of existing, but ambiguous and misleading historical accounts formation of a strong individual as well as collective identity becomes very difficult. Guyanese author Wilson Harris explores the topic of history and the alleged ‘historylessness’ of postcolonial communities already in his early works which correspond to the time when Guyana gained political independence. Outrunning the postmodern theories of historiography, Harris questions the fixity of the representation of the past abiding by the enlightenment epistemic principles. Searching for alternative sources of the past and the way to capture it he discovers a powerful image of a landscape (geographical as well as psychological) which, for him, becomes a bearer of memory through which the past can be rediscovered.