Wilson Harris, Palace of the Peacock

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Palace of the Peacock

was the first published novel of (Sir Theodore) Wilson Harris (b. 1921) and remains his most widely read. Written after Harris had left British Guiana, later Guyana, and settled in Britain in 1959, it was accepted for Faber and Faber by T.S. Eliot and published in 1960.

Palace of the Peacock

is the first in a series of four novels — the others being

The Far Journey of Oudin

(1961),

The Whole Armour

(1962), and

The Secret Ladder

(1963) — that would later be collected in a single volume as

TheGuyana Quartet

(1985). None of Harris’s fictional works contains a straightforwardly linear and realistic narrative, and

Palace of the Peacock

is written in a dense symbolic style. C.. ontaining many different layers of meaning, the novel can be best described as an…

2722 words

Citation: Otto, Melanie. "Palace of the Peacock". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 June 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=15487, accessed 29 March 2024.]

15487 Palace of the Peacock 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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