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 Peacockis 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 Peacockis written in a dense symbolic style. C.. ontaining many different layers of meaning, the novel can be best described as an…
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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 25 November 2024.]