The work of celebrated Guyanese author Wilson Harris was once again brought into focus recently when the British decided to show recognition for his contribution to English literature by honouring him with a knighthood. The relevance, importance and impact of his work once more became issues and there was reason to reassert why he is considered such an important writer. The reasons include the novelty of his approach to writing, the originality of his styles and form, the relevance of his preoccupations and the intellectual depth with which he treats them. Very prominent among these are his attitudes to Europe and the revolutionary fashion with which he engages Europe in the context of the West Indian writers’ engagements with that continent.
The University of Warwick’s Centre for Caribbean Studies, recently renamed the Yesu Persaud Centre of Caribbean Studies, following the Conference on Indo-Caribbean literature and Culture that they are now hosting, have put forward a concept for another conference that would generate new Caribbean studies. This focus is going to be New Approaches in the Caribbean Writers’