ABSTRACT
The best introduction to his work as a whole is the collection of essays and tributes by various friends and critics, edited by MAES-JELINEK (1991) for Harris’s 70th birthday. This includes interviews and “critical dialogues”, which cover a variety of fundamental themes in Harris’s writing (such as his use of myth, the role of language and the imagination, his comic vision, his association with Scotland, the kind of resistance to naturalism his novels set up), as well as readings of specific novels in his oeuvre. Palace of the Peacock, Heartland, Tumatumari, Black Marsden, Carnival, The Infinite Rehearsal, and The Four Banks of the River of Space all receive close readings. There is also a well-researched bibliography. The contributors range widely in age, critical approach, and personal background, so there is a multi-faceted quality to the book, which embodies a freshness and seriousness that is appropriate for its subject.
