The mask of the beggar

Widely regarded as one of the giants of contemporary Caribbean literature, Wilson Harris's new novel, The Mask of the Beggar, is an utterly original - and at times quite breathtaking - inquiry into the roots of consciousness and the cross-cultural realities and mythologies that have come to dominate the making of, and the nature of, art. The Mask of the Beggar is based on the disguise Odysseus adopts on returning to his kingdom in Ithaca, but the mythologies and civilisations explored go way beyond this premise. Pre-Columbian imageries continually resurface and characters as diverse as Van Gogh, Dorian Gray, Cortez and Goethe make appearances in Harris's latest meditation on the timelessness of art and creative impulse.