[Wilson Harris] has argued against the common belief that there is no such thing as a West Indian personality: he would rather claim that study of "the West Indian in depth" reveals a series of "subtle and nebulous links, the latent ground of old and new personalities". These links are the subject matter for his difficult, imagist and metaphysical novels, Ascent to Omai being the ninth. The reader is required to have a little Latin and less Greek, also to be familiar with Rimbaud and Donne, and with the regions, customs and patois of Guyana. Hubris and opus contra naturam are jammed up tight against Guyanese words and concepts….

No reader should attempt Mr. Harris's novels unless he is willing to work at them….

[Ascent to Omai] contains an illustrative diagram consisting of eight concentric circles, each one labelled "Epitaph One", "Epitaph Two", and so on, to "Epitaph...