Ascent to Omai

(1)

ASCENT TO O

MA

I

I Hena Maes-Jelinef'

' Marque d'un signet rouge la premiere page du livre, car la blessure est invisible

a

s00 commepcement '.

Edmond Jab~s."'

Victor was three yeats old v:hen his f~ther, Adam, poked him in the side to keep him qui!?t while, he, Adam, \.Yas making love with a prostitute on the floor

of

tli._eir shimmy robtn. Withdrawing within a fortress of love, the child took refuge within: the old

pettiGo~t of his dead mothe.r hanging on the wall. But like a spear' opening a

W

bUnU

ii\ his side, the c1out he received from his rather W~s . to be.· the htdden soufte of a drama of which he was at once the creator and the protagonist.· A few years later Victor began: to tease hi~ ·rather: he would wait for Adam, a welder by profession, as the latter came out of the foundry. Holding a mirror in his side, Victor wo~Jd blind him with the light: of t~e stln reflected in the mi_rror. Once Adam did not cohle .out: he was starting a strike which ended six months later when he

burnt down the factory and h°ls own bed and boarct. The wounct, the mirror and

th

~

~re

stand out through Victor's life as;catalysts

of

his ambivalent

r

e

lati

o

~

s

h

.

i

p

with his. father. Forty years :ift€r the latter's trial Victor.goes in search of him on Onrni. the· hill :of purgatory{ on which a!> In our life on earth he progresses like a sleepwalK:er, determ_irt'ed

he

~

;

~

th'el_

es~

to explore the·cydic trail cif

(2)

2 Hena Maes-Jelinek ,

..

.,..:·( ...

From one novel to another Wilson Harris attempt~,t_o de,tec~ _th,~

beginning of the wound, the fissure which, like a crack in the earth

or a chasm in the universe, may eventually produce a new world,

a new man, a. new consciousness. To gr<1sp the nature of the dual role of man as inheritor and a maker of history is, to put it in

Victor's words, ' a question of continuously revising one's conce

p-tion of function, of re-co.nsidering,

so

to speak, the origin of

function within a variety of signals and complexes'. It is a

for-midable task in which man can be tricked by mirages of the senses

as by illusions of the mind, in which he can be hypnotized by nature and society and remain a mere puppet, unless he realizes

that he is the instrument of a universal unruined consciousness

which persists within him as within' all ruintd personality' and is

capable of reviving. Once he understands that, as an agent, he is part of a transparent globe which can be filled with the density of his own consciousness, he can attei;npt

ia

;trace t,he beginnin~ _o( his own function, his own history. In A,scent to Omai Wilso~

I ' .. . . ~ : I ~-- I . i I ' • -• '. ,, • Harris suggests that in .spilt'; _of:-Jt-is techpqlpgic.al inv~ntiyen~ss mode.rn man goes through ,a per~od of spiritual. decline and "is enslaved by the _very

civ

ili

~

ati_on

lie

ha

s.

built. But ·

~~mory

.

subsists preserving among the ruins the charcoal residu(of a heritage that awaits reinterpretation in order to help man to another Je~p forward. -·

The ruined personality in this novel is Ad~ri1. lncidentall.y, his name seems to be used in iJs original :Heb;aic meaning of man·as a species. He is the victim r,educed to a tahula rasa, a facdess man or, in Mayakovsky's words, a.mere 'clqud in trousers'. Yet as Victo.r begins his ascent pf., qm.ai; i1~ pu~suit

o

r

Ac!am, his qoppelgiingfr, he is made aware of the possibilities of misint~rp;~ting

the past and his father's rol~, and realizes t~at i~ the rediscovery of human consciousness riothing c;a1;i)?(! l~ft unquestioned. · The

very end of the quest is du;bi~µ.s: i,s QfyrAJ .tht'; uncertain locatio~; of El .Dorado, the ultim~_te. purpose,; ~f all h~artla~d q~~s.ts iQ Harris's no".els, or OH MX,.tf1~ .. ~9.1:1.cZet.~,pyramid of his sohpsis~·?

The answer seems to be both or rather ci r(lpport bet wee~ the t~o.

For the crt:ation of such a relation, dialogue, or 'tr~~ty ··~f ,

ASCENT TO OM Al· 3

sensibility' between all opposi.tes is, as we sh;ill see, central to the novel. - .. :

The chasm in

Y)cto

r

~

s

side, the bJinding mirror whi'ch

s

p~ang

from it and the. &re 1it by his father make up a chain reaction set off by the cOnflicting (motions of hatred and love by t~e despair of the dispossessed in a world of technological achiev.ement and wealth. Yet the r-esentm·ent that Sought releasejn material des truc-t-ion· contained a seed of love and compassion. Even the raw energy ohhe sun accumulated by·

Victor

'

~

t

.various rem.ov.es

\V~S

pr-egn.ant with ' areas-of feeling' which, im.perceptible as they were, would later flash back. Serial·iinag~s are frequent in the novel: darkness, upon-darkness, milestone-within-milestone, a sketch-within-a

-sketch, the judge-within~a-judg·e,. etc. They remind one 9f those

Dutch pa· ₁₁₁t. _m_gs· _in_:W·h· h _JC . _a' _d_oo_r_{opens on a}. _se_n· _{es of}_._rooms_eac_h re.veali_ng

· t~e

next · one. 'through· an .

increa

si

n

~ly

smaller

door~

S~metimes

in the foreground-ihvoman loQks a,t. her. dolfble in the

mtrro:, and tbe eyes, of her. .. own reflection r~fl.e.ct h~li

fo

·~urrr;

ln a like manner, Wilson Harris con.veys the successive i10rizons of the worlds he explores as

w

e

ll

as .the serial selves w,hich grow out-of one another within the human personality. . . As Victor explores the legacy of the past and crawls painfull through the undergro\vth of bis fath-er's claim. he feels 1

1·k·

~

f

h

r

.

e one o

t ose 1mbo dancers he used tci'watch a·s a"child who <lane . th ·

d ·

d

.

'

e near e

gro~n . un er_ a horizontaryole,.but-dse aga·in as through

a

door Of rehirth. lnWilsonHarris'sviewthe limbo dancer en-acts the drama oLCat1bbean man who-was forced to the grou d b.

, . · rr Y conquest and

slavery but '.sea-able of rising from the abyss. More t:han that the ca;.ce 'IOtc r.prets a :universal ·plight For Ad . ' .

· am·1s. unni,ersal

.~a~·c0ndemned to e/(tinction unless the whole world ·ext"ends itself

int-0,a:' courO·oom of tnith' prepared to reviseiits judgment and

to re-ap~~a '.·~e r_he_ s~gi~iti~ance of'his sabotage of the human faetory.

Tb

:

irial

d·

tan1atl:z.

~'

s

'

fh-~

.

'.

gesta'tion' of Vi.ctor's

s

oul

0t1frdugh h

s

re-cr,ation of _.the _. 111~rk111g events in hi"s _and h_i" _s f _at-h _ecs· _life· _.

It takes plac·e .11,.·h1 ii<eif as if he were the human

P. ofj,t~Q~_e:aryd

:

IJ

:.

r+.cL.

~vi5tor-:~~1d .victi s

mmu :ty made

(3)

4 flena Maes-Jeflnek

it

consis.ts Of two opposile movenments. Just as a child he used to climb higher as the year advanced to reflect the sunlight on his fathl!fs ·brow, so now Viet'or cl

i

mbs

towards the sunset on OMAI.

H:~ t.lius approaches it

frtlm

-

below; 'Identifying himself with Adam,

b

ut

also from above in thl~ aeroplarte ~fr 'courtroom' he inhabits as a collective passenger. The abr'Oplane reflects the sun and flashes its light in his o\"\1

n

eye below. Sb that forty years after the

event the light shines from him

fod

.upon him, and the volcamc material of the past, whkb".he stoml <irt t}le tnirtor as a child, how

th;ows light on him, ot'l'ftore e'.dctly on the relationship into

which he is entering ~'ith Atli\m. The aeroplane is the latest

for-tress m·an has built fot.ihimselfi.all' technological roar wjthout, eag1ld psych€ within', ,i"'(et.itisftbni. this ro:-tress_ that, ~t~~e

s\ti\§et of his Jlfe, ;Vict-or,·attempts to throw a bndge between h1m --self'an<1·;{he tu in~ of .tlftj.!~ast! lTI}fe .·ljbject of the· trial ·is .indeed a nt'oetfo~'!l>et'we~n tM HiV-in'g' ~ntt.·thchdead; b~tw.een,a man of the

s~~ctb irg

· e

r!

~

\

nli

'

tM 1pr..i:nltrive·

p~

st

'

of

which he has not '.yet

~ree~

-hi!ffl~~Jf!f .tt.'i-<an\X'.>Unts• rlt'o<1,);ja•lancib'g·i~au opposites .of.wh1ch hfe,1.s ii\iil'de::

;

iJ1ttr unfe

e

ling

•;r~W.'.iifareti\111_'\v·fih_th_'_{e fe'}_e_/ing_»_{unity one}_· con-fron~s in the Jega~ll:s -~f1ttte~1;p~rst~: ::tlib · technol@gical (scientific, mecilanii;al) with· \he i;P.§-f<~J;li· c· -( s~.n~J~ive, ~ystetious) features ·discernib1:e in a·lJ

humaJ!

i

~qh~~v,eµ,icmJ;

• what

defence counsel calls

~primitive fetish' with [191Hf~tll!11 omen'·

The witn~sses at the tr.hrJ,.appeipto,,bt: those solid and

conven-ti'o

rt-al

poss-esl;ions or

s

~i

r

ittrnf

fetishes with which we encurobe_r tne bourtr·₀6ms,ofour liv.esi.{Y.e'tias Victoflgrppes his way through past, :}5re'senfiantl. fUiure

etperre~ce

i

i·

se

· e'kiji:g~to

defih:e

~self

as well_ as

:;A:d:Hrirhe 'discov'ers

in

'

that't:u\bbish

··

~

an

· i11untma~10n

.

of

f~nct1on

tJh:afcould div'cst itself6f..thc{ overburden of appetite by subsistence

~f

meni·ofy:'. "What'i's meaht by tpis is,

~xplained

b~ ~efen

ce

. .., 't·w·h-·n •he ·tr· r··e"'·· t•,;,;,...fuke Cltar:to· the court· the .s1gmfieance

ct>-u-n.,e . '" . .. _,,_.;.''" um . . . . .. .

.

o

:

f '.

· F~ti

~

h

•;

a

poem wrjtten py

AcJ~nl·

'fetish' is

a~o

.u

~

.

d~smte-·~ . ;,

g1.1-ation but

· ' · - \.J . omen ·of -orace,· it possesses, within every

vreweu ... as an o

cloiik

'

of

darkness.

a

:'-

frail

ligh't~a sacramental feeling 'foJ

ASCENT to OMAl 5 reconciling the divided heritage of man)-which shines through every burden of acquisition as that burden inevitably dis -perses itself within an imperfect material constitutlon. Tt is this dispersal or •disintegration through which the sacrarrtenthl

union or balance shines to transform the quality of our partici-pation in the quantitative joys and woes of mankind.

ln other words, this 'omen of grace' enduring beyond disintegra -tion through man, nature, or society, reveals the existence of alternatives, of' opposite existences' which man can only attempt to balance in order to compensate· the blsseings and curses ·or Hbitrary fortune. The whole trial aims at convincing Victor that his world is doomed unless he rediscovers those alternativ~.s in

individuai life and

hi~to~y

,

and

sift~

'the

re~Iji.y

qf

fe

~

li,.,g

f

r

om

[theJ unfeeling

cloak

M

~'rttMhCJ})ii:t,i'i>ti

_a

na

lnciust~y ;' c:h'atacte~·isti

9

of his

age

.

As the tria~ go~s op, it_ is npt ;SQ ,nu~h Adam w.ho is being judged

as th~ coqrt)~~~lJ 13:nff:th_~.ic;Iead v~lu,e.s it stands.for. Ada:m; '.the

sick ~~n of.₁th(w,5>,~l~i:. &etrfi~~' tq,:~tl!~

..

factor,y in ·an appar~:ti'tly revol~tionary act agaiMS' id~ol9gj~l·~nd technolpgiaal fortresses'. Actuai1y, he

merel~

;:

~u~cumped

to, a,nother form,o.f

idol~try

and

tyrann

~.

And Y¥(.Xorty

j

· ea~s }it~

!

,

Adam

s

,

ty

!:_~ppears

.

as

.

~he

" light of omen', capable

<;>

I

evolvipg 'from not4i~g i_ntp

,

a

~oijrCe of

revefa

~

i

9 n

·, ari(f

· i~

.i mo!e

~

1 ~

~

t

ihan

~W

\nF.

· r

~i}Pnf!)

.

9,o-gooders who

cl

a

im

to speak in his na:Jile. Adam fears and ~hal~

Jenges

th

'

d

a

~thorit{

q

t th

i~

o~r.

~

-

j~~

t

.

oih~r i~fe9l!?~cal (ortr~~s.

Jn

th~

erid,

bQ

~

t.a

;

ah

f9r

f

~

,

~~

-

~

(l

~~bl

~

;

there., is

~lway

-

~

-

~

breach·

'

In Hie.

~ll

it

a

'.:l

t

'tia§

~

'

]ii'

P~

~

· . ·

~

~t

~

-·

~:,;d

.

t!~~

:

is

,

~:n

."

i~;i~ihl

~

·.· - -.';.. · ;· ~1··· ?.'-1ft.·Hl;:; ~.1\J.·r·:,.~tj:t; ~!<i.·:. '} .. ·"' :1

;1·1

; 1• Tr -· ·_'. .. -·~ ·

but omntpre~ent w1fn~_ss ;it 1 ~li_e tr~~I.. Not

lnpe

;:is

an901er

prison hti~

s

e

c;r

~

fu

~U(

i

,

al

· 1cbi9

JI!

'

b<JU

Y

.

1'.ut

ti~~

as

a

qua~itative

,

iihitht~ati

.

ng

· ga

~~

q

·

· ~

-

~

.

A

i

,

i

h~

_

lo

tlle

)µ9ge

_

(V~ctqr~

the

resili;nc~

of

-

A'.iJ~

:

fu

,

s

-

gli

oS-

t

ii

ilc

f

)lj

~

ck

pa

6 ff

y f9

1

_~

_r~

_-6ut

_p

_.

.

.,., • : ; ~· ' i ....

Tirµe in this $ense .. see~s to be equated with donscit>'lfsiiessi

0r,

to put it in another way, it only comes to life, is retrieved fro.di

the void, in mo11:1e:QtS. 9f creation. 'Dead

time"

say~

oefutit:e

(4)

6

Hena Maes~Jeli!tek

significance .... liv1pg time isJbat powe1' or medium.

of

'presence

one can summon at:any stage to commune with ·and compensate

the past.; When the judge (Victor) c9mes in view of Manoa, the

eve cation of the t.ragic events of bis life coincides with..a revival" of tinie. As~ child, Vietor used to throw pebbles into the canal and watch the ripple_s expand. As each horizo·n died in,. the water givfng way to anoth~r, · he. would. also experience a sense of ~eath ar:d rebirth. Now like a·stone falling into the p9ol o( his consciousness,

the . tragedy 6f his childhood generates 'concentr,ic rings

representing froritiers of memory,; 'it becomes '.'.ln inner light·

house whose store of energy _re-activated horizons of ~onquest ·:.

The pressure of that' volcanic stone explodes .one by o.ne the

foi tresses of Victo(s youth. From one horizon to anothe~, one

wounding

experienc~

:

fo.anpther, the Judge

(Vi~iQ

r

)

goes

throl~gh

the death of each

su

'

c

~

es~

iv

e

self, \Vheth;r real or imagined ...

~

inc~

Victor disappeared immediately after the trial of his fat~er, _an.~ it

is not known with certainty wh"at· vocation. or alternativ~ he

in~ested

in' as a substitute; for·

~

a

-

genuini :errianC'i'pa_tiori.

S

b

the

judge witn.esses each epitaph give b'irth to anbthelof his ·ex

i

st~

nces

by freeing.him· from his.< selfsuffici.ent illus·ion(slof charactrr·~

Possibly; the vario.us .:

st~ge$

o_f h_is liberati9n ;tlso

r

~

p,r~

5 ~µt

successive stag~s in,

the

~~o.lution

of

·m.arr. B_ut whether -P,~rson'.aJ

or·historica 1

_'

it is clea;rly by tekindiing the 'ch~r~oal

Pf

q\~!110ry ',

,· ' . . '

.

" . '

...

.

' .

and conquering the forrhe{deser_t.s of bis life tha_t the judge (Y.ictor) becomes aware of '°the. 'vicar of lightl}nuse., tl).e m~~te,rious,

regenerating pbwer i4 ;ach.of

t~

· J

m

.

to~ard

~

t~

7 :

~

p

d

.

of

~he

trial,

as

the stone ·~eeps 'sib'i&ri~' and e.X.Rloding

qu:

..

ljµi.i~s .. of a~e~, the

"vicar of lighthouse;. ''.tak~~ ~;, d~ffer.~nt shap~s ··~dthin tl)_e ))ld~e· s

(Yictb~'

s)

c

,

orisdo

.

~

:

~

n~~~

:

hut

~

·,.

1 ?

,

!ways

a

r

eY,y

l

~

tion

,o

f

!'\

pqs~~b

l

e

balance'·between opp9s1tes, what:)\'1\s9~ ~~rq~ 5~!1.s: T~e.m.:xs~ery of

lffe~ih-d

~a

th

;

tfoa1di

!i

~-lif

6 ;

'.

· -'

The

· dhq

'

cary:~er:lil

izt;

the ."l,ivjn,g_;

the enslaved and the

dis~o'

~;

· e~~e

d,

bec.au'se.of'th,eir

v

er

y

.

~

i

s

po

_sses

sior; Can penetnte the most S,,eCFet pris.()n's Of m'a_nkind. Can 'help

.

~;n ;sti;iv,e for~ .freed_c)m ·~ tflilough· kn0wifig ·unfreedo~ '_ ·

1:?

'~·~k~~'~le,dge. the. trXi~tfe.ince of.·alterr.ative"S' 'irihcrent . in ruirl·or

"

;~

-

~~

~

~y

; ..

~

.

· '!\

'.

~

ll

:as .th.e,;possi.tilily of° t h(

if.

'

m

l.itti

~

I fu·t ilzr 'ti'on is· t!r'e

A'ICENl TO OMA! 7

only way of availing oneself of the breach in the wall. All this i .. s

brought home to the jLidge (Victor) as he immerses himself in the depths of the 'uncharted seas' in his imaginafive quest of the

sailor <lnd limco dancer of Albuoystown. Each horizon wreathed from the descending stone grows into the movement of a dance which, like limbo, leaves a passage for rebirth. For the first time

deschrt and ascent coincide in the vision of the judge approaching

OMAl. When Victor eventually confronts his father after the

crash ar.d the explosion

· or

his fortress he realizes that the latter

had all the time been fighting the very fire he had started. For the last time Victor sees the remnants of the ancient petticoat.

When it finally crumbles, 'expunged of fear, of loss, of

degradation, of extinction of species .... in conformity ''ith the

ruin of cat:istrophy-it retained a living spcirk, a frail st'ar '. Like Harris's other novels, Ascent to Omai is the painful framing

of a conciousness on the blank canvas of existence. The true

moment of conciousness is that in which opposites are joined in

harmonious balance. Towards the creation of such a moment

Wilson Harris's characters seek the redeeming thread of compensa -ting love through the dark corridors of memory. This striving after

contrasting perspectives conditions the very structure of the novel:

the ascending centripetal movement of Victor's search for his father

is balanced by the centrifugal horizons generated by the descending

volcanic stone until these horizons of conciousness become

integrated into a single visi_on. Language is the unifying facto:-:

not the conventional mode of expression of the familiar and the customary, but words that emerge from the primordial silence and

shape the judge's consciousness. As in most of his novels, Harris

lets the past carry its own light and the world's complexity speak for itself to the reader's mind and senses, refusing ' to impose a false coherency ·upon material one had to digest -perhaps all

one's life'. The reader is invited to participate in this difficult

process, to shart: in the genesis of conciousness through language .

Vi~tor, the judge, is also a writer whose re-creation of Adam's

l1:ria1 is a 'novel-history', an attempt 'to find .... a true groping equation in art or language .to the fundaments of existence through

(5)

8 Hena Maes.Jelinek

hfstory or the void which was native to history'. He is a 'creative

struggler' involved in the task of ' being born through words'.

' Tu es celui qui ccrit et qui est ecrit ', says the poet3 : this is the ~ssence of Ascent to Omai.

FOOTNOTES

l. Wilson Harris, Ascent to Omai (London, 1970).

2.

'fyfark in red

the

first P'l-ge of the book,

for

the wound at

its

.beginning is invisible'. Edmond Ja bes, Le Livre des

Questions (Paris, 1963}.

3 1 _You_are'_the_{one who}_write_s_{and wlfo is}_written_'_, _'Bdmond