Intersections on the "Map of Art": Metaphor in Ben Okri's Dangerous Love and Wilson Harris's The Mask of the Beggar

Inspired by the work and legacy of Hena Maes-Jelinek, this essay proposes a parallel reading of Ben Okri’s Dangerous Love (1996) and Wilson Harris’s The Mask of the Beggar (2003), focusing on the novels’ use of metaphor. More precisely, the article relies on conceptual metaphor theory to explore how these two Künstlerromane conceptualize the artistic development of their respective protagonists. It is argued that, while both novels use spatial metaphors to present art as a journey undertaken by their artist-hero, Okri privileges forward motion on the creative path, whereas Harris additionally foregrounds movement towards the travelling artist. In doing so, the Guyanese writer defeats readers’ instinctive search for a sense of direction on the “map of art,” a move that is emblematic of the elusive dialectic at the heart of his work.