Paper short abstract:

The present paper proposes a reading of the first written accounts on the Amerindian notion of kanaima in the light of the Romantic ideals prevalent at their time.

Paper long abstract:

The very definition of literature, as we understand it, is a product of the European Romantism at the backdrop of the late eighteen century. Folklore and imagination were transgressors standing against the utilitarian society of Industrial Revolution. In this historical context, there was an impulse towards traditional peoples, their stories and knowledge. Examples of such endeavour are William Hilhouse ([1825] 2010) in Indian Notices, and Richard Schomburgk’s Travels in British Guiana, 1840-1844 (1922) – both constituting important landmarks in the colonial literature in Guyana, especially addressing Amerindian peoples, fauna, flora and geography of the region. William Hilhouse was one of the first authors to describe kanaima, followed by Richard Schomburgk, who sets the paradigm when elaborating on the Amerindian notion of kanaima – which encapsulates predation, revenge and death. The present paper proposes a reading of the first written accounts on kanaima in the light of the Romantic ideals prevalent at their time.