The Known World by Edward P. Jones
The Pulitzer
Prize winning novel of 2004, set in the years prior to the Civil War in fictional
Manchester County, Virginia, describes the rich tapestry of characters and
events that take place after the death of black slave owner, Henry
Townsend. Purchased out of slavery during
his youth by his parents, Townsend goes on to later purchase land near his
former master, with whom he retains ties of esteem throughout his entire brief
life. Educated by a local freed-woman teacher
so light-skinned she could go north to “pass,” Townsend does not follow the
path of his free father, but rather purchases slaves to become a master
himself.
Throughout
the novel, Jones unflinchingly reveals the little known history of black on
black slave ownership, as well as the subtle racism of lighter skinned versus darker
skinned blacks. Townsend’s widow, Caldonia,
is beset by the pressures of running a plantation in the antebellum south,
without the full backing of the law, which only supports freed blacks when it
is convenient to do so. Jones’ depiction
of the lives of the Townsend slaves, as well as those of the local sheriff and slave
catchers, creates a compelling tale that masterfully weaves in and out of time
and place with touches of the surreal.
Things do not always develop as one might expect in Manchester County,
some people are better than you would think, and others behave very badly
indeed, and sometimes the crazy are proved to understand it best of all.
