Review: THE KNOWN WORLD

Winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, The Known World is "an ambitious, luminously written novel that ranges seamlessly between the past and future and back again to the present, it weaves together the lives of freed and enslaved blacks, whites, and Indians -- and allows all of us a deeper understanding of the enduring multidimensional world created by the institution of slavery" (Publisher).

The Known World tells the story of Henry Townsend, a black farmer and former slave in antebellum Virginia. His former owner, William Robbins, is the most powerful man in Manchester County and he brings Henry under his tutelage. By the time his parents, free Blacks, secured his freedom, Henry is determined to own slaves himself, against the wishes his father, Augustus. But why would a former slave want to enslave men? This uncomfortable question pervades the whole text. Why? Why, indeed!?

One answer is because slavery is legal, so why not? Another answer is Henry wants to prove that he can be a kind, generous owner, better than any White owners. But the truth of the matter is owning other people always brings out the worst in people. Henry might have thought of himself as kind and generous but that doesn't explain why he had the ear cut off one of his slaves who tried to escape. That certainly doesn't sound like kindness to me. By the time Henry dies he owns 33 slaves and none are especially sad that he is gone. His estate falls to Caledonia, Henry's wife. In her grief and ignorance about the running of the estate, chaos ensues, with several slaves escaping or disappearing, and the remaining souls turning on each other in anger and spite.

There are no heroes or true villains in The Known World because all the characters are poisoned by the rot caused by the institution of slavery, rotten to the core. No one escaped the stench.

Jones, a writing professor living in Washington DC, brought the story alive in a variety of ways. One was his use of language. The language of the book sounded authentic to the time period even to my 21 Century ears. Here is an example -- "It was said by many a slave that a servant’s feeling about a master could be discerned on any given day by whether the slave called him “Master,” “Marse,” or “Massa.” “Marse” could sound like a curse if the right woman said it in just the right way."

The Known World was identified as the fourth best book on the New York Times Best Books of the 21 Century, a list published this summer. It was the the best novel on the list written by an American author. When I saw the list I couldn't believe it. The Known World is the fourth best book of the century? How could that be? I hadn't even heard of it until I saw it on a list of past Pulitzer winners. Can a book really be lauded and overlooked at the same time? I guess so. Winner of the Pulitzer, the fourth best book of the century, and still few know about the book.  Well, I'm here to tell you that this book is worth the time it takes to read it. Yes, it is an uncomfortable topic, one that history has ignored, Blacks owning slaves, but one very worthy of our attention.

My rating: 4 stars.

-Anne