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Corregidora

Gayl Jones

1975185 pagesabout 3–4 hours
1975
first published
  • 1975Random House · 185 pages · ENGISBN 9780394493237
  • 1986Beacon Press · 185 pages · ENGISBN 9780807063156
  • 1987Beacon Press · ENGISBN 9781299922426
  • 1998Serpent's Tail Limited · 192 pages · ENGISBN 9781852422073
  • 2019Little, Brown Book Group Limited · 208 pages · ENGISBN 9780349012148
  • 2019Dreamscape MediaISBN 9781974936656
  • 2000Serpents Tail · 192 pages · ENGISBN 9781852427221

A terse, chilling novel about how the memory of slavery plagues black women and men long after emancipation. Blues singer Ursa is consumed by her hatred of Corregidora, the 19th-century slave master who fathered both her grandmother and mother. Charged with “making generations” to bear witness to the abuse embodied in the family name, Ursa Corregidora finds herself unable to keep alive this legacy when she is made sterile in a violent fight with her husband. Haunted by the ghosts of a Brazilian plantation, pained by a present of lovelessness and despair, Ursa slowly and firmly strikes her own terms with womanhood in a tortured world.

When and where

ThemesJustice

Content notes

  • Racismmoderateunreviewed
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