The Known World is
not a book that you will soon forget. As
you turn the pages, the story reveals itself as such a singular and unique
piece of work that, despite some its imperfections, it’s something that sticks
in your head. It’s one of the rare books
that offers up an unknown world to the reader that far transcends the paper and
ink confines that it’s written on.
Author Edward P. Jones struck gold with this, his first novel, and the
compelling story combined with his unusual writing talents have resulted in a
stunning book.
Set just several years before the outbreak of the Civil War
in Manchester County, Virginia, Jones gives us the story of the Henry Townsend
Plantation. As with any pre-Civil War
plantation at that time and place slavery was a sad reality. However, what makes the Townsend plantation
unique is the fact that Henry was black; a free man, slave owner, and shoemaker,
“protected” by the wealthiest white man in the county.
When Henry unexpectedly dies it’s up to his young widow to hold
the plantation together and maintain a certain way of life. But things began to unravel one strand at a
time and we experience this upheaval and its consequences through the
perspective of the various slaves, slave owners, community of freemen, crackers
and other members of Manchester County.
With a sprawling cast of characters, each perspective adds a new piece
to the puzzle as the author constructs a vibrant and complexly layered portrait
of a disturbing, but very real, part of our past; a past that only half-a-dozen
generations removed, we marvel at in disbelief.
Jones has created one of the most vivid profiles of slavery
in fiction. Throughout the book he draws
liberally from an historical record that, while highly plausible, was also
invented. In the absence of any real
historical record of black slave owners, Jones superbly employs this tool to
reinforce the plot-line and it adds a distinct richness to the writing. It’s this, and other unconventional writing
devices, that both surprise and add heft to the story. And while sometimes distracting, these efforts
succeed much more often than they fail.
But perhaps the most impressive aspect of his writing is his
restraint. In a world founded on excess,
Jones’ controlled writing is a powerful contrast to the absurdities and
extremes of the environment. It allows the
reader to feel the rawness of the human emotion in its most powerful
light. As he navigates through a system
of complex moral issues and social contradictions -made even more complicated
by skin color- Jones reveals his character’s pain, and societies hypocrisy, more through what he
leaves unwritten, than by any of the words he puts on the page.
Comparisons to Tony Morrison’s Beloved, and William Styron’s The
Confessions of Nat Turner are apt, as they have become the contemporary
standard-bearers for this genre. But
what Jones has done is present this gripping subject matter in an original light; in a way that’s never been conceived before. He has put new wine in old skin and the
results are dazzling, perhaps even unforgettable.
