Novel
The Longest Memory
Fred D'Aguiar · 1994
Synopsis
On a Virginia plantation, at the turn of the nineteenth century, Whitechapel, the oldest slave on the estate, has brought up as his son Chapel, born of a rape committed by the overseer on his wife. Lydia, the master's daughter, secretly teaches the young man to read and write, which the law forbids to slaves; he falls in love with her and runs away to the North. The narrative gives voice in turn to slaves, masters and overseers, in prose, in verse, in a private diary and in newspaper editorials.
Context
The book appeared in London from Chatto & Windus in 1994; first conceived as a long poem, it took the form of a succession of monologues, which divides critics. The same year it received the Whitbread First Novel Award and the David Higham Prize, and Channel 4 adapted it for television. Translated into French by Gilles Lergen for Plon in 1996, it belongs, with Feeding the Ghosts, published three years later, to the work the author devotes to the memory of slavery.
Who it is for
For reading a brief, many-voiced novel on American slavery, by a poet from Guyana, translated into French.
Prizes and reception
Gail Griffin praises a tight text with a poet's cadence, but finds the chapter of editorials forced.
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