Originally published in 1977, "White Rat is a collection of twelve provocative tales that explore the emotional and mental terrain of a diverse cast of characters, from the innocent to the insane, which will inspire new debate and dialogue among general readers and academics alike. In each, Gayl Jones displays her unflinching ability to delve into the most treacherous of psyches and circumstances: The title story examines the identity and relationship conundrums of a black man who can pass for white, earning him the name "White Rat" as an infant; "The Women" follows a girl whose mother brings a succession of female lovers to live in their home; "Jevata" details eighteen-year-old Freddy's relationship with the fifty-year-old title character from the perspective of her old friend Floyd; "The Coke Factory" tracks the thoughts of a mentally handicapped adolescent abandoned by his mother; and "Asylum" focuses on a woman experiencing a nervous breakdown, trying to protect her dignity and her private parts as she enters an institution. In uncompromising prose, and dialect that veers from Northern, educated tongues to down-home Southern colloquialisms, Jones limns lives that society readily ignores, moving them to center stage. Her words and ideas will linger for years to come.
"A wide-ranging collection, including two novellas and ten stories exploring complex identities, from the acclaimed author of Corregidora, The Healing, and Palmares"--
"The epic rendering of a Black woman's journey through slavery and liberation, set in 17th-century colonial Brazil"--
AN EPIC TALE OF LOVE AND LIBERATION, SET IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY BRAZIL'I fell asleep and dreamed of Palmares, where one's true place in the world was said to be the same as any free man's or woman's . . . 'From plantation to plantation, Almeyda, a young slave girl, hears whispers, rumours of Palmares, a hidden settlement where fugitive slaves live free. But can this promised land exist? And what price is paid for 'freedom'?In Palmares, Gayl Jones brings to life a world full of unforgettable characters, reimagining extraordinary historical events and combining them with mythology and magic. Of Gayl Jones, the New Yorker noted, '[Her] great achievement is to reckon with both history and interiority, and to collapse the boundary between them.' Like nothing else before it, Palmares embodies this gift. Palmares hails the return of a major voice in literature. Gayl Jones was first discovered and edited by Toni Morrison, and her talent was praised by writers including Maya Angelou, James Baldwin and John Updike. After a handful of acclaimed novels, she withdrew from the publishing world. Now Jones returns with her first novel in over twenty years.'An American writer with a powerful sense of vital inheritance, of history in the blood' John Updike'Jones's writing powerfully blends narrative and lyricism . . . Her imagination seems to thrive on outstripping one's expectations' Margo Jefferson
A powerful, influential novel, praised by writers including Toni Morrison, James Baldwin and Maya Angelou. Long out of print, this lost classic is republished for a new generation.
A humorous yet moving novel of redemption, featuring an original protagonist with an eccentric past and her own brand of wisdom.
Bury those easy-to-read Black romance books. Mosquito is where African-American literature is heading as we approach the twenty-first century.--E. Ethelbert Miller, Emerge
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