CARI (e)BOOK CLUB: sila jawab KUIZ

Hamyhaireen

1. The Pulitzer Prize for Literature 2004- Book Awards


World of Troubles

In what is likely the best and most important novel about slavery since Toni Morrison's Beloved, Edward P. Jones confronts a phenomenon that some might find unthinkable: in the years before the Civil War, many free blacks owned slaves. Beginning with this strange idea, The Known World--nominated for the National Book Award and named a New York Times Editor's Choice pick--reveals a new side of slavery that subverts our historical and literary preconceptions and conventions. The archetypal images of the cruel, complacent white master and the noble slave yearning for freedom no longer apply: Jones has located new complications in the issue and in doing so had come closer to truth.

At the novel's center is Henry Townsend, who was born into slavery and whose father eventually bought his freedom. When he was a teenager, Henry distinguished himself as a fine leather worker and boot maker, and once he was free, he earned enough money over the years to start a farm and build himself a house. Under the tutelage of William Robbins, who once owned him and now has a fatherly affection for the former slave, Henry adopted the lifestyle of the county's upper-class whites, which, of course, meant owning slaves. The Known World opens with Henry's death, and Jones proceeds to show how the event affects every citizen of Manchester County, Virginia.

Henry Townsend is not an anomaly. As Jones points out: "In 1855 in Manchester County, Virginia, there were thirty-four free black families . . . and eight of those free families owned slaves." This number does not include individual free black slave owners like Fern Elston, a teacher who can pass as white. Several of her young students--including Henry and two of William Robbins' children by a former slave--aspire to own human property, and they constitute "a free Negro class that, while not having the power of some whites, had been brought up to believe that they were rulers waiting in the wings. They were much better than the majority of white people, and it was only a matter of time before those white people came to realize that."

Jones leaves it purposefully unclear what the white people will do when they come to realize that; Fern's students naively believe they will finally live free, but more likely they will meet the brunt of those whites' insecurities and rationalizations. This is the crux of the novel: Slavery pollutes everyone who participates in it and warps their concepts of justice and humanity.

In The Known World, Jones' technique, which attempts to reinvent the novel form, is just as subversive as the side of slavery he presents. On one level his prose is direct and plainspoken, with a colloquial, decidedly nonliterary cadence, but it is no less evocative or powerful for being so modest. On another level, The Known World is about community and context, and Jones tailors the novel's structure to play up these themes. He writes from a number of points of view, not just Henry, his wife Caldonia, and each of their slaves, but also Sheriff John Skiffington, his untrustworthy cousin and deputy Counsel, and his three rowdy patrollers, among many others. As one character states, "We are all worthy of one another," and Jones captures this sense of potential equality through the congregation of voices. Every story is worthy of being told.

Many writers evoke a sense of community to reflect the widespread horrors of slavery, but Jones takes it one step further: He creates an actual community consisting of slaves and freemen, slave owners both white and black, and those who are apart from slavery but still pulled into its vortex. Furthermore, by portraying so many different sides of the community, Jones provides new contexts in which to view his characters and their actions. He includes not just the characters' back stories, but also their fates -- their lives, deaths, legacies. As viewed in these shifting perspectives, everyone in Manchester County is morally compromised; in a place where there are no heroes or villains, there are good intentions and noble gestures galore, but little that is noble and pure. The slave owners, while rarely cruel, struggle for a middle-ground justice, and the slaves trade their dreams of freedom for everyday comforts like food and companionship.

Jones creates an even larger context by providing fake, albeit historically founded, statistics and by quoting fictional historians like Marcia H. Shia and Roberta Murphy. At first the inclusion of these names and numbers makes the novel seem over-researched, but Jones' intention is more purposeful. Connecting the past intrinsically with the present, The Known World not only uses the present as context for past -- commenting on how we view the past through art, academia, and memory -- but also uses the past to show us where we are today and how we arrived at this point in history.

For slaves and masters alike -- as well as for this author and his readers -- slavery creates a past full of horror that haunts the present and dooms the future. As The Known World makes clear, no American is ever free from its consequences

[ Last edited by Hamyhaireen at 18-8-2005 12:54 PM ]

Hamyhaireen

1. Casino Royale: A James Bond Novel


2. Dean Koontz's Frankenstein, Book One: Prodigal Son


3. SAFE HARBOUR by Danielle Steel


4. Patricia Highsmith The talented Mr Ripley


5. Khalil Gibran The Prophet


[ Last edited by Hamyhaireen at 18-8-2005 12:50 PM ]

Hamyhaireen

Wa'ah...this is special for you....http://s14.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1X4WSYHSXW6462V68433626LO2

wa'ah

Hamyhaireen

thank you so much!!!1

Hamyhaireen

Originally posted by seribulan at 17-8-2005 09:56 PM

tengah baca buku ni...

Hello seribulan..lama menghilang.....

Hamyhaireen

Welcome Wa'ah...enjoy yr books....

appropos

Originally posted by Hamyhaireen at 18-8-2005 10:01 AM
OH Appropos...im glad with you... this club is nothing without you...thank you so much...:love:
This week a lots of extra bonus ye.... banyak giler buku....

:solute: thanks buddy.....

well buddy you contribute a lot too.this is for you:solute::solute::solute::clap::clap:

appropos

Originally posted by Hamyhaireen at 18-8-2005 10:31 AM


crazy as me... macam A Samad Said cakap kegilaan terhadap buku ....
Cuma bulan ni jer tak g lagi payless sebab dah terlampau banyak buku
yang belum di baca dan financial x mengizinkan ... but ...

memang betul i got a lot of books waiting to be read, and storage space pun dah tak de my room is like a mini payless dah books strewn everywhere..

Hamyhaireen

Originally posted by appropos at 18-8-2005 02:17 PM

well buddy you contribute a lot too.this is for you:solute::solute::solute::clap::clap:

well buddy...without you im nothing....

Hamyhaireen

Originally posted by appropos at 18-8-2005 02:22 PM

memang betul i got a lot of books waiting to be read, and storage space pun dah tak de my room is like a mini payless dah books strewn everywhere..

Wow!!! Bestnya...mine...mmm...tak banyak pun...baru start kenal payless awal tahun ni..
dan buku lelama semua orang pinjam dan buat harta.:cry:
I had difficulty to sort books genre, do you have any idea? :stp:

Duta lover

hmm...apakah yang korang maksudkan dgn payless ni
huh

kui kui...bule tak aku nak request buku dr
Roald Dahl???

plizzz...
Boy Tales Of Childhood
Author : Roald Dahl
kui kui.... korang penah baca tak

appropos

Originally posted by Hamyhaireen at 18-8-2005 02:36 PM


Wow!!! Bestnya...mine...mmm...tak banyak pun...baru start kenal payless awal tahun ni..
dan buku lelama semua orang pinjam dan buat harta.:cry:
I had difficulty to sort books genre, do you ha ...

sorting book genres . hmm how do you mean that, for your own book collection ke?
the thing is i dont lend people my books only to very close friends and family je the same thing goes cd's and dvd's.

appropos

Originally posted by Duta lover at 18-8-2005 02:47 PM
hmm...apakah yang korang maksudkan dgn payless ni
huh

kui kui...bule tak aku nak request buku dr
Roald Dahl???

plizzz...
Boy Tales Of Childhood
Author : Roald Dahl
kui kui.... korang p ...

paylesbooks store  , hmm ni you can say used bookshops la . buku-buku kat kedai murah dan mostly in good condition , the selection is quite good..
roald dahl i'll see what i can do next week.

Hamyhaireen

Originally posted by appropos at 18-8-2005 02:51 PM

sorting book genres . hmm how do you mean that, for your own book collection ke?
the thing is i dont lend people my books only to very close friends and family je the same thing goes cd's and dv ...

Yup...contohnya Fiction ada banyak kategori seperti fantasy,historical,horror,mystery,romance,science fiction, suspense, thriller,chic lit . Kekadang orang cakap novel...  Bukanke novel ngan fiction ni sama? I cuma nak tahu in details what is novel, what is autobiography, ... for my own understanding. Tapi ada pulak orang cakap buku2 ni under non fiction...that made me more confused. I try google tapi tak jumpa website yang dapat menerangkan mengenai genre2 buku ni.

seribulan

Originally posted by Hamyhaireen at 18-8-2005 01:43 PM



Hello seribulan..lama menghilang.....

been gallivanting

seribulan

Originally posted by Hamyhaireen at 18-8-2005 04:21 PM


Yup...contohnya Fiction ada banyak kategori seperti fantasy,historical,horror,mystery,romance,science fiction, suspense, thriller,chic lit . Kekadang orang cakap novel...  Bukanke novel ngan fi ...

short story pon fiction gak:cak:

appropos

Originally posted by Hamyhaireen at 18-8-2005 04:21 PM


Yup...contohnya Fiction ada banyak kategori seperti fantasy,historical,horror,mystery,romance,science fiction, suspense, thriller,chic lit . Kekadang orang cakap novel...  Bukanke novel ngan fi ...

hmm ni panjang nak cerita ni as you probably know fiction is something made up not real , so there can be all sorts of fiction from sci/fi to historical ,romance and so on those are probably a sub genre of ficticion . so obviously autobiographies and such falls into non fiction which also has its own sub genres such as history , self help and so on .
what is an autobiography hmm that would be an account of someones life cuma ada some authorised and unauthorised biographies , probably an unauthorised bio would make for a more interesting read as it tell the things that the person would not want to be published.. hmm that would be my opinon of it i could be wrong , as i takla arif sangat pasal ni .so if anyone could further clarify that would be much appreciated.

Hamyhaireen

thanks buddy...

yaneng

apropos/hamy and the others...ada tak online version of history books, autobio, dan brown ke...(heheh)

Hamyhaireen

online version? that meant you dont want to download....   dan brown rasanya tak ada... tapi history books, autobio mungkin ada...
cuba check website ni.... I tak sure what type of history you want....
http://www.digitalbookindex.org/         Ada banyak website kalau you rajin google... try jer...