Corregidora (Black Women Writers Series)

Here is Gayl Jones's classic novel, the tale of blues singer Ursa, consumed by her hatred of the nineteenth-century slave master who fathered both her grandmother and mother. From the Trade Paperback edition "A literary classic that remains vital to our understanding of the past, Corregidora is Gayl Jones's powerful debut novel, examining womanhood, sexuality, and the psychological residue of slavery. Jones masterfully tells the story of Ursa, a Kentucky blues singer, who, in the wake of a tragic loss, confronts her maternal history and the legacy of Corregidora, the Brazilian slave master who fathered both her mother and grandmother. Consumed and haunted by her hatred of the man who irrevocably shaped her life and the lives of her family, Ursa Corregidora must come to terms with a past that is never too distant from the present." -- Publisher's website 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. 'History and fiction have yielded little about those black slave women who were mistress and breeder to their white owners. There are some facts and figures, but they tell us nothing about the women themselves: their motives, their emotions, and the memories they passed on to their children. Gayl Jones's first novel is a gripping portrait of this harsh sexual and psychological genealogy ... Jones's language is subtle and sinewy, and her imagination sure. 'Everything said in the beginning must be said better than in the beginning.' Ursa (Corregidora) vows. Gayl Jones fulfills that pledge.'--Margo Jefferson, Newsweek

Corregidora is Gayl Jones's classic novel: the tale of a blues singer Ursa, consumed by her hatred of the 19th century slave master who fathered both her grandmother and mother. This is a highly impactive novel wrought with sexual tensions and taboo family secrets. The narrative is interspersed with elliptical stories and memories that bring intense emotions to the surface of the reader's consciousness.