Corregidora (Masterplots II: African American Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Gayl Jones
- First Published: 1975
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: 1947–1969
- Setting: Kentucky
- Principal Characters: Ursa Corregidora, Mutt Thomas, Tadpole McCormick, Catherine “Cat” Lawson, “Mama”, Corregidora, Great Gram, Gram
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction
- Subjects: 1950’s, African Americans, 1960’s, Family or family life, North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Sex or sexuality, South or Southerners, Slavery or slaves, Marriage, 1940’s, Midwest, Ohio, Incest, Rape, Victims, Women’s issues, Oppression, Accidents, Brazil or Brazilians, Divorce, Duty, Infertility, Singing or singers
- Locales: Brazil, Cincinnati, OH, Lexington, KY, Versailles, KY
The Novel
Ursa Corregidora is the main character and first-person narrator of Gayl Jones’s Corregidora, a novel that focuses on Ursa’s own psychologically hollowed self. After a miscarriage and hysterectomy, Ursa has to accept not only her personal sense of loss, but also the weight of family stories regarding her grandmother’s and great-grandmother’s lives as enslaved prostitutes in Brazil. Having been told since she was five that she would have to reproduce to create living evidence of this slavery (most of the written records were burned), she faces the burden...
[The entire page is 3617 words long]
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