The Poisonwood Bible (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Barbara Kingsolver
- First Published: 1998
- Type of Work: Novel
- Genres: Long fiction, Family literature, Allegory, Political fiction, Novel
- Subjects: Language or languages, Family or family life, United States or Americans, Africa or Africans, Mothers, Politics, Colonialism, Colonies or colonization, South or Southerners, Communication, Missions or missionaries, Religion, Christianity, Sisters, Twins or multiple-birth siblings
- Locales: South (U.S.), Belgian Congo
After Orleanna Price's opening sortie, which serves as a prologue, readers of The Poisonwood Bible find that the Price family comes from Bethlehem, Georgia, at the beginning of the next section. Combined with the tension inherent in the title, their place of origin signals why Kingsolver calls the book a political allegory. What follows is the story of the Price family's arrival at, sojourn in, and leave-taking from the Congo as they try to spread God's word among the lost. The novel is told in five distinct voices, those of Orleanna Price and her daughters Leah, Ruth, Rachel,...
[The entire page is 681 words long]
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