Barracoon
Autor Zora Neale Hurstonen Limba Engleză Paperback – 9 ian 2020
Sub soarele arzător din Plateau, Alabama, o tânără scriitoare și un bătrân de optzeci și șase de ani împart felii de pepene roșu în curtea unei case modeste. Dincolo de această scenă pastorală se ascunde o revelație istorică ce a rămas îngropată aproape un secol: mărturia directă a ultimului om care a supraviețuit „Pasajului de Mijloc”. Barracoon nu este doar o biografie, ci un act de recuperare culturală care ne dezvăluie, pentru prima dată fără filtre editoriale, vocea brută a cuiva care a cunoscut libertatea în Africa, teroarea baracoanelor (închisorile pentru sclavi) și captivitatea pe nava Clotilda. Notăm cu interes decizia curajoasă a lui Zora Neale Hurston de a păstra dialectul vernacular al lui Cudjo Lewis. Această alegere stilistică oferă lecturii o textură cinematică, permițându-ne să „auzim” ritmul vorbirii unui om care și-a păstrat identitatea africană în ciuda deceniilor de sclavie. Subliniem că această abordare jurnalistică și antropologică evocă rigoarea din The Last Slave Ship, dar perspectiva lui Hurston este mult mai intimă, transformând datele istorice într-o experiență profund umană și vulnerabilă. În contextul operei sale, Barracoon ocupă un loc central, fiind puntea de legătură între cercetările sale folclorice din Mules and Men și forța narativă din Their Eyes Were Watching God. Dacă în autobiografia sa, Dust Tracks On A Road, Hurston se concentra pe propria devenire, aici ea se retrage în umbră pentru a lăsa istoria să vorbească prin gura lui Cudjo. Rezultatul este un portret zguduitor al rezilienței, care completează lacunele dureroase din istoria oficială a Americii.
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Specificații
ISBN-10: 0008368031
Pagini: 208
Dimensiuni: 130 x 200 x 22 mm
Greutate: 0.23 kg
Editura: HarperCollins Publishers
De ce să citești această carte
Recomandăm această carte oricui dorește să înțeleagă sclavarea nu ca pe un concept abstract, ci ca pe o experiență trăită. Este o lectură esențială pentru cei interesați de istoria nuanțată a diasporei africane, oferind o perspectivă rară asupra tranziției de la libertate la captivitate. Cititorul câștigă acces la o mărturie unică, păstrată cu onestitate de una dintre cele mai importante voci ale literaturii americane.
Despre autor
Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960) a fost o figură centrală a Renașterii din Harlem, remarcându-se ca scriitoare, antropolog și folclorist. Absolventă a Universității Columbia, unde a studiat sub îndrumarea lui Franz Boas, Hurston a combinat rigoarea academică cu talentul literar pentru a documenta cultura afro-americană. Deși a cunoscut succesul cu romanul Their Eyes Were Watching God, multe dintre lucrările sale de teren, precum Barracoon, au fost recunoscute la adevărata lor valoare abia postum. Opera sa rămâne un pilon al literaturii universale, celebrată pentru autenticitatea limbajului și profunzimea observației sociale.
Notă biografică
Descriere scurtă
"A deeply affecting record of an extraordinary life"- Daily Telegraph
A major literary event: a newly published work from the author of the American classic Their Eyes Were Watching God, with a foreword from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker.
The true story of one of the last-known survivors of the Atlantic slave trade.
In August 1931, famed anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston travelled to Alabama to visit ninety-year-old Cudjo Lewis, a former slave.
Over three months, Cudjo shared heart-rending memories of his childhood in Africa; the horrors of being captured - fifty years after slavery was outlawed - and held in the Ouidah barracoons for selection by American slavers; the harrowing ordeal of the Middle Passage aboard the Clotilda with over one hundred other souls; and the years he spent in slavery.
Barracoon brings to life Cudjo's singular voice in an invaluable contribution to history and culture, a work as poignant as it is profound.
Recenzii
“Zora Neale Hurston’s genius has once again produced a Maestrapiece.” — Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Color Purple
“Short enough to be read in a single sitting, this book is one of those gorgeous, much too fleeting things...Brimming with observational detail from a man whose life spanned continents and eras, the story is at times devastating, but Hurston’s success in bringing it to light is a marvel.” — NPR
“A profound impact on Hurston’s literary legacy.” — New York Times
“With its historically valuable first-hand account of slavery and freedom, Barracoon speaks straight to the 21st-century world into which it has emerged—almost a century after it was written.” — Lily Rothman, Time
“Though both Hurston and Lewis are long gone, Hurston’s account of the former slave’s life serves as a timely reminder of our shared humanity—and the consequences that can occur if we forget it.” — People
“Barracoon and its long path to print is a testament to Zora’s singular vision amid so many competing pressures that continue to put us at war with ourselves.” — Huffington Post
“[Barracoon’s] belated publication of her phonetic transcription offers spine-chilling access to one of modernity’s great crimes, an atrocity that, when described by a victim, suddenly becomes far less distant.” — The Guardian
“Zora Neale Hurston’s recovered masterpiece, Barracoon, is a stunning addition to several overlapping canons of American literature.” — Tayari Jones, Washington Post
“Zora Neale Hurston has left an indelible legacy on the literary community and commanded an influential place in Black history.” — Essence
“A posthumously-released work of acclaimed Harlem Renaissance-era writer Zora Neale Hurston offers a chilling firsthand look at the horrors of the slave trade.” — Vibe
“An invaluable addition to American social, cultural, and political history.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Sure to be widely read.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Barracoon is a testament to [Zora’s] patient fieldwork” — Vulture
“Barracoon is an impactful story that will stick with you long after the final page.” — Parade
“A profound work that shows a writer in the process of gathering a landmark story.” — Garden & Gun
“Barracoon is a powerful, breathtakingly beautiful, and at times, heart wrenching, account of one man’s story, eloquently told in his own language. Zora Neale Hurston gives Kossola control of his narrative— a gift of freedom and humanity. It completely reinforces for me the fact that Zora Neale Hurston was both a cultural anthropologist and a truly gifted, and compassionate storyteller, who sat in the sometimes painful silence with Kossola and the depth and breadth of memory as a slave. Such is a narrative filled with emotions and histories bursting at the intricately woven seams.” — Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of Here Comes the Sun
“That Zora Neale Hurston should find and befriend Cudjo Lewis, the last living man with firsthand memory of capture in Africa and captivity in Alabama, is nothing shy of a miracle. Barracoon is a testament to the enormous losses millions of men, women and children endured in both slavery and freedom—a story of urgent relevance to every American, everywhere.” — Tracy K. Smith, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Life on Mars and Wade in the Water
“Barracoon is a piece of the puzzle we didn’t know we were missing. Ms. Zora has captured through the lens of Cudjo Lewis a glimpse into what the slave trade, Middle Passage, and first steps onto American soil meant for millions. The narrative of Cudjo reminds us of the faith and hope that got us here despite it all.” — Michael Twitty, author of The Cooking Gene
“[Zora’s] newly published book, released for the first time 87 years after it was written, will shed new light on the author as a historical chronicler.” — Quartzy