AS HEARD ON THE BACKLISTED PODCAST

'No novel about any Black woman could ever be the same after this' TONI MORRISON

'Corregidora (1975), was both shocking and ground-breaking in its probing of the psychological legacy of slavery and sexual ownership' MAYA JAGGI, GUARDIAN

'Corregidora is the most brutally honest and painful revelation of what has occurred, and is occurring, in the souls of Black men and women' JAMES BALDWIN

'A literary giant, and one of my absolute favourite writers' TAYARI JONES, author of AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE

'An American writer with a powerful sense of vital inheritance, of history in the blood' JOHN UPDIKE, NEW YORKER

Upon publication in 1975, Corregidora was hailed as a masterpiece, winning acclaim from writers including James Baldwin, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison and John Updike. Exploring themes such as race, sexuality and the long repercussions of slavery, this powerful novel paved the way for Beloved and The Colour Purple.

Blues singer Ursa is consumed by her hatred of Corregidora, the nineteenth-century slave master who fathered both her mother and grandmother. 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.

Also new to the VMC list: Eva's Man and The Healing by Gayl Jones.

About the Author
Gayl Jones was born in Kentucky in 1949. She attended Connecticut College and Brown University and has taught at Wellesley and the University of Michigan. Her books include Corregidora (1975), Eva's Man (1976), The Healing (1998), which was a National Book Award finalist, Palmares (2021), which was shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction and longlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize, and The Birdcatcher (2022), which was also a National Book Award Finalist.

Reviews
Gayl Jones's first novel, Corregidora (1975), was both shocking and ground-breaking in its probing of the psychological legacy of slavery and sexual ownership through the life of a Kentucky blues singer . . . it predated Alice Walker's The Color Purple and Toni Morrison's Beloved, revealing an unfinished emancipation and the power of historical memory to shape lives. It also marked a shift in African-American literature that made women, and relationships between black people, central * Guardian *
An American writer with a powerful sense of vital inheritance, of history in the blood * New Yorker *
No novel about any black woman could ever be the same after this
She writes beautifully, painfully, furiously and righteously about violence and desire -- Daisy Buchanan * i paper *
A literary giant, and one of my absolute favourite writers
Corregidora is the most brutally honest and painful revelation of what has occurred, and is occurring, in the souls of Black men and women . . . it dares to confront the absolute terror which lives at the heart of love
Corregidora's survey of trauma and overcoming has become even better and more relevant with the passage of time. It remains an indispensable point of entry into the tradition of African American writing that Gayl Jones reshaped and enriched
Corregidora examines how the trauma of slavery is imprinted on the black female body and passed down from generation to generation. Gayl Jones's work remains essential and vital; I will be rereading her catalog for the rest of my life * Nylon magazine *
A breathtaking novel that stands as one of the most important twentieth century works of African American literature. Jones captures the web of inheritances that shaped the lives of Black women in slavery and freedom, from trauma to resilience, and from flesh to spirit. Corregidora is deeply affecting and endures in the hearts and minds of readers
The book is plotted like a beautiful, tear-filled song -- Sheila Heti * Week *



Book Information
ISBN 9780349012148
Author Gayl Jones
Format Paperback
Page Count 208
Imprint Virago Press Ltd
Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
Weight(grams) 166g
Dimensions(mm) 196mm * 126mm * 18mm