The Darker Face of the Earth

by Rita Dove

This is actually a play, not a novel, but hey, it can still be read.  It takes place on a South Carolina plantation, but it's not really about the mundane facts about slavery-more about grand truths and the human spirit and fun things like that.  It's a retelling of the Oedipus story, meaning that one of the characters (he's not really the main character here) ends up unknowingly murdering his father and sleeping with his mother.  The mother of the Oedipus character is actually the white slaveowner's wife, and the father is one of the slaves, which is why the kid doesn't know who his biological parents are, since he understandably gets shuttled off at birth and then is accidentally bought back by his biological mother.  This is the structure of the play; the grand themes which I mentioned earlier are the substance.  For those who like symbolism, there's some very meaty stuff involving a swamp, snakes, and their relationship to evil.  It also ponders a situation in which a slave rebellion can be a bad thing-to a slave.  Anyway, it's pretty deep, so it's not light entertainment, but it's really good.

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