3.0
Conjure Tales and Stories of the Color Line
ByPublisher Description
Charles W. Chesnutt (1858-1932) was an author, essayist and political activist whose works addressed the complex issues of racial and social identity at the turn of the century. Chesnutt's early works explored political issues somewhat indirectly, with the intention of changing the attitudes of Caucasians slowly and carefully. His characters deal with difficult issues of miscegenation, illegitimacy, racial identity and social place. They also expose the anguish of mix-race men and women and the consequences of racial hatred, mob violence, and moral compromise. "Conjure Tales and Stories of the Color Line" is a collection of eighteen short stories that have a deep moral purpose mixed with elements of magic and conjuring. Included in this collection is Chesnutt's first published short story, "The Goophered Grapevine". It is set in "Patesville" (Fayetteville), North Carolina and is a story within a story in which each story is told by a different narrator. Also in this collection among many others is "The Conjurer's Revenge" that depicts Uncle Julius duping John into buying an old, useless horse.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesConjure Tales and Stories of the Color Line Reviews
3.0
“Before delving into what fell flat for me with this collection of short stories, I wanted to highlight that I greatly appreciated what this author and these stories did at the time that they were published. They brought racism to the forefront of conversation during the American Gilded Age and illuminated the inconsistencies and stupidity of the imagined beliefs all providing a great dialogue of important ideas.
However, I just didn’t like the stories. Whilst they focus heavily on changing conceptions of the inferiority of races, it just read incredibly racist! It was just filled with racist stereotypes and beliefs that it didn’t seem to challenge. This was most highlighted with the use of dialect and even though, yes, people did speak in strong dialect, the way it was constructed just did not sit right with me. The stories themselves dragged and were a little dull and I often struggled to find the meaning within them. Overall, I just don’t think the writing style was for me and I only enjoyed a few of the stories, all the others lacked in my opinion.
TW: misogyny, racism, racist slurs, white supremacy”
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