Scan barcode
A review by saareman
Salvage: Readings from the Wreck by Dionne Brand
5.0
Salvaged from Slavery
A review of the Knopf Canada hardcover edition (August 27, 2024) released simultaneously with the eBook/audiobook.
The central premise here has Trinidadian-Canadian novelist & poet [a:Dionne Brand|88541|Dionne Brand|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1257391381p2/88541.jpg] (1953-) looking back on her early life and later education and reading. Much of that reading was in the classics, but her focus here is especially the mostly untold background of colonialism and slavery in the time of the growing British Empire and the concurrent novels of English literature. The "Wreck" of the title is a metaphor for the colonial past, the "Salvage" is what we can learn from it.
Several novels which were discussed at length here were completely new to me. One of these was Aphra Behn's [b:Oroonoko: or, The History of the Royal Slave|13439163|Oroonoko or, The History of the Royal Slave|Aphra Behn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1385467517l/13439163._SX50_.jpg|1023644] (1688). [a:Aphra Behn|28778|Aphra Behn|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1210187288p2/28778.jpg] (1640-1689) is considered the first professional female author and the book as one of the first ever English language novels. Although it has been considered as an anti-slavery novel, the fate of the title character is traumatic and grotesque.
Better known is Daniel Dafoe's [b:Robinson Crusoe|2932|Robinson Crusoe|Daniel Defoe|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1682976488l/2932._SY75_.jpg|604666] (1719). But if you are reading that book as a castaway adventure story, did you ever pause to think about the fact that Crusoe embarked on his journey because he was on a slavery expedition, and that he had a plantation in Brazil which was worked by slaves? When he finally is rescued from the island after 28 years, he has the accumulated fortune from the plantation's earnings to live on.
Following on from Dafoe, another book that was new to me was J.M. Coetzee's [b:Foe|525544|Foe|J.M. Coetzee|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1716371003l/525544._SY75_.jpg|1920615] (1986), which is an alternate version of the Crusoe story introducing a woman castaway to the mix. The resultant assault and rape doesn't make it sound any more appealing.
Other extended sections of the book focused on Jane Austen's [b:Mansfield Park|45032|Mansfield Park|Jane Austen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1397063295l/45032._SY75_.jpg|224016803] (1814), Charlotte Brontë's [b:Jane Eyre|10210|Jane Eyre|Charlotte Brontë|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1557343311l/10210._SY75_.jpg|2977639] (1847) and William Makepeace Thackeray's [b:Vanity Fair|5797|Vanity Fair|William Makepeace Thackeray|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1344386439l/5797._SY75_.jpg|1057468] (1847).
There were tangents in the telling here as Brand is also memorializing her early life and absent mother and aunt who left Trinidad to work as nurses in England. So this is a blend of memoir and creative non-fiction. I found it all quite revelatory and I think it will cause many to think back on their lifetime of reading and what were the untold stories behind the texts in the classics.
Trivia and Links
Aphra Behn's Oroonoko is in the Public Domain and can be read online at various sources such as Project Gutenberg or as an audiobook at LibriVox. The antiquated style may not be easy reading, so if you just want a summary you can read it at Wikipedia.
A review of the Knopf Canada hardcover edition (August 27, 2024) released simultaneously with the eBook/audiobook.
The central premise here has Trinidadian-Canadian novelist & poet [a:Dionne Brand|88541|Dionne Brand|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1257391381p2/88541.jpg] (1953-) looking back on her early life and later education and reading. Much of that reading was in the classics, but her focus here is especially the mostly untold background of colonialism and slavery in the time of the growing British Empire and the concurrent novels of English literature. The "Wreck" of the title is a metaphor for the colonial past, the "Salvage" is what we can learn from it.
Several novels which were discussed at length here were completely new to me. One of these was Aphra Behn's [b:Oroonoko: or, The History of the Royal Slave|13439163|Oroonoko or, The History of the Royal Slave|Aphra Behn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1385467517l/13439163._SX50_.jpg|1023644] (1688). [a:Aphra Behn|28778|Aphra Behn|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1210187288p2/28778.jpg] (1640-1689) is considered the first professional female author and the book as one of the first ever English language novels. Although it has been considered as an anti-slavery novel, the fate of the title character is traumatic and grotesque.
Better known is Daniel Dafoe's [b:Robinson Crusoe|2932|Robinson Crusoe|Daniel Defoe|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1682976488l/2932._SY75_.jpg|604666] (1719). But if you are reading that book as a castaway adventure story, did you ever pause to think about the fact that Crusoe embarked on his journey because he was on a slavery expedition, and that he had a plantation in Brazil which was worked by slaves? When he finally is rescued from the island after 28 years, he has the accumulated fortune from the plantation's earnings to live on.
Following on from Dafoe, another book that was new to me was J.M. Coetzee's [b:Foe|525544|Foe|J.M. Coetzee|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1716371003l/525544._SY75_.jpg|1920615] (1986), which is an alternate version of the Crusoe story introducing a woman castaway to the mix. The resultant assault and rape doesn't make it sound any more appealing.
Other extended sections of the book focused on Jane Austen's [b:Mansfield Park|45032|Mansfield Park|Jane Austen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1397063295l/45032._SY75_.jpg|224016803] (1814), Charlotte Brontë's [b:Jane Eyre|10210|Jane Eyre|Charlotte Brontë|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1557343311l/10210._SY75_.jpg|2977639] (1847) and William Makepeace Thackeray's [b:Vanity Fair|5797|Vanity Fair|William Makepeace Thackeray|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1344386439l/5797._SY75_.jpg|1057468] (1847).
There were tangents in the telling here as Brand is also memorializing her early life and absent mother and aunt who left Trinidad to work as nurses in England. So this is a blend of memoir and creative non-fiction. I found it all quite revelatory and I think it will cause many to think back on their lifetime of reading and what were the untold stories behind the texts in the classics.
Trivia and Links
Aphra Behn's Oroonoko is in the Public Domain and can be read online at various sources such as Project Gutenberg or as an audiobook at LibriVox. The antiquated style may not be easy reading, so if you just want a summary you can read it at Wikipedia.