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gowens's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
sylveondreams's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
msjg's review
4.0
I heard Keene interviewed on Leonard Lopate and couldn't wait to read this book. Keene writes against colonialist and racist narratives, forcing readers to see the stories as we've learned them in history and read in adventure tales from the perpsective of the colonized to fascinating effect.
abbie_'s review against another edition
I vastly overestimated my own intelligence when I decided to try to read this collection, oh boy!
kansass's review
5.0
"¿He vivido, sin embargo, una forma de Infierno, morado en uno, o quizá en varios? Lo más seguro, y quizá esté en uno ahora."
(...)
"Quiero la esencia. Mi alma tiene prisa." (Mário de Andrade)"
En Contranarrativas se reúnen unas serie de textos, relatos, novelas cortas, cartas, trece en total, cuyo nexo en común es una reflexión sobre la raza y la esclavitud en el continente americano. Es un tema además que nunca lo había visto reflejado/narrado con la contundencia, la poesía, la carga literaria, con que John Keene nos lo muestra y admito que durante la mayor parte de la lectura de esta Contranarrativas me lo pasé como en una especie de estado de hechizo. Últimamente me he interesado mucho por esta narrativa en que el autor a partir de unos textos históricos construye toda una historia de ficción y de atmósferas tocando la esencia de lo que puede ser el hombre pero cuando llegué a Contranarrativas no tenía ni idea de que volvía a ponerse en mi camino, sin planearlo, un texto narrativa tan subyugante.
"Mientras huía se proclamó libre. Bajo presión, nuestros actos nos parecen soñados."
Los relatos de John Keene fluyen siguiendo un orden cronológico desde la introducción de la trata de esclavos en el siglo XVII hasta más o menos nuestros días. Es muy interesante la perspectiva de los primeros relatos en la que vamos conociendo los diferentes puntos de vista, los conquistadores y colonizadores, pasando por los misioneros que eran quienes tenían la vara de mando y a través de ellos y tomando el punto de partida de un dato histórico determinado, construye toda una historia en el que personaje principal, un esclavo, llámese Zion o Juan Rodrigues o Carmel nos presentan ese esa otra perspectiva que en la mayoría de los casos nos había llegado siempre sesgada por ese punto de vista del hombre colonizador blanco. Es a través de esta construcción de personajes pequeños que reviven gracias a la pluma del autor, cuando sentimos que han existido de verdad, que han sido absolutamente reales.
"Ahora que miraba a Joao Baptista a los ojos, consideró que en realidad nunca le había observado, nunca antes le había visto. El rostro poseía una familiaridad cristalina, pero no por una observación continuada; era como si hubiera atisbado esa cara en otra parte, en un espejo interior, y lo visto durante su estancia en la casa hubiera sido mero perfil, una máscara, una sombra."
(...)
"Como mujer u hombre era, consideró D´Azevedo, arrebatador. Los ojos que parecían brotar de las pupilas, estaban fijos en los de D´Azevedo. Éste tuvo que desviar la mirada, hacia sus libros, para poner en orden sus ideas."
En este aspecto, los cuatro primeros relatos de este texto, me han parecido absolutamente maravillosos, en particular “La extraña historia de Nuestra Señora de las Penas” porque aquí el autor se detiene en estos primeros fragores de la esclavitud y construye una atmósfera envolvente a través de una prosa que de alguna forma captura también la narrativa de la época. En "Nuestra Señora de las Peñas", Carmel una esclava huérfana viaja desde una plantación de Haití hasta un monasterio de Kentucky y a través de esta niña, más tarde mujer, Keene construye una especie de relato gótico en el que somos testigos de la búsqueda de identidad de una esclava que tiene un conflicto entre aceptar las reglas de un sistema y en el que ella es Nadie, y su propia evolución como individuo, como mujer, en el que ni el más mínimo deseo o expresión artistica le es permitida. Ya digo que solo por este relato largo, de algo más de cien páginas ya merece la pena leer esta Contranarrativas.
"Carmel se había acostumbrado al aislamiento y la soledad en Valdoré y valoraba cada momento lejos de Eugénie como una oportunidad para aprender y cultivarse. A cualquier coste: a las demás esclavas las ofendía que no durmiera con ellas, les ofendía su altura, que le confería un aire amazónico; su compostura, que interpretaban como arrogancia; les ofendía su afán por los libros, que les parecía pretencioso..."
John Keene tiene un talento especial para controlar el ritmo y para la atmósfera sincronizando esta prosa con la época que nos está contando en cada relato; no le importa experimentar, arriesgarse y hay momentos en que el lector puede visualizar perfectamente esas imágenes, como el del relato "Acrobatique", prácticamente construido con una única frase hipnótica y envolvente en el que se narra el encuentro de una trapecista con el pintor Degas que la acabará inmortalizando en el cuadro “Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando”, y así cada uno de los relatos contendrán algo que los hará enormemente valiosos y se quedarán grabados en la memoria.
"Quieres hablar. Lo estás pidiendo a gritos. Aquí estoy. Hay cosas que nunca se olvidan, no importa cuánto te esfuerces. Echan raíces, se quedan, dijiste tú una vez. No puedes olvidarlas, diría yo."
A partir de estos primeros cuatro relatos, el texto se va reconvirtiendo, deconstruyendo, experimentando tanto narrativa como argumentalmente y en los sucesivos relatos, nuevos personajes irán apareciendo, nuevos atisbos de datos históricos que irán desglosándose en nuevas historias personales, interrumpidas algunas, fugazmente intuídas en otras, pero siempre lo que pretende el autor es que veamos lo inquietante y perturbador que puede resultar que nuestras ideas preconcebidas se vayan al cubo de la basura, porque lo que nos habían contado hasta ahora no era real, lo que de verdad importa son esas pequeñas historias personales, la esencia del ser humano que ha quedado totalmente enterrada por la historia. Un texto que es una joya y durante su lectura lo leí con el Bloom de Beach House de fondo, no tienen nada que ver pero sí...
La traducción es de José Luis Amores.
"Claro que hay Infiernos e infiernos, lo que constituye una afirmación banal donde las haya, pues hay niveles de horror, de horrores, que todos presenciamos y vivimos a veces en propia carne, a menudo indirectamente, y es la inmediatez del horror, su sublimidad y nuestra incapacidad para reflexionar sobre ello, aunque no se nos borre de la memoria, lo que da forma a nuestro sentido de infierno, o Infierno, particular."
https://kansasbooks.blogspot.com/2022/07/contranarrativas-de-john-keene.html
(...)
"Quiero la esencia. Mi alma tiene prisa." (Mário de Andrade)"
En Contranarrativas se reúnen unas serie de textos, relatos, novelas cortas, cartas, trece en total, cuyo nexo en común es una reflexión sobre la raza y la esclavitud en el continente americano. Es un tema además que nunca lo había visto reflejado/narrado con la contundencia, la poesía, la carga literaria, con que John Keene nos lo muestra y admito que durante la mayor parte de la lectura de esta Contranarrativas me lo pasé como en una especie de estado de hechizo. Últimamente me he interesado mucho por esta narrativa en que el autor a partir de unos textos históricos construye toda una historia de ficción y de atmósferas tocando la esencia de lo que puede ser el hombre pero cuando llegué a Contranarrativas no tenía ni idea de que volvía a ponerse en mi camino, sin planearlo, un texto narrativa tan subyugante.
"Mientras huía se proclamó libre. Bajo presión, nuestros actos nos parecen soñados."
Los relatos de John Keene fluyen siguiendo un orden cronológico desde la introducción de la trata de esclavos en el siglo XVII hasta más o menos nuestros días. Es muy interesante la perspectiva de los primeros relatos en la que vamos conociendo los diferentes puntos de vista, los conquistadores y colonizadores, pasando por los misioneros que eran quienes tenían la vara de mando y a través de ellos y tomando el punto de partida de un dato histórico determinado, construye toda una historia en el que personaje principal, un esclavo, llámese Zion o Juan Rodrigues o Carmel nos presentan ese esa otra perspectiva que en la mayoría de los casos nos había llegado siempre sesgada por ese punto de vista del hombre colonizador blanco. Es a través de esta construcción de personajes pequeños que reviven gracias a la pluma del autor, cuando sentimos que han existido de verdad, que han sido absolutamente reales.
"Ahora que miraba a Joao Baptista a los ojos, consideró que en realidad nunca le había observado, nunca antes le había visto. El rostro poseía una familiaridad cristalina, pero no por una observación continuada; era como si hubiera atisbado esa cara en otra parte, en un espejo interior, y lo visto durante su estancia en la casa hubiera sido mero perfil, una máscara, una sombra."
(...)
"Como mujer u hombre era, consideró D´Azevedo, arrebatador. Los ojos que parecían brotar de las pupilas, estaban fijos en los de D´Azevedo. Éste tuvo que desviar la mirada, hacia sus libros, para poner en orden sus ideas."
En este aspecto, los cuatro primeros relatos de este texto, me han parecido absolutamente maravillosos, en particular “La extraña historia de Nuestra Señora de las Penas” porque aquí el autor se detiene en estos primeros fragores de la esclavitud y construye una atmósfera envolvente a través de una prosa que de alguna forma captura también la narrativa de la época. En "Nuestra Señora de las Peñas", Carmel una esclava huérfana viaja desde una plantación de Haití hasta un monasterio de Kentucky y a través de esta niña, más tarde mujer, Keene construye una especie de relato gótico en el que somos testigos de la búsqueda de identidad de una esclava que tiene un conflicto entre aceptar las reglas de un sistema y en el que ella es Nadie, y su propia evolución como individuo, como mujer, en el que ni el más mínimo deseo o expresión artistica le es permitida. Ya digo que solo por este relato largo, de algo más de cien páginas ya merece la pena leer esta Contranarrativas.
"Carmel se había acostumbrado al aislamiento y la soledad en Valdoré y valoraba cada momento lejos de Eugénie como una oportunidad para aprender y cultivarse. A cualquier coste: a las demás esclavas las ofendía que no durmiera con ellas, les ofendía su altura, que le confería un aire amazónico; su compostura, que interpretaban como arrogancia; les ofendía su afán por los libros, que les parecía pretencioso..."
John Keene tiene un talento especial para controlar el ritmo y para la atmósfera sincronizando esta prosa con la época que nos está contando en cada relato; no le importa experimentar, arriesgarse y hay momentos en que el lector puede visualizar perfectamente esas imágenes, como el del relato "Acrobatique", prácticamente construido con una única frase hipnótica y envolvente en el que se narra el encuentro de una trapecista con el pintor Degas que la acabará inmortalizando en el cuadro “Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando”, y así cada uno de los relatos contendrán algo que los hará enormemente valiosos y se quedarán grabados en la memoria.
"Quieres hablar. Lo estás pidiendo a gritos. Aquí estoy. Hay cosas que nunca se olvidan, no importa cuánto te esfuerces. Echan raíces, se quedan, dijiste tú una vez. No puedes olvidarlas, diría yo."
A partir de estos primeros cuatro relatos, el texto se va reconvirtiendo, deconstruyendo, experimentando tanto narrativa como argumentalmente y en los sucesivos relatos, nuevos personajes irán apareciendo, nuevos atisbos de datos históricos que irán desglosándose en nuevas historias personales, interrumpidas algunas, fugazmente intuídas en otras, pero siempre lo que pretende el autor es que veamos lo inquietante y perturbador que puede resultar que nuestras ideas preconcebidas se vayan al cubo de la basura, porque lo que nos habían contado hasta ahora no era real, lo que de verdad importa son esas pequeñas historias personales, la esencia del ser humano que ha quedado totalmente enterrada por la historia. Un texto que es una joya y durante su lectura lo leí con el Bloom de Beach House de fondo, no tienen nada que ver pero sí...
La traducción es de José Luis Amores.
"Claro que hay Infiernos e infiernos, lo que constituye una afirmación banal donde las haya, pues hay niveles de horror, de horrores, que todos presenciamos y vivimos a veces en propia carne, a menudo indirectamente, y es la inmediatez del horror, su sublimidad y nuestra incapacidad para reflexionar sobre ello, aunque no se nos borre de la memoria, lo que da forma a nuestro sentido de infierno, o Infierno, particular."
https://kansasbooks.blogspot.com/2022/07/contranarrativas-de-john-keene.html
kingkong's review
5.0
This book is about the black experience and freedom and a lot of other things and it's surprisingly varied. "The Aeronaut" was my favorite
arirang's review
4.0
Within the context shaped by a musket barrel, is there any ethical responsibility besides silence, resistance and cunning?
Another book drawn to my attention via the wonderful Republic of Consciousness Prize and another thought provoking and worthwhile book.
Generally speaking I don't like to read too many reviews before I read a book, but this was one where doing so certainly added to my appreciation. Indeed I was struggling to really appreciate the book until I did e.g. I hadn't appreciated that the first story, Mannahatta, was based on the real-life tale of Juan Rodriquez the first documented non-Native American to live on Manhattan Island. The link is to the original version of the Keene's story from TriQuarterly, the literary magazine of Northwestern University.
So for the interested reader of this novel here are some of the reviews I found very helpful (and which will be more illuminating than my review):
http://www.musicandliterature.org/reviews/2015/6/17/john-keenes-counternarratives
http://www.kenyonreview.org/kr-online-issue/2016-spring/selections/counternarratives-by-john-keene-738439/
http://www.bookforum.com/review/14768
https://brickmag.com/the-review-counternarratives-by-john-keene/
https://www.thenation.com/article/literature-as-map-to-liberty/
http://www.full-stop.net/2015/07/30/reviews/patrick-disselhorst/counternarratives-john-keene/
Counternarratives is a collection of thematically linked and chronologically ordered stories/novellas, spanning 400 years of history from the early 17th Century. These are rooted in period detail and research but as the title suggests, also offer alternative, even subversive, takes on the conventional telling of American history, particularly focusing on the perspective of black characters whose perspective, indeed their right to have a perspective of their own, is so often absent.
So examples include for aforementioned Mannahatta, where Keene focuses on the reasons why Rodriguez, who was deemed a “black rascal” by them for his actions, chose to abandon the ship of Dutch traders on which he served as a crewmember and translator, thereby providing a different take on the origins of New York.
Similarly, “An Outtake from the Ideological Origins of the American Revolution”, is the story of a slave set in and around Boston. At one point having been captured and on trial not only for his crimes but for his defiance of the social order, he re-escapes captivity and the noose, but the report of the authorities casually mentions:
given the severity of the crimes and the necessity of preserving the ruling order, another Negro, whose particular crimes are not recorded, was hanged in the Worcester Town Square.
Again Keene's retelling implicitly reminds us that, whatever the impositions of the colonial authorities which led to the American revolution, the treatment by them of their slave population, even if the supposedly more enlightened North, was an order of magnitude worse.
The story that will probably resonate most for many readers is Rivers, an update to [b:The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn|2956|The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn|Mark Twain|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1405973850s/2956.jpg|1835605], from the perspective of James Alton Rivers, Jim the escaped slave in the original (where he was not even dignified with a surname). Jim, now a tavern owner, has a chance re-encounter with Huck and Tom Sawyer, and the story allows Keene to show us the logic of how the characters lives and personalities might have developed in later adult life, with Tom, in particular, now a full-blown racist:
You’d better watch yourself, Jim, you hear me? Good thing we know you but walking these streets like they belong to you, and they don’t to no nigger, no matter what some of you might think these days, so watch it, cause the time’ll come when even the good people like me and Huck here have had enough.
and the story ends with a twist when Huck and James have a further re-encounter: on the civil war battlefield.
The form of the narratives is also varied and original and adds to the effect. "Gloss on A History of Roman Catholics in the Early American Republic, 1790-1825; Or the Strange History of Our Lady of the Sorrows”, is the story of Carmel a highly intelligent young bondswoman, serving Eugenie in an early Catholic convent school in Kentucky. Eugenie is the surviving daughter of the white family Carmel originally served in Haiti, now orphaned after her parents were killed in the The Haitian Revolution.
The story is printed a long footnote to a brief excerpt from the early history of the Catholic Church in America, and interspersed in the narrative we have excerpts from Carmel's diaries written initially in pidgin English, an extract from an official report from the Convent, and periodic interludes on “the role of duty.” And as the narrative progresses, Carmel learns far more from the school lessons than her companion, her English ultimately evolving so that she takes over the narrative in the first person:
Though I still read just before going to sleep and maintained my journal, my entries now tending towards a brevity so extreme that sometimes only a word or two, at most a sentence, resonant for my memory and me alone, would suffice, and I filled whatever space remained with minute line drawings of my fellow bondswoman, of the animals, of the grounds; and with caricatures of the nuns, the white girls, and the glimpses I had gotten of he townspeople and of the convent's visitors
...
I seldom undertook the more elaborate drawings that had been my regular practice since arriving with Eugenie, through which from time to time I would extract the journals in which I'd drafted them, documents I kept carefully hidden in a storage space underneath he head of my cot, which I had dig out over a period of months and re-covered with a large paving stone, to review them, usually with a bit of bemusement at the queer constellation of imagery and significance that I had developed - what on earth or in the heavens had I been thinking? - and with admiration that, despite all the constraints I had faced, from lack of materials to disapproval to potential punishment, I had produced so much and, I was not ashamed to say, of such a high quality.
One of the interludes on “the role of duty” contains the perhaps the most powerful single line in the book:
Within the context shaped by a musket barrel, is there any ethical responsibility besides silence, resistance and cunning?
I am indebted to the review from The Nation for the observation that this is a version of Stephen Dedalus's line from [b:A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man|7588|A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man|James Joyce|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388201200s/7588.jpg|3298883]: I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defence the only arms I allow myself to use—silence, exile, and cunning.” The contrast between exile and resistance being highly telling - the slave already lives in exile from their homeland: resistance is the only path.
And this is another of the books themes. Keene's characters are far from passive victims, typically seizing the initiative and dominating their nominal masters. Interestingly Keene also choses to give some of the characters the spiritual powers that other often attribute fearfully to them as black magic, so e.g. Carmel often finds herself seized to draw elaborate murals of tumultuous events that are about to happen (usually to the detriment of those who oppress her): indeed she herself isn't clear if her drawings foretell the events or precipitate them.
Two reservations about an otherwise excellent book:
One issue for the (or at least this) British reader is that the book is a little rooted in the specifics of the US historical perspective. As mentioned above, I didn't get the reference to Juan Rodriquez, as someone descended from the losing side I didn't need convincing of the de-merits of the American revolution, and Huckleberry Finn is much less canonical on this side of the pond, meaning debunking it has far less resonance.
Secondly, as my reference to other reviews may suggest, this is a book best enjoyed in terms of the thoughts in provokes and discussing the themes than perhaps the actual reading experience itself.
Nevertheless an important and worthwhile book.
Another book drawn to my attention via the wonderful Republic of Consciousness Prize and another thought provoking and worthwhile book.
Generally speaking I don't like to read too many reviews before I read a book, but this was one where doing so certainly added to my appreciation. Indeed I was struggling to really appreciate the book until I did e.g. I hadn't appreciated that the first story, Mannahatta, was based on the real-life tale of Juan Rodriquez the first documented non-Native American to live on Manhattan Island. The link is to the original version of the Keene's story from TriQuarterly, the literary magazine of Northwestern University.
So for the interested reader of this novel here are some of the reviews I found very helpful (and which will be more illuminating than my review):
http://www.musicandliterature.org/reviews/2015/6/17/john-keenes-counternarratives
http://www.kenyonreview.org/kr-online-issue/2016-spring/selections/counternarratives-by-john-keene-738439/
http://www.bookforum.com/review/14768
https://brickmag.com/the-review-counternarratives-by-john-keene/
https://www.thenation.com/article/literature-as-map-to-liberty/
http://www.full-stop.net/2015/07/30/reviews/patrick-disselhorst/counternarratives-john-keene/
Counternarratives is a collection of thematically linked and chronologically ordered stories/novellas, spanning 400 years of history from the early 17th Century. These are rooted in period detail and research but as the title suggests, also offer alternative, even subversive, takes on the conventional telling of American history, particularly focusing on the perspective of black characters whose perspective, indeed their right to have a perspective of their own, is so often absent.
So examples include for aforementioned Mannahatta, where Keene focuses on the reasons why Rodriguez, who was deemed a “black rascal” by them for his actions, chose to abandon the ship of Dutch traders on which he served as a crewmember and translator, thereby providing a different take on the origins of New York.
Similarly, “An Outtake from the Ideological Origins of the American Revolution”, is the story of a slave set in and around Boston. At one point having been captured and on trial not only for his crimes but for his defiance of the social order, he re-escapes captivity and the noose, but the report of the authorities casually mentions:
given the severity of the crimes and the necessity of preserving the ruling order, another Negro, whose particular crimes are not recorded, was hanged in the Worcester Town Square.
Again Keene's retelling implicitly reminds us that, whatever the impositions of the colonial authorities which led to the American revolution, the treatment by them of their slave population, even if the supposedly more enlightened North, was an order of magnitude worse.
The story that will probably resonate most for many readers is Rivers, an update to [b:The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn|2956|The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn|Mark Twain|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1405973850s/2956.jpg|1835605], from the perspective of James Alton Rivers, Jim the escaped slave in the original (where he was not even dignified with a surname). Jim, now a tavern owner, has a chance re-encounter with Huck and Tom Sawyer, and the story allows Keene to show us the logic of how the characters lives and personalities might have developed in later adult life, with Tom, in particular, now a full-blown racist:
You’d better watch yourself, Jim, you hear me? Good thing we know you but walking these streets like they belong to you, and they don’t to no nigger, no matter what some of you might think these days, so watch it, cause the time’ll come when even the good people like me and Huck here have had enough.
and the story ends with a twist when Huck and James have a further re-encounter: on the civil war battlefield.
The form of the narratives is also varied and original and adds to the effect. "Gloss on A History of Roman Catholics in the Early American Republic, 1790-1825; Or the Strange History of Our Lady of the Sorrows”, is the story of Carmel a highly intelligent young bondswoman, serving Eugenie in an early Catholic convent school in Kentucky. Eugenie is the surviving daughter of the white family Carmel originally served in Haiti, now orphaned after her parents were killed in the The Haitian Revolution.
The story is printed a long footnote to a brief excerpt from the early history of the Catholic Church in America, and interspersed in the narrative we have excerpts from Carmel's diaries written initially in pidgin English, an extract from an official report from the Convent, and periodic interludes on “the role of duty.” And as the narrative progresses, Carmel learns far more from the school lessons than her companion, her English ultimately evolving so that she takes over the narrative in the first person:
Though I still read just before going to sleep and maintained my journal, my entries now tending towards a brevity so extreme that sometimes only a word or two, at most a sentence, resonant for my memory and me alone, would suffice, and I filled whatever space remained with minute line drawings of my fellow bondswoman, of the animals, of the grounds; and with caricatures of the nuns, the white girls, and the glimpses I had gotten of he townspeople and of the convent's visitors
...
I seldom undertook the more elaborate drawings that had been my regular practice since arriving with Eugenie, through which from time to time I would extract the journals in which I'd drafted them, documents I kept carefully hidden in a storage space underneath he head of my cot, which I had dig out over a period of months and re-covered with a large paving stone, to review them, usually with a bit of bemusement at the queer constellation of imagery and significance that I had developed - what on earth or in the heavens had I been thinking? - and with admiration that, despite all the constraints I had faced, from lack of materials to disapproval to potential punishment, I had produced so much and, I was not ashamed to say, of such a high quality.
One of the interludes on “the role of duty” contains the perhaps the most powerful single line in the book:
Within the context shaped by a musket barrel, is there any ethical responsibility besides silence, resistance and cunning?
I am indebted to the review from The Nation for the observation that this is a version of Stephen Dedalus's line from [b:A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man|7588|A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man|James Joyce|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388201200s/7588.jpg|3298883]: I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defence the only arms I allow myself to use—silence, exile, and cunning.” The contrast between exile and resistance being highly telling - the slave already lives in exile from their homeland: resistance is the only path.
And this is another of the books themes. Keene's characters are far from passive victims, typically seizing the initiative and dominating their nominal masters. Interestingly Keene also choses to give some of the characters the spiritual powers that other often attribute fearfully to them as black magic, so e.g. Carmel often finds herself seized to draw elaborate murals of tumultuous events that are about to happen (usually to the detriment of those who oppress her): indeed she herself isn't clear if her drawings foretell the events or precipitate them.
Two reservations about an otherwise excellent book:
One issue for the (or at least this) British reader is that the book is a little rooted in the specifics of the US historical perspective. As mentioned above, I didn't get the reference to Juan Rodriquez, as someone descended from the losing side I didn't need convincing of the de-merits of the American revolution, and Huckleberry Finn is much less canonical on this side of the pond, meaning debunking it has far less resonance.
Secondly, as my reference to other reviews may suggest, this is a book best enjoyed in terms of the thoughts in provokes and discussing the themes than perhaps the actual reading experience itself.
Nevertheless an important and worthwhile book.
miguel's review
5.0
An unbelievable book. Whether "counternarrating" Mark Twain's fiction, the American Revolution, Rampersad's biography of Langston Hughes, a painting of Degas's, or Santayana's Persons and Places, Keene writes with incredible precision, artistry, and beauty. Counternarratives is as miraculous as Burunbana's letter.