The Conjure Woman (new edition)

An early slave narrative, a skilfully woven satire on the stereotypes of plantation life and the apparently beneficent white owner. Told as a series of gentle fables, in the style of Aesop.

With a new introduction, The Conjure Woman is a collection of stories first published in 1899, regarded as a seminal work of African-American literature. Its fantastical tales of plantation life subverted the then racial stereotypes of the gracious slaveowner and their ignorant slaves who enjoyed the patronage of a caring master.

Featuring a new introduction for this new edition, The Conjure Woman is probably Chesnutt's most powerful work, a collection of stories set in post-war North Carolina. The main character is Uncle Julius, a former slave, who entertains a white couple from the North with fantastic tales of antebellum plantation life. Julius tells of supernatural phenomenon, hauntings, transfiguration, and conjuring, which were typical of Southern African-American folk tales at the time. Uncle Julius tells the stories in a way that speaks beyond his immediate audience, offering stories of slavery and inequality that are, to the enlightened reader, obviously wrong. The tales are fabulistic, like those of Uncle Remus or Aesop, with carefully crafted allegories on the psychological and social effects of slavery and racial injustice.

FLAME TREE 451: From mystery to crime, supernatural to horror and myth, fantasy and science fiction, Flame Tree 451 offers a healthy diet of werewolves and robots, mad scientists, secret worlds, lost civilizations and escapist fantasies. Discover a storehouse of tales, ancient and modern gathered specifically for the reader of the fantastic. The Foundations titles also explore the roots of modern fiction and brings together neglected works which deserve a wider readership as part of a series of classic, essential books.