Chancellor's Reading Club
2006 Reading Club Selection
The Chancellor's Reading Club selection for 2006 is The Conjure Woman and Other Conjure Tales, by Charles W. Chesnutt. The edition used is that of Richard H. Brodhead:
- Chesnutt, Charles W. The Conjure Woman and other Conjure Tales. Edited by Richard H. Brodhead. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1993.
About the Author
Charles W. Chesnutt (1858-1932) was one of the first successful African American fiction writers. Chesnutt grew up in Fayetteville and from 1880-1883 served as principal of the State Colored Normal School, from which Fayetteville State University would eventually emerge. More...
About the Editor
Dr. Richard H. Brodhead edited the version of The Conjure Woman selected for the Chancellor's Reading Club. Dr. Brodhead, president of Duke University, is a noted scholar of nineteenth-century American fiction.
- Richard H. Brodhead, "Charles W. Chesnutt: Starting Out in Fayetteville," September 20, 2006. Hear Dr. Brodhead's remarks:
About the Selection
"The stories in The Conjure Woman were Charles W. Chesnutt's first great literary success. Since their initial publication in 1899 the have come to be seen as some of the most remarkable works of African American literature from the Emancipation through the Harlem Renaissance. . .
"In the tradition of Uncle Remus, the conjure tale listens in on a poor black southerner, who recounts in a strong dialect a local incident to a transplanted northener for the northerner's enlightenment and edification. But in Chesnutt's hand the tradition is transfored. No longer a reactionary flight of nostalgia for the antebellum South, the stories in this book celebrate and at the same time question the folk culture they so pungently portray, ultimately conveing the pleasure and anxieties of a world in transition. . . ."
From The Conjure Woman and Other Conjure Tales,
Brodhead ed., jacket
Resources
Visit the Resources page for more information about Charles W. Chesnutt and his works.