|
|
Post by lemming13 on Oct 23, 2010 10:09:41 GMT
This is not what anyone could call modern horror, but it most certainly is American gothic, southern style, so I thought I might as well put it here. Another of my Gutenberg treasures, The Conjure Woman was originally published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co in 1899. It's basically a kind of Uncle Remus collection, but instead of cutesy tales about rabbits and foxes, this one has darker ones about slave state voodoo. Every story is 'explained away' in the framing narrative, as yet another cunning ploy by ex-slave Uncle Julius to get his own way (much as the old rustic Hobden in Kipling's Puck stories manipulates the landowner), but the stories are in general pretty good. The overall frame is that a Northern Yankee buys up a North Carolina plantation to try his hand at viniculture, and finds Uncle Julius living on the long-abandoned property. He is taken on as a coachman, and the tales arise from various circumstances. The author has attempted to convey the dialect of the Carolina natives, and some might find it irritating, but I didn't have a problem with it. Here's the contents.
The Goophered Grapevine The story of how the original plantation owner also grew grapes and protected them from marauding slaves by getting a conjure woman to put a curse on them; and of a sad victim of the curse.
Po' Sandy How a slave who was to be sold away from the woman he loved, got the conjure woman to turn him into a tree so he could turn back at nights and be with her; and the terrible consequences when his lover was lent to their owner's daughter during the picking of trees for lumber...
Mars Jeem's Nightmare A bit of a heavy-handed anti-slavery story, in which a wicked and cruel master is taught a lesson by the conjure woman.
The Conjuror's Revenge A conjure man turns a slave into a mule in retaliation for an offence.
Sis' Becky's Pickaninny Another heavily anti-slavery piece, this is a genuinely touching story of a slave woman split by her owner from her baby.
The Gray Wolf's Ha'nt The story of a conjure man's revenge when his son is killed in a dispute over a woman.
Hot-Foot Hannibal An attempt by a slave girl to rid herself by conjure work of an unwanted suitor results in tragedy all round.
Appendix: Uncollected Uncle Julius Stories
Dave's Neckliss A rather sad story of a slave wrongly punished for stealing a ham.
A Deep Sleeper Comic tale of an alleged slave Rip van Winkle.
Lonesome Ben The tale of a runaway slave attempting to get to the free north.
Essay: Superstitions and Folklore of the South. A short survey of some of the plantation lore and the hoodoo of the deep south.
|
|
