Underground Railroad

Du même auteur, j'avais beaucoup aimé The Nickel Boys, son roman paru l'année dernière qui parlait d'un pensionnat / centre de rééducation pour adolescents noirs américains qui y subissaient les pires tortures dans les années 1950-1960.

Cela m'a donné envie de plonger dans ses oeuvres précédentes, et notamment ce roman de 2016 consacré à l'esclavagisme dans le Sud des Etats-Unis et des réseaux d'aide aux esclaves évadés.

Nous y suivons Cora, jeune esclave dans une plantation de coton en Géorgie, dans sa tentative d'évasion et sa fuite effrénée, poursuivie par ce que j'ai envie de définir comme un chasseur de primes spécialisé dans la capture d'esclaves en fuite.

Le roman se compose de plusieurs longs chapitres correspondant aux différentes étapes du périple de Cora. Le récit alterne les moments où Cora semble s'installer dans une nouvelle vie loin de son ancienne condition d'esclave, et des passages où l'action s'accélère et où Cora doit fuir à nouveau pour éviter le retour en Géorgie et la mort qui l'y attend à coup sûr en punition.

J'ai bien aimé ce roman, avec sa jolie galerie de personnages secondaires qui aident Cora dans sa fuite. J'ai surtout aimé le discours sur l'esclavage, l'économie de l'esclavagisme dans les Etats du sud, et l'inhumanité de cette condition pour celles et ceux qui l'ont subie. C'est un roman bien ficelé sur l'injustice, sur l'histoire peu glorieuse des Etats-Unis d'Amérique, une histoire qui résonne encore de nos jours lorsqu'on évoque la question raciale.

In seiner Sprache beeindruckend und brutal, aber der Autor schafft es (zumindest bei mir) nicht, echtes Mitgefühl mit den Protagonisten zu erzeugen. Zu Cora entwickelt man keine wirkliche Beziehung, und auch andere - eigentlich zentrale - Charaktere werden nicht auserzählt.

Die Underground Railroad als real existierendes Schienennetz zu schildern, ist eine Entscheidung, die ich nur schwer nachvollziehen kann, außer damit, dass Whitehead schon auf seine Hauptpersonen keine echte Lust hatte und nicht auch noch lange an der Charakterentwicklung etwaiger Fluchthelfer arbeiten wollte.

Zudem wiederholt er ein und dasselbe Stilmittel immer wieder. So beginnt er Kapitel, indem er das (zumeist tragische) Hauptereignis vorwegnimmt, um dann im Nachhinein zu beschreiben, wie es dazu gekommen ist. Das klingt dann (sinngemäß, ohne zu spoilern) ungefähr so: "Der Tag, an dem Darth Vader die Hand Luke Skywalkers abschlug, war zugleich der Tag, an dem er ihm offenbarte, dass er sein Vater war. Nichts deutete darauf hin, dass an diesem Tag etwas Besonderes geschehen würde, bis auf ..."

Nichtsdestotrotz: So ganz unberührt beendet wohl niemand diesen Roman. Aber wirklich mitgerissen hat er mich nicht.

I wanted to like this a lot more than I actually did.

My first sign of trouble was the much vaunted "the underground railroad is an actual railroad!" scene (I'm assuming that is not a spoiler since it is blatantly stated in every single synopsis, though it might have been a better scene if it wasn't?). It smacked of magical realism. Generally, I want to smack magical realism, so I should probably not be surprised that this didn't work for me, but I was still hoping to get some sense of awe from it. I didn't.

Overall, that was my real problem with the book: I didn't feel awe. I didn't feel much of anything. I've had more visceral reactions to textbooks about this time period. One of the "main" characters disappears partway through the book and it's somehow no big deal.

Our main character, Cora, has basically no emotional response to anything that happens throughout the novel. Some extremely horrific stuff happens throughout the novel. It is a novel about slavery. It is a novel about the racism that was common at the time period even of people who were not slave owners. There are murder and executions and beatings and horrible things happening. Cora remains alarmingly aloof from it all.

I'm almost inclined to think that this is somehow an intentional choice, that she is there to serve as author mouthpiece throughout. She has occasional bizarre knowledge (at one point she casually mentions how difficult life is in Ireland at the time period) and while she makes excellent points on several occasions, she makes narrator-style points comparing white life to slavery life aloud to moderately racist people, who never seem to respond. It feels like she's talking to the readers instead of the characters she's interacting with.

Maybe that is all more magical realism--I'll be completely honest and admit I don't get the genre at all--but it didn't work for me. I wanted to be right there with her in this brutal time period, and not only was I not there, she didn't seem to be there most of the time. Everything remained clinical throughout, and with a story like this, set in a time period where everything was horrifying, I was hoping for more.

The actual underground railway of history was a network of abolitionists and freeman, providing sanctuary and transit to slaves on the run, delivering them to the relative safety of the free north. In Colson Whitehead's novel, the railroad takes on physical form; a steam train running under the earth, the stations hidden under the houses of the network's operatives.

I do think it's important to educate yourself on the awfulness of the wholesale slavery of the African people. This book is set after the international slave trade ended but it was clear the plantation owners weren't going to let that stop them. They would just have to start breeding. If this is the first book you've read on the subject (and you didn't watch 12 Years a Slave) expect it to be eye-opening and harrowing.

Life on the Randall plantation was never easy, with rape and floggings part of everyday life. But when the property (which you will soon learn includes people) is left in the hands of the remaining, cruel brother, Cora knows her days are numbered. She's been singled out. Years ago, her mother ran away and never came back, maybe she found the underground railway and is living a life of freedom. Maybe Cora can too.

In a way, the pages are tinged with hope for Cora. She escapes, although her journey is never easy. Whenever she believes she is safe, there is always something round the corner. She experiences paid work, learns to read, but whatever freedom she gains, she remains a prisoner.

As Cora moves between states, the narrative is broken up by sections from other character's perspectives. Usually of those whose paths have crossed Cora's and met their fate. I certainly was not expecting Cora's mother's story to be what it was.

My only gripe about it was the fact I was left not really knowing what was history and what was made up. Colson condenses many aspects of the horror of the antebellum south into Cora's journey. The depiction of eugenics and sterilisation was definitely something that happened, the banning of black people from an entire state, I'm not so sure, although this section has similarities to events in Nazi Germany, so sadly I would not be surprised. I mean it shouldn't matter, but I like learning things from my reading so my flow was interrupted a lot by wanting to look things up.

Each one a state of possibility, with its own customs and way of doing things. Moving through you'll see the breadth of the country before you reach your final stop.

Georgia

Georgia functions like a typical slave state.  There are large plantations that house many slaves.  Cora was born here and has been on her own since her mother escaped when Cora was nine.  All she has of her own is a very small plot of land where she grows some vegetables.  After she violently defends her plot from an interloper, she is an outcast among the slaves.When the master dies and the plantation is in the hands of his sadistic sons, an educated slave convinces Cora to escape with him.  He tells her about the Underground Railroad.  This is a literal railroad underground with stations under houses of abolitionists.  There aren't many stations now.  Service is erratic at best and no trains may come at all.  They run and catch the train.



South Carolina

Slavery is illegal here.  Former slaves are educated and given places to live.  They have jobs and the ability to live a peaceful and productive life.  But there is a strange tension.  There is a feeling of something sinister under the surface of this utopia.

North Carolina

African-Americans are banned here.  Labor is done by immigrants from Europe.  The penalty for an African-American being in the state or a white person helping a black person is death.

Tennessee

Tennessee is dismal and bleak.  The slave catcher finds her here but she escapes with help from some other escapees.

Indiana

In this free state, black people live happily on a prosperous farm but will they be allowed to keep their enclave?This book addresses a lot in a short space.

• The hierarchy of slaves


• Torture


• Slave catchers


• White people reluctant to help to free people


• Black people helping to catch escaping slaves


• What is an ideal society?

My only issue with this book is that there is a jarring change of story structure in Tennessee that took me completely out of the story.  I had to work to get back into it.  I've talked to other people who have read this and they agree that it was strange.  That's the only reason why I'm going with 4.5 stars instead of 5.I loved the idea of making it a literal train and exploring each state as a different form of government.  It lets him examine what might have been after emancipation if different ideas took hold.First come first served This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story