Let Us Descend

Resumen del libro

'Let us descend, and enter his blind world.' Dante's Inferno. Let Us Descend is a reimagining of American slavery, as beautifully rendered as it is heart-wrenching. Searching, harrowing, replete with transcendent love, the novel is a journey from the rice fields of the Carolinas to the slave markets of New Orleans and into the fearsome heart of a Louisiana sugar plantation. Annis, sold south by the white enslaver who fathered her, is the reader's guide through this hellscape. As she struggles through the miles-long march, Annis turns inward, seeking comfort from memories of her mother and stories of her African warrior grandmother. Throughout, she opens herself to a world beyond this world, one teeming with spirits: of earth and water, of myth and history; spirits who nurture and give, and those who manipulate and take. While Ward leads readers through the descent, this, her fourth novel, is ultimately a story of rebirth and reclamation. From one of the most singularly brilliant and beloved writers of her generation, this miracle of a novel inscribes Black American grief and joy into the very land - the rich but unforgiving forests, swamps, and rivers of the American South. Let Us Descend is Jesmyn Ward's most magnificent novel yet, a masterwork for the ages.

Biografía del autor

Nació en DeLisle, Misisipi, en 1977. Es la primera mujer y la primera persona afroamericana en haber recibido en dos ocasiones el National Book Award, el premio literario más importante de Estados Unidos, que ganó con sus novelas Quedan los huesos (2011) y La canción de los vivos y los muertos (Sexto Piso, 2018). También es autora de la novela Where the Line Bleeds y del libro de memorias Men We Reaped , que fue finalista del Premio Nacional de la Crítica. Ha sido también reconocida con la beca MacArthur Genius, una beca Stegner y el Premio de Ficción Estadounidense de la Biblioteca del Congreso en 2022. Este mundo ciego es su cuarta novela. En la actualidad es profesora de escritura creativa en la Universidad de Tulane y vive en Misisipi.