Riassunto
Riassunto di La donna dei sortilegi
A chi è rivolto
For readers who love folk tales, American history, and sly narrators, and anyone curious about how Black writers answered the myth of the happy plantation.
Che cos’è questo libro
The Conjure Woman is a collection of seven stories by Charles W. Chesnutt, published in 1899. Chesnutt was a Black lawyer and writer who grew up in North Carolina and Ohio. He wrote these tales for readers who knew slavery mostly from sentimental fiction and who expected the Old South to look gentle. The stories are set on a North Carolina vineyard after the Civil War. A Northern white couple, John and Annie, move south for her health, and there they meet Uncle Julius McAdoo, a formerly enslaved man who has a story ready for every occasion.
Each tale is a story within a story. Julius speaks of the old plantation days, of masters and overseers, of families torn apart, and of conjure, the folk magic of the enslaved South. John tells you what he makes of it, and he does not always see what Julius is up to. What you get is seven tales that are funny, eerie and often cruel, and a lesson in how a storyteller can turn charm into a tool. Let us start with the frame, where a Northern couple and an old man meet over a vineyard.
In questo riassunto
- 1A Northern couple meets Uncle JuliusFree
- 2A vineyard is goophered and a man pays
- 3Conjure shields families from the master's power
- 4A cruel master learns what it is like
- 5What the tales say about power and survival
- 6How the voice and the frame work
Punto chiave 1 di 6
A Northern couple meets Uncle Julius
The frame story begins with John, a man from Ohio who has money to invest and a wife in poor health. Annie's doctors say a warmer climate will help her. So the couple travel to North Carolina, look over the land near Patesville, and decide to buy an old vineyard. John sees a business chance in grapes and wine. He thinks of himself as practical and fair-minded.
On the property they find Uncle Julius McAdoo, an elderly Black man who has lived there for most of his life. Julius is polite, shrewd and full of talk. He knows every vine, every cabin and every rumor about the place. John notices that Julius seems to profit from the grapes in some small way, and he is not sure he likes it.
The tale telling follows a pattern. Something happens in the present, such as a plan to build, to hire, or to change the land. Julius then settles in and says he knows a story about that very thing. The story takes the listeners back to the days of slavery, to Mars Dugal and other masters, and to the conjure woman whose spells shaped life on the plantation.
The pattern matters because it gives Julius a voice and a quiet kind of power. John holds the money and the deed. Julius holds the memory, and he knows how to make memory work for him. Annie, who is kinder and more curious than her husband, often hears more in the stories than John does.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Uncle Julius McAdoo
- A formerly enslaved storyteller, Julius knows the vineyard and shares plantation tales with its Northern buyers, John and Annie.
- John
- Annie's practical husband, John is a Northern businessman who listens skeptically to Julius's tales about the plantation.
- Annie
- John's wife, Annie moves south for her health and listens more sympathetically than her husband to Julius.
- Aunt Peggy
- A conjure woman in Julius's plantation tales, Aunt Peggy supplies spells to people seeking help or advantage.
- Mars Dugal McAdoo
- The vineyard's slaveholding master in Julius's account, Mars Dugal McAdoo treats the people he enslaves as sources of profit.
- Henry
- An enslaved man on Mars Dugal McAdoo's plantation, Henry unknowingly eats grapes from the enchanted vineyard.
- Sandy
- A skilled enslaved worker and Tenie's husband, Sandy is repeatedly sent away by his master.
- Tenie
- Sandy's loving wife, Tenie practices conjure and seeks a way to keep her husband close.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 59,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 3 h 55 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 11 other languages
Questions about La donna dei sortilegi
What is The Conjure Woman about?
It is a collection of seven tales told by Uncle Julius McAdoo, a formerly enslaved man, to a Northern couple who buy a vineyard in North Carolina. The tales deal with slavery, family, and conjure, the folk magic of the enslaved South.
Who is Uncle Julius in The Conjure Woman?
Julius McAdoo is an elderly Black man who lives near the vineyard and tells stories of plantation days. He is a clever storyteller who often uses a tale to influence what John and Annie decide in the present.
What does goophered mean in The Conjure Woman?
To goopher something is to put a conjure spell on it. In the first tale, a grapevine is goophered by Aunt Peggy so that anyone who eats its grapes will sicken and die.
When was The Conjure Woman written, and is it a true story?
Charles W. Chesnutt published it in 1899. The tales are fiction, but they draw on African American folk tales and on the real history of slavery in North Carolina, which Chesnutt knew well.
Is The Conjure Woman hard to read?
No. Each tale arrives in a small, clear frame: something happens, Uncle Julius says he knows a story about it, and then he tells it. Seven short tales, each with its own spell and lesson, and John's plain narration explains the scene.