Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

«Formidabel lesefest på 900 sider! Råsterk og lettlest roman om det afrikanskamerikanske folkets livsbetingelser med slaveri og rasisme i århundrer. (...) Det har blitt en fantastisk fortelling, ambisiøs og bejaende, horribel og vakker. En storslått, episk roman som med sine mange hundre sider aldri er kjedelig. Rett og slett en bragd i et nydelig og knivskarpt språk.» Stein Roll, Adresseavisen (Terningkast 6) Helt fra Ailey Pearl Garfield var liten, har hun tilbrakt somrene sine på en tidligere bomullsplantasje i sørstatsbyen Chicasetta. Her har familien hennes bodd helt siden forfedrene deres kom fra Afrika som slaver, og her bor nå bestemoren i huset som tidligere tilhørte plantasjeeieren. Gjennom besøkene konfronteres Ailey med familiens sterke og ofte tragiske fortellinger. Både hun og søstrene tynges av traumer som har fulgt slektens kvinner gjennom generasjoner. For å forsone seg med sin egen identitet og for å finne sin plass verden, dykker Ailey ned i sin egenfamiliehistorie. Her oppdager hun en arv som ikke bare består av undertrykkelse, men også av frihetskamp og uavhengighet, av grusomhet, men også motstand. Det er en arv som forteller henne historien - og sangen - om selve Amerika «En ambisiøs, opprivende og medrivende roman om svartes livsvilkår i USAs historie ... W.E.B. Du Bois' kjærlighetssanger er virkelig en storslått og rik fortelling, skrevet av en forfatter med full kontroll over sitt språk og sine virkemidler. De lange historiske linjene som strekes opp underveis, gir romanen et ambisjonsnivå vi sjelden ser i den norske samtidslitteraturen. I tillegg er den utmerket oversatt av Vibeke Saugestad.» Preben Jordal, Aftenposten «... et lærerikt og leseverdig kapittel i den store fortellingen om USA.» Bjørn Ivar Fyksen, Klassekampen «Den er blytung, en svir å lese, den er god og vond på samme tid. Litteratur skal berøre, denne romanen gjør nettopp det. (...) Mye litteratur, både skjønn- og sakprosalitteratur, er skrevet om så vel slaveriet som utdrivelsen av urbefolkningen. Men svært få bøker er skrevet som rommer begge deler i en og samme historie. Denne romanen gjør det. Og det gjør den så spesiell, så viktig.» Jan Erik Østlie, FriFagbevegelse.no

«Formidabel lesefest på 900 sider! Råsterk og lettlest roman om det afrikanskamerikanske folkets livsbetingelser med slaveri og rasisme i århundrer. (...) Det har blitt en fantastisk fortelling, ambisiøs og bejaende, horribel og vakker. En storslått, episk roman som med sine mange hundre sider aldri er kjedelig. Rett og slett en bragd i et nydelig og knivskarpt språk.» Stein Roll, Adresseavisen (Terningkast 6)Helt fra Ailey Pearl Garfield var liten, har hun tilbragt somrene sine på en tidligere bomullsplantasjei sørstatsbyen Chicasetta. Her har familien hennes bodd helt siden forfedrene deres kom fra Afrika som slaver, og her bor nå bestemoren i huset som tidligere tilhørte plantasjeeieren. Gjennom besøkene konfronteres Ailey med familiens sterke og ofte tragiske fortellinger. Både hun og søstrene tynges av traumer som har fulgt slektens kvinner gjennom generasjoner. For å forsone seg med sin egen identitet og for å finne sin plass verden, dykker Ailey ned i sin egenfamiliehistorie. Her oppdager hun en arv som ikke bare består av undertrykkelse, men også av frihetskamp og uavhengighet, av grusomhet, men også motstand. Det er en arv som forteller henne historien - og sangen - om selve Amerika«En ambisiøs, opprivende og medrivende roman om svartes livsvilkår i USAs historie ... W.E.B. Du Bois' kjærlighetssanger er virkelig en storslått og rik fortelling, skrevet av en forfatter med full kontroll over sitt språk og sine virkemidler. De lange historiske linjene som strekes opp underveis, gir romanen et ambisjonsnivå vi sjelden ser i den norske samtidslitteraturen. I tillegg er den utmerket oversatt av Vibeke Saugestad.» Preben Jordal, Aftenposten«... et lærerikt og leseverdig kapittel i den store fortellingen om USA.» Bjørn Ivar Fyksen, Klassekampen«Den er blytung, en svir å lese, den er god og vond på samme tid. Litteratur skal berøre, denne romanen gjør nettopp det. (...) Mye litteratur, både skjønn- og sakprosalitteratur, er skrevet om så vel slaveriet som utdrivelsen av urbefolkningen. Men svært få bøker er skrevet som rommer begge deler i en og samme historie. Denne romanen gjør det. Og det gjør den så spesiell, så viktig.» Jan Erik Østlie, FriFagbevegelse.no

The New York Times-bestselling, National Book Award-nominated author of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois and The Age of Phillis makes her nonfiction debut with this personal and thought-provoking work that explores the journeys and possibilities of Black women throughout American history and in contemporary times. Honor e Fanonne Jeffers is at a crossroads.Traditional African/Black American cultures present the crossroads as a place of simultaneous difficulty and possibility. In contemporary times, Kimberl Crenshaw coined the phrase "intersectionality" to explain the unique position of Black women in America. In many ways, they are at a third crossroads: attempting to fit into notions of femininity and respectability primarily assigned to White women, while inventing improvisational strategies to combat oppression.In Misbehaving at the Crossroads, Jeffers explores the emotional and historical tensions in Black women's public lives and her own private life. She charts voyages of Black girlhood to womanhood and the currents buffeting these journeys, including the difficulties of racially gendered oppression, the challenges of documenting Black women's ancestry; the adultification of Black girls; the irony of Black female respectability politics; the origins of Womanism/Black feminism; and resistance to White supremacy and patriarchy. As Jeffers shows with empathy and wisdom, naming difficult historical truths represents both Blues and transcendence, a crossroads that speaks.Necessary and sharply observed, provocative and humane, and full of the insight and brilliance that has characterized her poetry and fiction, Misbehaving at the Crossroads illustrates the life of one extraordinary Black woman--and her extraordinary foremothers.

En av de senaste årens mest hyllade amerikanska romaner»Den nästan 900 sidor långa berättelsen är oavbrutet intressant, angelägen, välskriven, lättillgänglig och utmärkt översatt till svenska.« Betyg: 5 av 5 - Helene Ehriander, BTJ»Jag bara älskar denna bok!« Betyg: 5 av 5 - Books of Magnus»En djup & fullkomligt uppslukande läsupplevelse.« The ObserverHistorikern och sociologen W. E . B. Du Bois, den förste afroamerikanen att inneha en doktorsgrad, skrev om rasproblemet i USA och vad han kallade dubbelt medvetande - en sorts sensibilitet som afroamerikaner tvingas tillägna sig för att kunna överleva. Ailey Pearl Garfield förstår Du Bois ord alltför väl. Hon har alltid kämpat med sin tillhörighet, något som försvårats dels av ett överhängande trauma, dels av kvinnornas viskningar: hennes mamma, syster, hela den tvåhundraåriga arvslinje som uppmanar Ailey att lyckas i deras ställe. För att komma till rätta med sin identitet påbörjar Ailey en resa genom familjens förflutna. Hon uppdagar skakande berättelser om generationer i den amerikanska Södern, om svarta, vita och ursprungsamerikaner. Ailey tvingas omfamna hela sitt arv: en historia om förtryck och motstånd, fångenskap och oberoende, grymhet och livskraft. En historia som också är berättelsen - och sången - om Amerika självt.I översättning av Helena Hansson.HONORÉE FANONNE JEFFERS [f. 1967] är en amerikansk poet, författare och professor i engelska vid University of Oklahoma. W. E. B. Du Bois kärlekssånger är Jeffers romandebut, en stor amerikansk generationsskildring som har hyllats av kritikerna, nominerats till en rad priser och valts ut till Oprahs bokklubb. Boken blev en omedelbar New York Times och USA Today bestseller.»En upplevelse utöver det vanliga.« Epiloger»En fantastisk roman.« People »En triumf.« Veronica Chambers, New York Times Book Review

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER AN OPRAH BOOK CLUB PICK ‘Deeply moving’ Sarah Winman, author of Still Life ‘Remarkable’ Afua Hirsch, author of Brit(ish) ‘A sweeping epic … Outstanding’ Daily Mail Immerse yourself in a celebration of Black womanhood and an epic tale of the stories that span generations. Ailey Pearl Garfield grows up between the City in the north and summers spent in her mother’s small hometown of Chicasetta, Georgia. From an early age, she finds herself in a battle for belonging that’s made all the more difficult by a hurt in her past, as well as the whispers of women—her mother, Belle, her sister, Lydia, and a maternal line reaching back two centuries—that urge Ailey to succeed in their stead. To come to terms with her identity, Ailey embarks on a journey through her family’s past, uncovering the shocking tales of generations of ancestors—Indigenous, Black, and white—in the deep South. In doing so Ailey must learn to embrace her full heritage, a legacy of oppression and resistance, bondage and independence, cruelty and resilience that is the story—and the song—of America itself. ‘Mesmerising… magnificent’ Independent ‘Astonishing… A great work infused with love and honesty’ Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple ‘Gripping, gorgeous. A sweeping family saga that is also history at its most intimate and vital’ Stef Penney, author of The Tenderness of Wolves LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION • SHORTLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE • LONGLISTED FOR THE ASPEN LITERARY PRIZE 20 Highest Rated Books on Goodreads 2025 • New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year • Time 10 Best Books of the Year • Washington Post 10 Best Books of the Year • People 10 Best Books of the Year • Booklist 10 Best First Novels of the Year

A Kirkus "Best Book of the 21st Century"An instant New York Times, Washington Post and USA Today Bestseller - AN OPRAH BOOK CLUB SELECTION - ONE OF THE ATLANTIC'S "GREAT AMERICAN NOVELS" - BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2021 - WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR FICTIONA BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: New York Times - Time - Washington Post - Oprah Daily - People - Boston Globe - BookPage - Booklist - Kirkus - Atlanta Journal-Constitution - Chicago Public Library Finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel - Longlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction - Finalist for the Kirkus Prize for Fiction - Nominee for the NAACP Image Award"Epic. . . . I was just enraptured by the lineage and the story of this modern African-American family. . . . I've never read anything quite like it. It just consumed me." --Oprah WinfreyThe NAACP Image Award-winning poet makes her fiction debut with this magisterial epic--an intimate yet sweeping novel with all the luminescence and force of Homegoing; Sing, Unburied, Sing; and The Water Dancer--that chronicles the journey of one American family, from the centuries of the colonial slave trade through the Civil War to our own tumultuous era. The great scholar, W. E. B. Du Bois, once wrote about the Problem of race in America, and what he called "Double Consciousness," a sensitivity that every African American possesses in order to survive. Since childhood, Ailey Pearl Garfield has understood Du Bois's words all too well. Bearing the names of two formidable Black Americans--the revered choreographer Alvin Ailey and her great grandmother Pearl, the descendant of enslaved Georgians and tenant farmers--Ailey carries Du Bois's Problem on her shoulders.Ailey is reared in the north in the City but spends summers in the small Georgia town of Chicasetta, where her mother's family has lived since their ancestors arrived from Africa in bondage. From an early age, Ailey fights a battle for belonging that's made all the more difficult by a hovering trauma, as well as the whispers of women--her mother, Belle, her sister, Lydia, and a maternal line reaching back two centuries--that urge Ailey to succeed in their stead.To come to terms with her own identity, Ailey embarks on a journey through her family's past, uncovering the shocking tales of generations of ancestors--Indigenous, Black, and white--in the deep South. In doing so Ailey must learn to embrace her full heritage, a legacy of oppression and resistance, bondage and independence, cruelty and resilience that is the story--and the song--of America itself.

The 2020 National Book Award-nominated poet makes her fiction debut with this magisterial epic--an intimate yet sweeping novel with all the luminescence and force of Homegoing; Sing, Unburied, Sing; and The Water Dancer--that chronicles the journey of one American family, from the centuries of the colonial slave trade through the Civil War to our own tumultuous era.The great scholar, W. E. B. Du Bois, once wrote about the Problem of race in America, and what he called "Double Consciousness," a sensitivity that every African American possesses in order to survive. Since childhood, Ailey Pearl Garfield has understood Du Bois's words all too well. Bearing the names of two formidable Black Americans--the revered choreographer Alvin Ailey and her great grandmother Pearl, the descendant of enslaved Georgians and tenant farmers--Ailey carries Du Bois's Problem on her shoulders.Ailey is reared in the north in the City but spends summers in the small Georgia town of Chicasetta, where her mother's family has lived since their ancestors arrived from Africa in bondage. From an early age, Ailey fights a battle for belonging that's made all the more difficult by a hovering trauma, as well as the whispers of women--her mother, Belle, her sister, Lydia, and a maternal line reaching back two centuries--that urge Ailey to succeed in their stead.To come to terms with her own identity, Ailey embarks on a journey through her family's past, uncovering the shocking tales of generations of ancestors--Indigenous, Black, and white--in the deep South. In doing so Ailey must learn to embrace her full heritage, a legacy of oppression and resistance, bondage and independence, cruelty and resilience that is the story--and the song--of America itself.

In 1773, a young, African American woman named Phillis Wheatley Peters published a book of poetry that challenged Western prejudices about African and female intellectual capabilities. Based on fifteen years of archival research, The Age of Phillis, by award-winning writer Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, imagines the life and times of Wheatley: her childhood in the Gambia, West Africa, her life with her white American owners, her friendship with Obour Tanner, and her marriage to the enigmatic John Peters. Woven throughout are poems about Wheatley's "age" - the era that encompassed political, philosophical, and religious upheaval, as well as the transatlantic slave trade. For the first time in verse, Wheatley's relationship to black people and their individual "mercies" is foregrounded, and here we see her as not simply a racial or literary symbol, but a human being who lived and loved while making her indelible mark on history.

A TOP TEN NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERAN OPRAH BOOK CLUB PICKONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVOURITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR'Astonishing... A great work infused with love and honesty' Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple'Deeply moving... it is magnificent' Sarah Winman, author of Still Life

A TOP TEN NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AN OPRAH BOOK CLUB PICK ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVOURITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR ‘Astonishing… A great work infused with love and honesty’ Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple ‘Deeply moving… it is magnificent’ Sarah Winman, author of Still Life Immerse yourself in a celebration of Black womanhood and an epic tale of the stories that span generations. Ailey Pearl Garfield grows up between the City in the north and summers spent in her mother’s small hometown of Chicasetta, Georgia. From an early age, she finds herself in a battle for belonging that’s made all the more difficult by a hurt in her past, as well as the whispers of women—her mother, Belle, her sister, Lydia, and a maternal line reaching back two centuries—that urge Ailey to succeed in their stead. To come to terms with her identity, Ailey embarks on a journey through her family’s past, uncovering the shocking tales of generations of ancestors—Indigenous, Black, and white—in the deep South. In doing so Ailey must learn to embrace her full heritage, a legacy of oppression and resistance, bondage and independence, cruelty and resilience that is the story—and the song—of America itself. ‘Mesmerising… magnificent’ Independent ‘Astonishing… A great work infused with love and honesty’ Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple ‘Gripping, gorgeous. A sweeping family saga that is also history at its most intimate and vital’ Stef Penney, author of The Tenderness of Wolves LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION • SHORTLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE • LONGLISTED FOR THE ASPEN LITERARY PRIZE 20 Highest Rated Books on Goodreads 2025 • New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year • Time 10 Best Books of the Year • Washington Post 10 Best Books of the Year • People 10 Best Books of the Year • Booklist 10 Best First Novels of the Year

A TOP TEN NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERAN OPRAH BOOK CLUB PICKONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVOURITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR'Astonishing... A great work infused with love and honesty' Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple'Deeply moving... it is magnificent' Sarah Winman, author of Still Life

A Kirkus "Best Book of the 21st Century"An instant New York Times, Washington Post and USA Today Bestseller - AN OPRAH BOOK CLUB SELECTION - ONE OF THE ATLANTIC'S "GREAT AMERICAN NOVELS" - BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2021 - WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR FICTIONA BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: New York Times - Time - Washington Post - Oprah Daily - People - Boston Globe - BookPage - Booklist - Kirkus - Atlanta Journal-Constitution - Chicago Public Library Finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel - Longlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction - Finalist for the Kirkus Prize for Fiction - Nominee for the NAACP Image Award"Epic. . . . I was just enraptured by the lineage and the story of this modern African-American family. . . . I've never read anything quite like it. It just consumed me." --Oprah WinfreyThe NAACP Image Award-winning poet makes her fiction debut with this magisterial epic--an intimate yet sweeping novel with all the luminescence and force of Homegoing; Sing, Unburied, Sing; and The Water Dancer--that chronicles the journey of one American family, from the centuries of the colonial slave trade through the Civil War to our own tumultuous era. The great scholar, W. E. B. Du Bois, once wrote about the Problem of race in America, and what he called "Double Consciousness," a sensitivity that every African American possesses in order to survive. Since childhood, Ailey Pearl Garfield has understood Du Bois's words all too well. Bearing the names of two formidable Black Americans--the revered choreographer Alvin Ailey and her great grandmother Pearl, the descendant of enslaved Georgians and tenant farmers--Ailey carries Du Bois's Problem on her shoulders.Ailey is reared in the north in the City but spends summers in the small Georgia town of Chicasetta, where her mother's family has lived since their ancestors arrived from Africa in bondage. From an early age, Ailey fights a battle for belonging that's made all the more difficult by a hovering trauma, as well as the whispers of women--her mother, Belle, her sister, Lydia, and a maternal line reaching back two centuries--that urge Ailey to succeed in their stead.To come to terms with her own identity, Ailey embarks on a journey through her family's past, uncovering the shocking tales of generations of ancestors--Indigenous, Black, and white--in the deep South. In doing so Ailey must learn to embrace her full heritage, a legacy of oppression and resistance, bondage and independence, cruelty and resilience that is the story--and the song--of America itself.

In her third book of poems, Honoree Fanonne Jeffers expresses her familiarity with the actual and imaginary spaces that the American South occupies in our cultural lexicon. Her two earlier books of poetry, ""The Gospel of Barbecue"" and ""Outlandish Blues"", use the blues poetic to explore notions of history and trauma. Now, in ""Red Clay Suite"", Jeffers approaches the southern landscape as utopia and dystopia - a crossroads of race, gender, and blood. These poems signal the ending movement of her crossroads blues and complete the last four ""bars"" of a blues song, resting on the final, and essential, note of resolution and reconciliation.

Fierce and sensual, the poems in Outlandish Blues merge everyday speech with a shimmering lyricism and burst from the page into song. Honorée Fanonne Jeffers sees the blues, what she terms the "shared 'blue notes,''' as an important intersection between the secular and the divine, and between the various African American vernacular traditions, from spirituals to jazz. Part Nina Simone, part Bessie Smith, her poems are filled with a sweaty honesty, moving from the personal to the collective experience. This movement is often accomplished through the use of personae, concentrated here in a stunning series of poems on the Biblical figures of Hagar and Sarah. Whether about a contemporary domestic scene, a slave ship, or Aretha Franklin, these are poems that speak to the soul of experience.