In a review for Morning Edition, Price Cobbs says The Known World 'plausibly evokes how slavery made victims of both blacks and whites and still haunts the historical memory of America. Jones' novel has won critical acclaim for its unique and imaginative nature and is a finalist for this year's National Book Awards. 'I decided the people I'd created were real enough and I had just accumulated enough information about what the world was like in the South before 1865 to allow me to lie and get away with it,' he says. Set in antebellum Virginia, it examines issues regarding the ownership of black slaves by free black people as well as by whites. Jones (Author) 13 ratings See all formats and editions Hardcover from 14.42 3 Used from 14.42 3 Collectible from 30.00 Paperback 15.99 10 Used from 5.76 8 New from 15.99 Mass Market Paperback from 14.76 1 Used from 14. Jones By PopMatters Staff / 5 January 2004 In what is likely the best and most important novel about slavery since Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Edward P. Set in Virginia during the antebellum era, it examines the issues regarding the ownership of. Still, the author was able to use his imagination, and stories he had heard growing up, to make his characters come alive. The Known World is a 2003 historical novel by Edward P. The Known World is a 2003 historical novel by Edward P. Jones collected two shelves of books about slavery, but never got around to reading them.

In this installment of The New Canon, Ted Gioia reviews The Known World by Edward P. These books represent the finest literature of the current era, and are gaining recognition as the new classics of our time. 'A sprawling story built around a morally bankrupt social institution,' The Known World is 'a meditation on entrenched evil,' reports Martha Woodroof, of member station WMRA. Jones The New Canon The New Canon focuses on great works of fiction published since 1985.

On Morning Edition, hear an interview with Jones and a review of The Known World.

Jones picked up on that little-known fact and has written a vivid first novel that looks at slavery through a different lens. Prior to the Civil War, some free black people owned slaves.

The Known World by Edward P. Jones