Beatrice ChancyIn 1550 in Rome, a privileged young woman killed her debauched father, who had forced her into an incestuous relationship. The woman's name was Beatrice Cenci and for centuries her story inspired writers, among them Percy Bysse Shelley, Alexandre Dumas, Robert Browning and Kathy Acker.Beatrice chancy is set in Nova Scotia during the days of slavery in Canada. Beatrice is the daughter of a slave woman who was raped by her white master, Frances Chancy. Raised in the master's household, Beatrice is beautiful, clever, cultured -- her father's prize. Beatrice's declaration of love for a slave sparks emotions that culminate in a monstrous act: the rape of Beatrice by her father. Violence begets violence until Chancy is killed and Beatrice hanged for his death.The passion and sorrow of Beatrice's story are matched only by the brilliance of the language -- words burnished with fire, steeled with wit and made pliable with complex humanity. In the author's words: "Beatrice Chancy is about living and suffering in the world, and how we yearn to end the suffering. It's about human pain -- a general blues -- and so it is written in poetry." |
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