Slaveroad

October 7, 2024
Wideman (Look for Me and I’ll Be Gone) meditates on the enduring effects of slavery in this heartfelt collection of sketches about historical figures and personal stories centered on his brother’s release from prison. In “Who Is Sheppard,” the narrator, a stand-in for Wideman, reflects on William Henry Sheppard, a Black Presbyterian missionary who traveled from the U.S. to Africa in the late 1800s, imagining Sheppard’s attempt to fathom the number of bodies like his that crossed the ocean in the other direction on the “slaveroad.”
“Who Is Rebekah” portrays Moravian missionary Rebekah Protten, who ministers to enslaved people on a plantation on St. Thomas. In “Staring,” Wideman looks back on his teaching career, focusing on the regret he feels for failing to connect with a Black student who went on to become a successful poet (“Neither of us chose to reveal much suffering to the other”). “Penn Station” recounts Wideman’s reunion with his brother, newly released from prison: “arms wrapped around my brother’s body, how easy it had been to forget forty-four years.” Though the digressive prose stalls in places, there are gems of wisdom sprinkled throughout: “Anyway, writing, like all art, is doomed to fail, isn’t it?” Wideman writes in “Joe Wood,” a story about a promising Black writer who disappeared during a hiking trip in 1999. Despite some rough patches, Wideman’s probing mind shines through. Agent: Jin Auh, Wylie Agency.