Blending Nature, Superstition and Tradition in Chesnutt’s The Conjure Woman
Blending Nature, Superstition and Tradition in Chesnutt’s The Conjure Woman

Summary/Abstract: Chesnutt gained notoriety through his first book Conjure Woman – a collection of seven short stories, written in dialect, which “coloured” perfectly the local traditions and superstitions. Framed by one common narrator, John (a white carpetbagger who has moved South to protect his wife Annie's failing health and to begin cultivating a grape vineyard) is still portraying the South in idealistic terms contrasting with the other narrator of the internal storylines, Julius, who blurs the romantic image of the South and the paternal image of the Slave owner. The internal storylines are intermingled with tales of conjuring – a form of witchcraft, rooted in the African hoodoo – and all the spells are proof of Black resistance against the Whites. All the conjuring is done in and by means of nature, and all the “lessons” are learnt through metamorphosis – each character confronts his self/herself with some sort of transformation, which has to be fulfilled in order to prevent any affliction coming towards him/her. The endings are usually startling and unforeseen, yet they portray a folk culture surging a world of transition in a late nineteen century South.

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