In Esi Edugyan’s Washington Black, George Washington Black, or “Wash”, a slave on a Barbados plantation, is terrified when he finds out he is to be the manservant to his cruel master’s brother. However, Christopher Wilde, known as “Titch”, is the opposite of Erasmus: a naturalist, an abolitionist, an explorer and inventor, and kind to Wash. Titch invites Wash into his world of invention, science, and dreams, and the two form a relationship that begins to rise above the racist societal structures of the day. However, when a man dies and a bounty is placed on Wash’s head, the two must flee, their journey taking them all the way to the Artic, and their bond tested to the limits in the process.
I read a description of Edugyan’s third novel a while back that described it as a steam-punky reimagining of a runaway slave narrative, but after finishing, I feel like that description is inaccurate and undermines both the gravity and clarity of Edugyan’s narrative. She tackles very specific ideas of identity, self-actualization, and individualism through both scientific exploration and invention and through the isolation of the experience of slavery. Even as Wash is in relationship with those who, too, have experienced slavery, the isolation of that experience and its influence on his understanding of self is ever present. So to describe this novel as steam-punky feels glib.
These ideas of identity, individualism, and isolation are central to every aspect of the book. Edugyan has a gift for writing place and senses. The story spans continents and years, yet every locale is incredibly specific, down to the scents, tastes, and smells. The way she writes about light to give a place a particular feel and its own character is quite astounding at times, and every beach, every town, every forest was fully realized in my mind’s eye. In short, she imbues place with identity and individualism as much as she does her characters, and the sense of isolation that follows Wash is reflected in the descriptions of landscape at every stop in his journey.
Wash is incredibly compelling as a narrator and audience proxy. He’s by far my favorite character and the one I felt most connected to, despite our diametrically opposed life experiences. Though the places Edugyan writes are so vivid, some human characters and even parts of the narrative feel quite distant. Wash is recalling most of this story from his present day, and at times it feels a little like those movie montages reviewing the past with muted sounds, slow motions, and a voice over. Everything becomes fuzzy through the lens of memory. This isn’t always a bad thing, as the distance serves to highlight the isolation of both relationship and time. However, it does make it a bit hard to connect with some of the other characters. I never quite understood Wash’s pull to Tanna and her father for that reason.
Alternately, this remove makes the violence present in the narrative all the more real, visceral, and immediate, like a fight scene filmed in tight. There ware some particularly shocking moments, and the most horrific thing is that all of these acts of violence are grounded in historical record, mirroring the real methods of punishment and torture perpetrated against slaves. Edugyan writes so we the readers feel the experience of violence as closely as we can from the comforts of our homes.
Edugyan is a purposeful writer. She has thought about every word, every description, every structural choice. One of my few complaints about the book, though, is that because she is such an intentional writer, her few moments of vagueness stand out, as does her repeated use of the phrase, “spared [a person] no glance.” Honestly, she used it often enough you could probably make a drinking game of it. It stuck out, marring otherwise creative, varied, and striking prose.
The ending of Washington Black caught my breath. It is totally unresolved, and I loved it. I highly recommend this novel. It upends the traditional slave narratives that we studied in school, and it really forces us as readers to think about the impact our words and actions have, important at all times and vital now. It is absolutely clear why it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Even as I write this review so long after having read the book, so much is coming back to me now, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.