Description
Canisia Lubrin's debut fiction is a rare work of art—a brilliant, startlingly original book that combines immense literary and political force. Its structure is deceptively simple: it departs from the infamous real-life “Code Noir,” a set of historical decrees passed in 1685 by King Louis XIV of France defining the conditions of slavery in the French colonial empire. The original Code had fifty-nine articles; Code Noir has fifty-nine linked fictions—vivid, unforgettable, multi-layer fragments filled with globe-wise characters who desire to live beyond the ruins of the past.
Ranging in style from contemporary realism to dystopia, from futuristic fantasy to historical fiction, this inventive, shape-shifting braid of stories exists far beyond the enclosures of official decrees.
The stories are accompanied by fifty-nine black-and-white drawings—one at the start of each fiction—by acclaimed visual artist Torkwase Dyson.
Groundbreaking, dazzling debut fiction from one of Canada’s most exciting and admired writers, winner of the prestigious Windham-Campbell Prize. This is a timely, daring, virtuosic book by a young literary star.