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Jamaica Journal gives a genteel view of slavery

Written By Unknown on Tuesday, December 29, 2015 | 11:19 AM

The reflections of Lady Nugent, wife to the island’s governor in the first years of the 19th century, provide a fascinating window on the colonial mindset

The Long Song is a book that gives voice to the silent black majority who endured slavery in Jamaica. There are no surviving narratives written by those slaves, so it fills an important gap. It does not, however, exist in a vacuum. There were contemporary books written about life on the island. Levy drew on these while writing her novel and I thought it would be interesting to end our look at Long Song by looking at one of the principal sources we have from that time: Lady Nugent’s Jamaica Journal.

I’ve read it so you don’t have to. You’ll be pleased to hear that you’ve missed a lot of material about “excessive heat” and dinner parties – although, in truth, it’s surprisingly well written, sometimes even elegant. Lady Nugent is a sharp observer and a good-humoured writer, even if there’s much about her that today seems strange and difficult.

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