The Known World

Edward P. Jones · 2003 CE · Novel · Modern / American · Contemporary

In antebellum Virginia the farmer Henry Townsend, a former slave who has bought his freedom, owns land and enslaved people of his own. When he dies young, his widow, his overseer and the slave patrols around Manchester County struggle to hold the plantation together. An omniscient narrator moves freely backward and forward in time, which gave the book its Pulitzer Prize and its standing in the American canon.

Open The Known World in the archive — filters, lineage graph and full facet browsing.

Attributes

Closest analogues

• Absalom, Absalom!
  William Faulkner · 1936 CE · Novel

  54% · 14 shared
  NovelHistoricalTragedyRace & IdentityPower & CorruptionRuler / KingTragic HeroGenerational SagaNonlinear / FracturedThe Estatevs Societyvs Fate / GodsTragicModern / American
• Viva Zapata!
  Elia Kazan · 1952 CE · Film

  51% · 13 shared
  HistoricalTragedyClass & InequalityPower & CorruptionContemporaryRuler / KingTragic HeroChronicleThe Harvestvs SocietyRealistTragicModern / American
• Mastro-don Gesualdo
  Giovanni Verga · 1889 CE · Novel

  49% · 13 shared
  NovelHistoricalTragedyClass & InequalityWealth & GreedTragic HeroGenerational SagaChronicleThe Estatevs SocietyRealistTragicIronic
• Property
  Valerie Martin · 2003 CE · Novel

  48% · 13 shared
  NovelHistoricalRace & IdentityClass & InequalityPower & CorruptionContemporaryScapegoatChronicleThe Estatevs SocietyRealistIronicModern / American
• Giant
  George Stevens · 1956 CE · Film

  48% · 11 shared
  HistoricalRace & IdentityClass & InequalityWealth & GreedContemporaryRuler / KingGenerational SagaThe Estatevs SocietyRealistModern / American
• Danton's Death
  Georg Büchner · 1835 CE · Play

  47% · 11 shared
  HistoricalTragedyPower & CorruptionDeath & MortalityFreedom vs FateTragic Herovs Societyvs Fate / GodsRealistTragicIronic