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A Harlot's Progress
A HARLOT'S PROGRESS reinvents William Hogarth's famous painting of 1732 which tells the story of a whore, a Jewish merchant, a magistrate and a quack doctor bound together by sexual and financial greed. Dabydeen's novel endows Hogarth's characters with alternative potential lives, redeeming them for their cliched status as predators or victims. The protagonist - in Hogarth, a black slave boy, in Dabydeen, London's oldest black inhabitant - is forced to tell his story to the Abolitionists in return for their charity. He refuses however to supply parade of grievances, and to give a simplistic account of beatings, sexual abuses, etc. He will not embark upon yet another fictional journey into the dark nature of slavery for the voyeuristic delight of the English reader. Instead, the old man ties the reader up in knots as deftly as a harlot her client: he spins a tale of myths, half-truths and fantasies; recreating Africa and eighteenth-century London in startlingly poetic ways. What matters to him is the odyssey into poetry, the rich texture of his narrative, not its truthfulness. In this, his fourth novel, David Dabydeen opens up history to myriad imaginary interpretations, repopulating a vanished world with a strange, defiantly vivid and compassionate humanity.
288 pages, Paperback
First published May 18, 1999
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About the author
David Dabydeen
35 books28 followersDavid Dabydeen (born 9 December 1955) is a Guyanese-born critic, writer, novelist and academic. Since 2010 he has been Guyana's ambassador to China.
Dabydeen is the author of novels, collections of poetry and works of non-fiction and criticism, as editor as well as writer. His first book, Slave Song (1984), a collection of poetry, won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize and the Quiller-Couch Prize. A further collection, Turner: New and Selected Poems, was published in 1994, and reissued in 2002; the title-poem, Turner is an extended sequence or verse novel responding to a painting by J. M. W. Turner, "Slavers Throwing overboard the Dead and Dying – Typhoon coming on" (1840).
His first novel, The Intended (1991), the story of a young Asian student abandoned in London by his father, won the Guyana Prize for Literature. Disappearance (1993) tells the story of a young Guyanese engineer working on the south coast of England who lodges with an elderly woman. The Counting House (1996) is set at the end of the nineteenth century and narrates the experiences of an Indian couple whose hopes of a new life in colonial Guyana end in tragedy. The story explores historical tensions between indentured Indian workers and Guyanese of African descent. His 1999 novel, A Harlot's Progress, is based on a series of pictures painted in 1732 by William Hogarth (who was the subject of Dabydeen's PhD) and develops the story of Hogarth's black slave boy. Through the character of Mungo, Dabydeen challenges traditional cultural representations of the slave. His latest novel, Our Lady of Demerara, was published in 2004.
Dabydeen has been awarded the title of fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He is the second West Indian writer (V.S. Naipaul was the first) and the only Guyanese writer to receive the title.
In 2001 Dabydeen wrote and presented The Forgotten Colony, a BBC Radio 4 programme exploring the history of Guyana. His one-hour documentary Painting the People was broadcast by BBC television in 2004.
The Oxford Companion to Black British History, co-edited by Dabydeen, John Gilmore and Cecily Jones, appeared in 2007.
In 2007, Dabydeen was awarded the Hind Rattan (Jewel of India) Award for his outstanding contribution to literature and the intellectual life of the Indian diaspora.
(from Wikipedia)
Dabydeen is the author of novels, collections of poetry and works of non-fiction and criticism, as editor as well as writer. His first book, Slave Song (1984), a collection of poetry, won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize and the Quiller-Couch Prize. A further collection, Turner: New and Selected Poems, was published in 1994, and reissued in 2002; the title-poem, Turner is an extended sequence or verse novel responding to a painting by J. M. W. Turner, "Slavers Throwing overboard the Dead and Dying – Typhoon coming on" (1840).
His first novel, The Intended (1991), the story of a young Asian student abandoned in London by his father, won the Guyana Prize for Literature. Disappearance (1993) tells the story of a young Guyanese engineer working on the south coast of England who lodges with an elderly woman. The Counting House (1996) is set at the end of the nineteenth century and narrates the experiences of an Indian couple whose hopes of a new life in colonial Guyana end in tragedy. The story explores historical tensions between indentured Indian workers and Guyanese of African descent. His 1999 novel, A Harlot's Progress, is based on a series of pictures painted in 1732 by William Hogarth (who was the subject of Dabydeen's PhD) and develops the story of Hogarth's black slave boy. Through the character of Mungo, Dabydeen challenges traditional cultural representations of the slave. His latest novel, Our Lady of Demerara, was published in 2004.
Dabydeen has been awarded the title of fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He is the second West Indian writer (V.S. Naipaul was the first) and the only Guyanese writer to receive the title.
In 2001 Dabydeen wrote and presented The Forgotten Colony, a BBC Radio 4 programme exploring the history of Guyana. His one-hour documentary Painting the People was broadcast by BBC television in 2004.
The Oxford Companion to Black British History, co-edited by Dabydeen, John Gilmore and Cecily Jones, appeared in 2007.
In 2007, Dabydeen was awarded the Hind Rattan (Jewel of India) Award for his outstanding contribution to literature and the intellectual life of the Indian diaspora.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 30, 2020
David Dabydeen is a Guyanese novelist who is not as well known as he should be. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (the second West Indian writer to be a member; the first being V S Naipaul) and has won numerous awards for his poetry and novels. He is currently the Guyanese ambassador to China.
This novel takes its starting point from Hogarth’s series of portraits named A Harlot’s Progress (1732). In the second print there is a black slave boy and Dabydeen takes the slave boy and weaves a novel around him and some of the other characters.
This is a retelling of the story of slavery and a telling of the black boy’s (named Mungo) tales. Dabydeen takes all the tropes and received wisdom and subverts and retells them; making some powerful points on the way.
The tale is told by Mungo as an old man to a Mr Pringle, an abolitionist who is looking for a sensational story to help with the abolitionist cause. In terms of time the series of paintings by Hogarth was in 1732 when Mungo was about 16. He is telling his tale in the 1780s or 90s. Mungo doesn’t want his story to be appropriated by the white abolitionists so he tells and retells it in a seemingly contradictory way using myth, legend and tribal tradition. The contradictions all relate to the time in Africa before he was captured and transported to Britain. As Mungo sails in the slaver his tale seems to become clearer and more traditional in nature until he reaches Britain when it becomes a westernised narrative.
Mungo tells stories about his childhood in Africa, about his village; Mungo appears to be the only one who survived the capture and the voyage. He tells stories of his mother, father, the women who cared for him, the villagers (each with their own role). The stories appear contradictory and have a strong mystical/magic realist element. The notion of what is true almost becomes irrelevant as Mungo seems to become a repository for all the tribe’s stories.
Mungo survives the voyage because he becomes a favourite of the captain; a sexual favourite. Although he is beaten, raped and branded he is better off than his peers who are below deck and subjected to awful conditions and treatment; the descriptions are vivid and powerful. The deceased villagers come back to Mungo to give him advice, tell him stories and try to ensure they are not forgotten; their voices are unique and magical. Manu dies trying to swim back to Africa; now when he comes back and speaks to Mungo, “Instead of words, fish tumble out, gorgeous and bizarre and dreadful in shape and hue”.
The narrative describes the voyage to Britain, followed by a period of time being looked after by Betty, who was preparing him for sale. His relationship with Betty was unpredictable as her behaviour was shaped by her own particular guilt. Mungo is bought by Lord Montague for his wife; where he is treated as a pet by her, but mistreated by the servants who resent him. He escapes from a difficult situation (with various bits of finery) and goes to assist a Jewish quack doctor who is treating a group of prostitutes; here introducing the prostitute portrayed by Hogarth.
The narrative voice varies between first and third person and there is a tension between told and untold; what is told depends on the motivation of the telling. Mr Pringle and Thistlewood the sea captain are actually part fictional, part real. Mungo knows what Pringle wants to hear so he has to edit Thisltewood’s paedophile leanings and Gideon the Jew’s humanity as these were not what he wanted to hear. There are many interesting byways to explore; at various times Mungo is renamed; Noah and Perseus; both names redolent with meaning. Dabydeen also draws an interesting comparison between white and black women when talking about Lady Montague “she is a woman like my mother, like Rima and all the others, who are sent away from view by the order of men”.
There is no romantic interpretation of sexuality, but more Blake’s tension of pain and love, violation and adoration. It is a post-modern retelling, reconstruction/deconstruction and Dabydeen has done an excellent job of posing questions in new and telling ways. A thought-provoking novel that is well worth looking up.
This novel takes its starting point from Hogarth’s series of portraits named A Harlot’s Progress (1732). In the second print there is a black slave boy and Dabydeen takes the slave boy and weaves a novel around him and some of the other characters.
This is a retelling of the story of slavery and a telling of the black boy’s (named Mungo) tales. Dabydeen takes all the tropes and received wisdom and subverts and retells them; making some powerful points on the way.
The tale is told by Mungo as an old man to a Mr Pringle, an abolitionist who is looking for a sensational story to help with the abolitionist cause. In terms of time the series of paintings by Hogarth was in 1732 when Mungo was about 16. He is telling his tale in the 1780s or 90s. Mungo doesn’t want his story to be appropriated by the white abolitionists so he tells and retells it in a seemingly contradictory way using myth, legend and tribal tradition. The contradictions all relate to the time in Africa before he was captured and transported to Britain. As Mungo sails in the slaver his tale seems to become clearer and more traditional in nature until he reaches Britain when it becomes a westernised narrative.
Mungo tells stories about his childhood in Africa, about his village; Mungo appears to be the only one who survived the capture and the voyage. He tells stories of his mother, father, the women who cared for him, the villagers (each with their own role). The stories appear contradictory and have a strong mystical/magic realist element. The notion of what is true almost becomes irrelevant as Mungo seems to become a repository for all the tribe’s stories.
Mungo survives the voyage because he becomes a favourite of the captain; a sexual favourite. Although he is beaten, raped and branded he is better off than his peers who are below deck and subjected to awful conditions and treatment; the descriptions are vivid and powerful. The deceased villagers come back to Mungo to give him advice, tell him stories and try to ensure they are not forgotten; their voices are unique and magical. Manu dies trying to swim back to Africa; now when he comes back and speaks to Mungo, “Instead of words, fish tumble out, gorgeous and bizarre and dreadful in shape and hue”.
The narrative describes the voyage to Britain, followed by a period of time being looked after by Betty, who was preparing him for sale. His relationship with Betty was unpredictable as her behaviour was shaped by her own particular guilt. Mungo is bought by Lord Montague for his wife; where he is treated as a pet by her, but mistreated by the servants who resent him. He escapes from a difficult situation (with various bits of finery) and goes to assist a Jewish quack doctor who is treating a group of prostitutes; here introducing the prostitute portrayed by Hogarth.
The narrative voice varies between first and third person and there is a tension between told and untold; what is told depends on the motivation of the telling. Mr Pringle and Thistlewood the sea captain are actually part fictional, part real. Mungo knows what Pringle wants to hear so he has to edit Thisltewood’s paedophile leanings and Gideon the Jew’s humanity as these were not what he wanted to hear. There are many interesting byways to explore; at various times Mungo is renamed; Noah and Perseus; both names redolent with meaning. Dabydeen also draws an interesting comparison between white and black women when talking about Lady Montague “she is a woman like my mother, like Rima and all the others, who are sent away from view by the order of men”.
There is no romantic interpretation of sexuality, but more Blake’s tension of pain and love, violation and adoration. It is a post-modern retelling, reconstruction/deconstruction and Dabydeen has done an excellent job of posing questions in new and telling ways. A thought-provoking novel that is well worth looking up.
September 24, 2024
kurt i'm sorry.
had to read this for writing black britain and appreciated what dabydeen was trying to accomplish with themes of authorship/ownership and narrative identity as a black slave writing for a white, western audience. also liked his exploration of story vs discourse, what happens vs how it is told.
that said, did i enjoy reading this book? no, not really... different histories are non-chronologically woven throughout the narrative, making it a very confusing read and one where i was constantly vigilant -- is this the truth? who is telling the truth? who is the voice of "reason"? + i think enjoyability adds to an overall rating of the book, so that's why this rating is so low. SORRY KURT
had to read this for writing black britain and appreciated what dabydeen was trying to accomplish with themes of authorship/ownership and narrative identity as a black slave writing for a white, western audience. also liked his exploration of story vs discourse, what happens vs how it is told.
that said, did i enjoy reading this book? no, not really... different histories are non-chronologically woven throughout the narrative, making it a very confusing read and one where i was constantly vigilant -- is this the truth? who is telling the truth? who is the voice of "reason"? + i think enjoyability adds to an overall rating of the book, so that's why this rating is so low. SORRY KURT
September 29, 2024
3.5/5 felt like i was on a trip the whole time, but i also kinda love the idea of never knowing whats real and whats not. this is a very kurt choice.
April 8, 2017
This was such an interesting and important read! Dabydeen here writes within a post-colonialist tradition in reworking the slave narrative and also writing back to history by providing a new perspective of art history through examining the panels of William Hogarth. This challenges the current idea of Western exceptionalism and the representation of race in culture as well as constructed historical narratives that have been handed down to us from imperialists hoping to overlook the corrupt foundations on which Western empires have been built upon: the type of discourse it promotes cannot be ignored especially considering its resonance to contemporary issues. Dabydeen alone is a figure who fascinates me, especially in his larger work now as the Guyanese ambassador to China, and the type of arguments he touches upon is something that will stay with me, especially through his meta awareness of the ethics of storytelling and the appropriation of real-life narratives and experiences retrospectively in order to sell a story. The story of Mungo is a potent one and one that so perfectly challenges Western readers to not use these type of stories to induce a type of white savior mentality or to judge civilizations through arbitrary, racialized stereotypes. The theme of authorship is a topic that constantly fascinates me anyway and to see Dabydeen deploy this in talking back to old slave narratives and the implication of redaction that accompanies them was so thought-provoking. This is also classified as a post-modernist novel: thinking about it this is probably my first post-modernist novel and that is where it fell short in my eyes since, upon first reading it, the intersection of viewpoints and continual return to specific narrative points confused me although, upon discussing it, I note its technical effect in giving Mungo autonomy and resisting the totalizing force of Western narratives upon stories concerning racial experience. This review has taken me a long time to write but it was certainly worth it for a book that is so affecting and one that I hope to return to in the future so I can give it the higher rating I think it deserves.
July 25, 2020
I really liked this book in the overall and was positively surprised with this content! It is a bit harsh in its content because it talks about the slave trade in England and several images are very strong. At times it is also quite complicated to figure out who's talking or who the characters are, but it is all explained in the end. Enjoyable reading and would really suggest for anyonw interested in a more engaged piece of reading!
Lisa
Lisa
February 12, 2020
A very difficult and provocative read about slavery in the eighteenth century. The writing is poetic, underlining the key motifs of fact/fiction, good/evil, ultimately asking us to question how we understand our own history, who history belongs to, and how we can, or whether we should, accurately narrative a history that is lost.
November 17, 2020
This was a difficult read. In terms of enjoyment, I'd have given this book a 2/5, but then I think that personal enjoyment is not the way to rate this book. It is an horrific account of slavery and there were scenes in it that made me sick to my stomach. It's very self-referential and its own writing is part of the story told which I really enjoyed. However, the fragmentary style was difficult to process at times. So, in short, I'm a bit torn. I didn't like reading the book as much as I think that it is an important and valuable book, confronting the reader with things that are often left out of narratives.
March 21, 2020
*read for first year at university*
I loved this, such an important book exploring some really significant topics. I feel a little weird saying that I loved a book that was very difficult to read in places, don’t get me wrong it was not the most enjoyable read but it was so thought provoking that I want everyone to recognise what an interesting story this is.
There are some serious trigger warnings here especially concerning sexual assault and some graphic, gory images. However, the commentary of postcolonial literature and the different interests of those involved as well as the commodification of peoples stories is so important. It’s something I hadn’t really considered before and this opened my eyes to how centred around money life really can be.
I loved this, such an important book exploring some really significant topics. I feel a little weird saying that I loved a book that was very difficult to read in places, don’t get me wrong it was not the most enjoyable read but it was so thought provoking that I want everyone to recognise what an interesting story this is.
There are some serious trigger warnings here especially concerning sexual assault and some graphic, gory images. However, the commentary of postcolonial literature and the different interests of those involved as well as the commodification of peoples stories is so important. It’s something I hadn’t really considered before and this opened my eyes to how centred around money life really can be.
September 1, 2021
Well written story focusing on slavery in the 18th century. This was one of the first books I had to read at uni and really enjoyed it.
March 19, 2015
Dabydeen is a beautiful writer but this book made me want to retch every other page. I don't mind hard to read material, but the outright disgusting portions of this story seemed repetitive, excessive and, in many places unnecessary. Plus, I wish he would have just gotten to the point instead of telling the stories of all these secondary and tertiary characters.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews