Flight to Canada

by Ishmael Reed

Book Overview

Ishmael Reed has created a sharp, wildly funny slave's-eye view of the Civil War.Three slaves infected with Dysaethesia Aethipica (a term coined in the nineteenth century for the disease that makes Negroes run away) escape from Virginia. Not satisfied with leaving slavery halfway, one of the trio has vowed to go the whole distance to Canada; his master, Arthur Swille, determined to recover his property, pursues, hot on Raven Quickskill's trail. With...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684847507
• ISBN13: 9780684847504
• Release Date: June 1998
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

What Do We Really Know About Canada?

"Flight to Canada" was one of the required reading for one of my literature classes. One debate that came up regularly during class discussions was whether Canada is used by Reed as a literal place or a metaphor as a "state of mind". There are solid arguments for both based on the text. For me, it became clear how fuzzy our history lessons were in grade school. We were taught how slaves escaped to Canada. But that's where the story usually ends. Happily Ever After in Canada. Ishmael Reed reminds the reader that there is more to the story.

brilliant original work i love ishmael reed

this work is one of the most brilliant books i have ever read. I have read kafka, dostoyevsky, hesse and dick among others. This book is playfully original and comical at the same time. Ishmael Reed has taught me more about the civil war that anyone else has.the blurring of fact and fiction was not confusing at all. The characters were alive and believable. I thought his depiction of the period was right on in a comical way. this is a book all african americans who appreciate literature should read. what a writer. I love raven quickskill!!![.]

Deconstructing Harriet

Ah poor Ishmael Reed! Doubly overlooked because he's a truly literate African-American writer AND more so because he's a postmodernist. This outrageously wonderful book manages to dissect and skewer both America's past and present with an off-beat sense of purpose. Merely my second foray into Reed's body of work, he's rapidly climbing up my All Time Favourite Author list. I suppose this won't appeal to everyone in the John Grishman/E. Lyn Harris/Harry Potter set, but Flight to Canada does what great art should - challenge the beholder. Reed tackles everything from the Civil War, Lincoln, Harriet Beecher Stowe, the grand ol' south, the nature of slavery and slaves and demands the reader to push aside common held beliefs and take a fresh look at this much-studied (and much-rehashed) juncture of American History.Bottom line - a hip and funny read that'll make you think. What more d'ya need?