Crossing the River
First edition
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| Author | Caryl Phillips |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Historical novel |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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Publication date
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18 January 1993 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 237 pp. |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 28962836 |
Crossing the River is a historical novel by British author Caryl Phillips, published in 1993. The Village Voice calls it "a fearless reimagining of the geography and meaning of the African diaspora." The Boston Globe said, "Crossing the River bears eloquently chastened testimony to the shattering of black lives."
Crossing the River is a story about three black people during different time periods and in different continents as they struggle with the separation from their native Africa. The novel follows Nash, who travels from America to Africa to educate natives about Christ; Martha, an old woman who attempts to travel from Virginia to California to escape the injustices of being a slave; and Travis, a member of the U.S. military who goes to England during World War II.
The title Crossing the River refers to a metaphor for both death and deliverance. Figuratively, the river symbolizes the great obstacles Africans had to overcome during life in being forcefully displaced. Those that survived the passage to their new destination spent the rest of their lives trying to overcome the obstacles. Most, however, as Phillips suggests, can only successfully cross the river and be delivered in death. The ancestor narrator also seems to suggest this when he calls his children home to him on the far side of the river after they have passed on. Geographically, the river refers to the Atlantic Ocean, the main body of water that Africans had to cross when traveling to America.
The novel’s opening is mostly the perspective of Nash, Martha, and Travis’ “father” mixed with the thoughts of the English slave trader James Hamilton, which are expressed in italics. The narrator explains that he had to sell his three children to slavery because his crops failed and he had no money.
Nash’s story as an adult is first revealed through the perspective of his white master Edward Williams, who freed Nash so that he could go to Africa with the American Colonization Society to teach black natives. Edward, however, receives a letter saying that Nash had disappeared from the African village where he had been teaching. Edward immediately boards a ship to take him to Africa, and after many days of searching, a former slave of Edward’s informs him that Nash had died from fever. Edward is horribly upset, and his grief is further drawn out when he realizes that his beloved Nash was not the holy Christian he thought him to be. He finds plenty that points out Nash’s negative behavior, such as his large collection of native wives. The chapter ends with Edward gaping at the hovel that was once Nash’s residence while natives stare on, trying to understand the apparent momentary insanity of the shocked and aggrieved stranger.
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