Black Venus (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Angela Olive Stalker
- First Published: 1980
- Type of Plot: Fantasy
- Time of Work: The mid-nineteenth century
- Setting: Paris
- Principal Characters: Daddy (Charles Baudelaire), Jeanne Duval
- Genres: Short fiction, Fantasy
- Subjects: France or French people, Sex or sexuality, Nineteenth century, Slavery or slaves, Poetry or poets, Paris, Islands, Fantasy, Allusions
- Locales: France, Paris, France
The Story
On an autumn afternoon, a tall, young black woman named Jeanne entertains her lover, Daddy. They are in a Parisian apartment furnished with Persian carpets and rare books. She is sad. Daddy tries to cheer her up with his fantasy about life on the tropical island where he will take her one day; however, she does not want to think about the West Indies and the old slave trade. She lights a small cigar with a discarded page of Daddy's writing and drinks rum. When he asks her to dance a slow dance that he has created for her, she strikes poses calculated to show her...
[The entire page is 1425 words long]
