Mandingo (novel)

This article is about the novel. For the film, see Mandingo (film). For the pornographic actor, see Mandingo (person).

Mandingo
Author(s)	Kyle Onstott
Language	English
Genre(s)	Fiction
Publication date	1957

Mandingo is a novel written in 1957 by Kyle Onstott. The book is set in the 1830s in the antebellum South primarily around Falconhurst, a fictional plantation in Alabama owned by the planter Warren Maxwell. The narrative centers on Maxwell, his son Hammond, and the Mandingo (or Mandinka) slave Ganymede, or Mede. It is a tale of cruelty toward the blacks of that time, containing vicious fights, poisoning, and violent death.

The book inspired the 1975 film Mandingo (though the movie strayed away in a number of places from the book) and a series of books over the next three decades, some of which were co-written by Lance Horner and in later years written by Ashley Carter.

Criticism

• Tim A. Ryan, Calls and Responses: The American Novel of Slavery since Gone with the Wind. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 2008.

See also

Novels portal

• Mandingo Wars