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Title: The Bondwoman's Narrative by Hannah Crafts, Anna Deavere Smith ISBN: 1-58621-272-9 Publisher: Time Warner Audio Major Pub. Date: 01 April, 2002 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 6 List Price(USD): $32.98 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.88 (34 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Fantastic--Don't skip the introduction!!!
Comment: This book is worth buying to read about Gates' research efforts alone! You will be moved along the rollercoaster ride of snowballing excitement as Gates moves from first reading about the handwritten narrative in an auction catalog to authenticating the narrative to publshing the it as this book. Gates devotes the sixty page-plus introduction to his research and the appendices include the narrative's authentication report, the catalog of Hannah's owner's library(containing books from which Hannah borrowed plot elements), and testimony from another female slave that escaped Hannah's owner as well (Hannah mentions her in the narrative).
While some might feel the novel may seem un-original because of Hannah's "borrowing" from literature of her time, I found the book a pleasure to read. Historian/bibliographer Dorothy Porter Wesley (the narrative came from her library) concluded early on that the narrative was by a black woman because the black characters were treated as people first of all AND that some time would pass in the story before it was evident that a character was black at all. Long used to novels (from Uncle Tom's Cabin to Gone with the Wind) where authors, usually white, took immense pains to point out the literal blackness and lowliness of negroes, Hannah's assumed humanity and ordinariness of her black characters is refreshingly different.
Though some punctuation has been added to aid reading (major changes are bracketed to let you know where), Gates left in Hannah's mispellings, strikeouts and other revisions to keep the narrative as close to the handwritten manuscript as possbile. Overall, this book's an engrossing read from start to finish and I'm now looking for some of Gates' other literary finds to read.
Rating: 5
Summary: A GREAT SLAVE NARRATIVE
Comment: In THE BONDWOMAN'S NARRATIVE Hannah Crafts eloquently details the experiences of a light skinned female slave in the South in the decades preceding the Civil War. Discovered in the form as an unpublished manuscript by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. it is believed that this is the first slave narrative written by an African-American woman from only her perspective. Gates provides thorough scientific and literary evidence in both the forward and appendix proving its authenticity. I give Gates the benefit of the doubt that this manuscript is authentic as I am not an expert to judge otherwise. Regardless, THE BONDWOMAN'S NARRATIVE is a thoroughly enjoyable book that kept me reading far beyond my original intentions. I especially enjoyed the sections describing her accounts of running away from her master and mistress to freedom. Also admirable are her depictions of the evil slave speculator Mr. Trappe. What a hateful man he was to totally disregard the well being of slave for the sheer enjoyment of monetary profit. Hannah has the ability to make these characters come alive and does a good job at representing this painful time in American history. I applaud Gates for publishing the manuscript therefore enabling others to enjoy and sympathize with the life journey of Hannah. Enjoy!
Rating: 3
Summary: You have to enjoy this style of writing
Comment: This book may have great value as a historical document, however, I evaluate it from the 'fun to read' point of view. I did not find it a greatly enjoyable read. It is written in the old novel style- "Perils of Pauline" comes to mind. Neither did I find that I learned much about it was like to live like a slave during that time. I am now reading a historical novel in which there are a few pages describing a slave market in the USA during the Revolution; which gave me a much clearer picture than Bondwoman's Narrative did. The description of how the field hands lived left me wishing to read more about that, and in fact, I felt I did not even get a good picture of how the house servants lived. There was quite a bit of philosophizing during the entire book so the author came across as an intellectual. In this respect, her comments about the death of a fellow runaway slave towards the end of the novel were very interesting to me.
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Title: The Classic Slave Narratives (Signet Classics (Paperback)) by Henry Louis, Jr. Gates ISBN: 0451528247 Publisher: Signet Classics Pub. Date: 01 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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Title: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Dover Thrift Editions) by Harriet A. Jacobs ISBN: 0486419312 Publisher: Dover Publications Pub. Date: 01 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $2.00 |
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Title: In Search of Hannah Crafts: Critical Essays in the Bondwoman's Narrative by Henry Louis, Jr. Gates, Hollis Robbins ISBN: 0465027148 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 23 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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Title: Clotel, Or, the President's Daughter (Modern Library Classics) by William Wells Brown, Hilton Als, Graham Russell Hodges, Als Hilton ISBN: 0679783237 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 09 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: Six Women's Slave Narratives (Schomburg Library of Nineteenth Century Black Women Writers) by William L. Andrews ISBN: 0195060830 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 December, 1989 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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