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Summary: A LANDMARK MEMOIR
Review: It is one thing to read about the injustices of slavery from a historical or even an observer's point of view. It is quite something else to learn of the daily life of a slave in the indentured person's own voice. Such is the case with "The Bondwoman's Narrative" penned by a female slave in the 1850s. According to the editor this manuscript has existed for 140 years, and is quite probably the "earliest known novel by a female African-American slave and the earliest known novel by a black woman anywhere." Also according to Mr. Gates a slave escaped from a North Carolina plantation in 1857 and was able to reach New Jersey. It is his contention that she is the author of this book. Whether one wishes to question the authenticity of his identification or not is quite immaterial considering the compelling material within "The Bondwoman's Narrative." The relationship between ladies' maids and their mistresses is revealed in sharp detail, as are the offensive overtures by a relentless master. The slave and narrator is presented not as a human being but as chattel, valued only for what she might bring on the block. Ms. Craft has ably evoked pictures of the old South as well as the horrific conditions imposed by bondage. It is a miracle that these people could even hope for freedom. It is a wonder that this manuscript was brought to light at last. - Gail Cooke
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Summary: You will be moved ...
Review: Rarely do I read a book that moves me as much as this one did. Hannah's pain is felt strongly from the beginning page forward, culminating in her exhilaration at finally reaching the freedom she sought so long. Anna Deavere Smith reads the audio version excellently and with feeling. Whether or not this book is an original manuscript written by a female slave prior to the Civil War, is not really important, although I believe it is authentic. I am sure many, many slaves found themselves in the same types of circumstances - or worse. The book is excellently written and wonderfully read. You will be moved.
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Summary: A Lesson In Research
Review: The Bondswoman's Narrative is a history lesson in its own right but more than that, it is a somewhat detailed exploration into the process of authenticating a rare auction piece. The story of Hannah Craft takes you from Virginia, Washington, D.C., North Carolina and New Jersey during mid-1850 through 1860. This too is cause for a great discussion to authenticate when this piece was written. Hannah references many prominent politicians throughout her manuscript and she delves into the heart and soul of the slaves; whether they are house slaves or field slaves. Her exploits are interesting to say the least. While her story is captivating, what is more engrossing is Gates' ability to demonstrate the originality of Hannah's story. Utilizing professionals, Mr. Gates offers a detailed piece into the paper and ink used to write the manuscript to further drive home the point of when The Bondswoman's Narrative could have possibly been written. The reference to other literary pieces that Hannah cites throughout her work provides some needed proof that Hannah was somewhat educated, if not self-taught. What I found most helpful while reading The Bondswoman's Narrative were the notes on text found in the appendixes. To read and then reference proved insightful. I am of the opinion that this is historical reading at its best.
Reviewed by Dawn
APOOO Bookclub
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Summary: Stars are not appropriate for judging this book.
Review: The Bondwoman's Narrative is an historical artifact, a significant contribution to the literature of the pre-Civil War United States and, most especially, to African-American history and culture. Rating such a relic as if it were a modern publication denies it the accord it deserves as a newly discovered record of the misery endured by humans who were bought and sold in the last years of slavery. Telling the story of Hannah Crafts, a literate house slave, the author, convincingly identified by editor Gates as a black woman, pens a sentimental melodrama, a genre popular at the time, to describe in detail the life of a slave. Leading a somewhat less miserable life than a field hand, Hannah reveals her never-ending duties, her treatment and mistreatment by wives of the owners, her observations on the sexual abuse of women by owners, and her firsthand knowledge of venal slave traders and unscrupulous lawyers. These accounts are remarkable for their immediacy and human drama. The novel's narrative flow, as one traumatic episode after another builds to a climax, is clearly planned. Characters from one part of the novel appear and reappear in other parts, and sentimental motifs, common to the genre, repeat--the personification of a linden tree which affects several generations, curses visited on people and carried out over time, coincidences which strain credibility, and the hand of providence helping the pious Hannah. Although Gates's arguments for black authorship are convincing, he does not address some intriguing European references here. Fresh linens look like "an alpine snowdrift," Mr. Wheeler is noted by Hannah as having "the attitude of a Frenchman," Mrs. Wheeler says she will not accept Hannah's "blarney," Hannah refers to the poetry of Lord Byron, and she describes Mrs. Wheeler in one scene as having "the rage of Orestes." These struck me as unusual metaphors and references, and I'd be intrigued to learn how common they were to the day and how and why Hannah came to employ them.
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Summary: A TREASURE REVEALED!
Review: The Bondwoman's Narrative, by Hannah Crafts, a fugitive slave, escaped from North Carolina was a unpublished, cloth manuscript that a Harvard professor of African American studies, Henry Louis Gates, came across in an auction. He wondered if this manuscript could be for real? Could it really be written by a fugitive slave? Could it possibly be the first novel known to have been written by a black woman in America? Could it be the first novel to be written by a fugitive slave? Mr. Gates made it his mission to find out the truth about this mysterious manuscript. Throughout his many hours and months of research, which are chronicled in the opening chapters of the book, Mr. Gates has come to the conclusion that, YES, this manuscript is most likely genuine and the first novel written by a black female slave. It was such a joy and wonder to be able to read this manuscript unedited. This novel is pure in the author's thoughts and feelings, thus a very accurate look into the life of a slave. What a treasure Mr. Gates has found!
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Summary: Two Fascinating Narratives in One
Review: The first story is one of discovery and authentication on the part of Henry Louis Gates, Jr.. This story will be fascinating to scholars and others interested in how original manuscripts are found and in the problems and procedures for authenticating them as artifacts as well as resolving other issues surrounding their authorship. This mystery story continues because Gates is on a mission in this section to find the "real" Hannah Crafts. I kept reading quickly, following his strains of research with almost as much excitement and suspense as I did in reading Hannah's narrative itself. Hannah mentions names that Gates traces back to real people, and he gradually uncovers dots, then connects them for the reader, showing just how exciting scholarship of this kind can be as a human endeavor. As an American literature scholar myself, I finished Gates's narrative wanting to run out and search for Hannah Crafts as well [if I only had the time and energy with all the other mysteries I'm already trying to solve]. The second narrative, of course, and really the most important, is Hannah Craft's novel itself, which is thought so far to be autobiographical, in which a first person narrator describes her experience as a house slave and her eventual escape from a plantation near Wilmington, NC, via the Underground Railroad to New Jersey. The novel is a quick read, like a popular novel today with traces of the 19th C. sentimental novels of its day, with suspense and Dickens-like characterizations. There is a noted motif of "passing" (as one race for another and one gender for another) that is fascinating to trace throughout the story. Perhaps the great "pass" of all is the unanswered question about the racial identity of the author, a question that bothers some greatly that it is even being asked and is critically important to others that it be answered as accurately as possible. Gates includes material that makes this version of the book "teachable" as well (he plans a later scholarly edition)--a listing of the library holdings Crafts is presumed to have had access to; passages from Dickens's BLEAK HOUSE set side by side with echoes from Crafts's novel; chapter notes by the editor that point to issues in similar narratives by Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs, etc. Whether you eventually "buy" Gates's claims about its authenticity and importance or not, the book provides a focal point for discussions of many issues, both for the general reader and the specialist in American literature, American studies, history, gender studies, textual studies, and many others. It's also a peek inside the work of literary scholars, which reveals just how much fun our detective work (often thought to be dry and dusty by others) really is. I say, read it, and let the conversations, and thought-provoking arguments, begin! ~Prof. Connie Ann Kirk
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Summary: It's Our Narrative, Too.
Review: This book is a "must read" for everyone above the age of 13. It addresses, in the narrative as well as Dr. Gates' great introduction, our collective human nature from the side of the slave, AND the side of the slave owner. This is not "just" a Black history book: it is a book about life. True, it is a narrative by a former slave, but it is as relevant to today's societies as it was when written. Dr. Gates is marvelous. It is a willingly ignorant person who choses not to read this book. Buy it, borrow it from a friend or library, just read and ponder it. You will be stunned at what you discover in yourself.
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Summary: a great find
Review: This book is interesting and worth reading because of the way it was found and Gates' efforts in authenicating the work. The book is clearly fictional but its details (treatment of characters, descriptions of locations and plantation houses, etc.) make it obvious that it was drawn from examples in memory: the memory belonging to a mulatto house servant and slave. The author, a mulatto who may even be almost white, makes excellent examples of how it is really an accident of birth who is really "white" or "black" and who is the slave or master. It was very nice to read at the end that she chooses to identify herself as black and be part of free black community, when throughout the book being black or part black was such a stigma. It is such a shame it took 140 years to let this book be published. I wonder, if this author was only born in this century, how far she would have gone! I really would be surprised if "Hannah" never wrote anything else after her first book. Maybe in some distant future a collection of letters or other writings will be found bearing her actual name. Thank you Prof. Gates for your efforts to bring this book to light!
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Summary: What a discovery !
Review: This book is the autobiographical story of Hannah Crafts, a slave who, with her female owner, fled from her plantation in North Carolina. What is amazing is that this book is apparently the first novel written by an African-American female and was only recently dicovered.It took me a while to get used to the author's narrative style but it was well worth the effort. The introduction by Henry Louis Gates Jr. is also excellent and helps to better understand the historical context of this important book. Highly recommended.
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Summary: Fantastic--Don't skip the introduction!!!
Review: 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.
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