Rating: 
Summary: Important. Incredible.
Review: This is one of the most moving, intense novels I've ever read. It is a fictional account of the 1830's uprising led by the slave Nat Turner in Southampton, Virginia, which culminated in the deaths of nearly seventy white men, women, and children, and Turner's own execution. The ethics of this novel are the only thing which keeps me from giving it a full five stars. I do not fully understand the controversy surrounding it. Apparently African Americans of the 60's objected to the work not simply because it was written by a white southern man, but because of the frank depictions of Nat's secret sexual desire for a white female in the story. It has been pointed out to me that many feel that this is a case of a folk hero being (deliberately?) maligned in some way by one who cannot possibly empathize with Turner (Styron being white), and while there is some merit in that arguement, I myself found the sexual aspect justified in terms of the character's development - as a fictional interpretation (although I felt it detracted somewhat from his character -and seemed a little...easy). I can see how without any empirical evidence to support the notion that Turner held this desire, it might anger some people. Yet, this is only a fictional work. If some Frenchman were to write a novel about George Washington and portray him as lusting after little boys, I could see how an American might be angered, and yet I have faith that the majority of people would shrug it off as a simple piece of fiction. Which is what this is. A brilliant, engrossing work of fiction. People seeking facts about the insurrection should not look to fiction, though admittedly there is a lot less in the way of source material beyond the actual Confessions as they exist in historical record when compared to this novel. I still feel Styron did an excellent job of extrapolating a story from a dictated (and probably heavily interpreted) confession. Sadly, no one in this world will ever know the truth of Nat Turner's early days. His history begins and ends with his Confession. Taken alone, this novel is still a very interesting read, though I'm not exactly sure if it deserved a Pulitzer Prize. If there was any book written by a white man of the sixties which DID deserve this prestigious award, it must be `Black Like Me.' I was not around in the sixties, but I can see that this novel might have gone a long way towards fostering an understanding (at least for white people) of the horrors of chattel slavery in America. Styron's portrayal of the day to day hardships of Nat Turner's life both external and internal are extremely vivid. The characters that populate the story, both slave, free, and master, are all very human, never degenerating to the lazy stereotypes of the shiftless and abasing Stepin Fetchit or the entirely brutal Simon LeGree (though these extremes are shown to exist). No one is entirely evil and no one is entirely good, just as in reality. The internal struggles of Nat's personality are also quite well realized, as he wrestles with the question of God, and his own self-worth (and those of his people). All in all, a striking novel by a talented writer.
| 
