"I Was Born": Slave Narratives, Their Status as Autobiography and as Literature Author(s): James Olney Source: Callaloo,

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46 "I WAS BORN": SLAVE NARRATIVES, THEIR STATUS AS AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND AS LITERATURE* by JamesOlney or a slave narrative, even two Anyonewho setsabout reading single or three be the that slave narratives, might forgiven natural assumption will foreverysuchnarrative be, or oughtto be, a uniqueproduction; so would go the unconscious argument-are not slave narratives and is not everyautobiography unique tale, unithe autobiography, quely told, of a unique life?If such a readershould proceed to take however(and thereis a greatlot of up anotherhalfdozen narratives, whichto choose thehalfdozen), a sensenot of uniqueness themfrom samenessis almostcertainto be theresult.And but of overwhelming if our readercontinuesthrough two or threedozen more slave narstill ratives, havinghardly begunto broachthewholebody ofmaterial at (one estimate puts the numberof extantnarratives over six thouof sand), he is sureto come away dazed by themererepetitiveness it new or different only,always but all: seldomwillhe discoveranything of moreand moreofthesame. This raisesa number difficult questions of of bothforthestudent autobiography thestudent Afro-American and and literature. be Whyshouldthenarratives so cumulative so invariant, so repetitive and so muchalike? Are the slave narratives classifiable under some larger grouping (are they history or literatureor or do and what relationship these autobiography polemicalwriting? bear to one another?);or do thenarratives larger groupings represent in a mutantdevelopment reallydifferent kind fromany othermode ofwriting thatmight seemto relateto themas parent,as siblinitially formal relation? Whatnarrative mode, ing,as cousin,or as someother do what mannerof story-telling, we findin the slave narratives, and bothin thisparticular of whatis theplace ofmemory variety narrative and in autobiography moregenerally? What is therelationship the of to slave narratives laternarrative modesand laterthematic complexes of Afro-American The questionsare multiple and manifold. writing? I proposeto come at themand to offer some tentative answersby first about autobiography itsspecialnature and makingsome observations as a memorial, creative someofthecommonthemes act; thenoutlining of and nearlyinvariableconventions slave narratives; and finally atto determine place of the slave narrative in the specthe 1) tempting *Thisessaywill appear in The Slave's Narrative, CharlesT. Davis ed. and HenryLouis Gates (New York: OxfordUniv. Press, 1984).

47 trum of autobiographicalwriting,2) in the historyof American of and tradition. literature, 3) in themaking an Afro-American literary I have arguedelsewhere thatthere manydifferent are ways thatwe can legitimately understand word and the act of autobiography; the to conventional and here,however,I want to restrict myself a fairly common-sense of autobiography. will not attempt I to understanding define autobiographybut merely to describe a certain kind of performance-notthe only kind by any means but autobiographical the one thatwill allow us to reflect most clearlyon what goes on in For presentpurposes,then,autobiography slave narratives. may be understoodas a recollective/narrative in which the writer, from act a certainpoint in his life-the present-, looks back over the events of thatlifeand recounts themin such a way as to show how thatpast in has led to thispresentstate of being. Exercising history memory, orderthathe may recollectand narrate,the autobiographer not a is neutraland passive recorder but rather creativeand active shaper. a Recollection,or memory,in this way a most creativefaculty,goes backwardso thatnarrative, twinand counterpart, go forward: its may direcand move along thesame lineonlyin reverse memory narration tions.Or as in Heraclitus, way up and theway down, theway back the and theway forward, one and thesame. WhenI say thatmemory are I is immensely creative do notmeanthatitcreatesforitself eventsthat neveroccurred coursethiscan happentoo, but thatis another mat(of of ter). What I mean insteadis thatmemorycreatesthe significance eventsin discovering pattern the intowhichthoseevents fall.And such in a pattern, thekind of autobiography wherememory rules,will be and a teleological bringing in and through one narration, as itwere us, whichis the by an inevitable process,to theend of all past moments of of memory present.It is in the interplay past and present, present on over past experience itsway to becomingpresent being, reflecting that events are lifted out of time to be resituatednot in mere significance. chronologicalsequence but in patterned makes Paul Ricoeur,in a paper on "Narrative and Hermeneutics," different but in a way thatallows us to sort thepointin a slightly way in both in autobiography general out the place of timeand memory in slave narrative particular."Poiesis,"acand in theAfro-American and cordingto Ricoeur'sanalysis,"bothreflects resolvestheparadox of time";and he continues:"It reflects to the extent it thatthe act of in combines variousproportions temporal two dimensions, emplotment and theothernon-chronological. The first one chronological may be the called the episodic dimension.It characterizes storyas made out thanks which to ofevents.The secondis theconfigurational dimension, the plot construessignificant wholes out of scatteredevents."' In of and retelling it autobiography is memorythat,in the recollecting

48 it that,shapingthepast acevents,effects "emplotment"; is memory of is for to theconfiguration thepresent, responsible "theconcording that"construes wholesout of scatdimension" significant figurational teredevents."It is forthisreason thatin a classic of autobiographical for is like literature Augustine's Confessions, example, memory notonly I themodebutbecomestheverysubjectofthewriting. shouldimagine, thatanyreaderofslave narratives mostimmediately struck is however, the the almost completedominanceof "the episodic dimension," by and thevirtual totallack of any "configurational dimension," nearly to or absence of any reference memory any sense thatmemorydoes but anything make the past factsand eventsof slaveryimmediately to the writer and his reader. (Thus one oftengets,"I can see present evennow .... I can stillhear. .. .," etc.) Thereis a verygood reason forthis, itsbeinga verygood reasondoes notaltertheconsequence but witha veryfewexceptions, tendsto exhibit thatthe slave narrative, fixed form thatbearsmuchthesamerelaa highly conventional, rigidly in to bears by tionship autobiography a fullsenseas painting numbers to paintingas a creativeact. of I say thereis a good reason forthis,and thereis: The writer a in findshimself an irresolvably slave narrative bind as a result tight of theveryintention and premiseof his narrative, whichis to give a of "slaveryas it is." Thus it is thewriter's claim,it mustbe his picture thathe is not emplotting, is not fictionalizing, he is not he and claim, act of poiesis (=shaping, making).To givea truepicperforming any tureof slaveryas it it reallyis, he mustmaintainthathe exercisesa thatis neither creative faulty-indeed, nor neutral clear-glass, memory if it were creativeit would be eo ipso faultyfor"creative"would be understoodby skepticalreadersas a synonym "lying."Thus the for is ex-slavenarrator debarredfrom of a memory use thatwould make of his narrativebeyond or otherthan the purely,merely anything of episodic,and he is deniedaccess, by theverynatureand intent his dimensionof narrative. venture,to the configurational Of the kind of memorycentralto the act of autobiography I as describedit earlier,ErnstCassirerhas written: is "Symbolicmemory theprocessby whichman notonlyrepeatshispast experience also but this reconstructs experience. becomesa necessary element Imagination oftrue In recollection." thatword"imagination," lies however, thejoker foran ex-slavewho would writethe narrative his lifein slavery. of in Book X of theConfessions-offering Whatwe findAugustine doing on thatmakes both memory and the itself up a disquisition memory thatit surrounds in narrative be inconceivable fully symbolic-would in their Of a slave narrative. courseex-slavesdo exercise narmemory ratives,but theynevertalk about it as Augustinedoes, as Rousseau does, as Wordsworth does, as does, as Thoreau does, as HenryJames

49 a hundred otherautobiographers likeProust)do. (not to say novelists Ex-slavescannot talk about it because of the premisesaccordingto which theywrite,one of those premisesbeing that thereis nothing or doubtful mysterious on about memory: thecontrary, is assumed it to be a clear, unfailing recordof eventssharp and distinct thatneed into only be transformed descriptive languageto become the sequentialnarrative a lifein slavery.In thesame way, theex-slavewriting of his narrative cannotafford put thepresent conjunction to in withthe withveryrarebut significant to past (again exceptions be mentioned to later)forfearthatin so doinghe will appear, fromthepresent, be and and the the reshaping so distorting falsifying past. As a result, slave narrativeis most oftena non-memorial fitted a preto description formed a moldwithregular hereand equallyregular mold, depressions of scenes,turns phrase, prominences there-virtually figures, obligatory and authentications-that over fromnarrative to observances, carry narrative and give to themas a group the species characterthatwe designateby the phrase "slave narrative." What is thisspecies character whichwe may recognizea slave by narrative? mostobviousdistinguishing is thatitis an extremeThe mark mixedproductiontypically ly including any or all of the following: an engravedportrait photographof the subject of the narrative; or or snattestimonials, authenticating prefixed postfixed;poetic epigraphs, chesofpoetry thetext, in in the illustrations before, poems appended; middleof, or after narrative the of itself;2 interruptions thenarrative addressesto the readerand passages properby way of declamatory thatas to stylemight well come from adventure an story,a romance, or a novel of sentiment; bewildering a of documents-letters variety to and fromthe narrator, bills of sale, newspaperclippings, notices of slave auctions and of escaped slaves, certificates marriage,of of of fromlegal codesmanumission, birthand death, wills, extracts thatappear beforethetext,in the textitself, footnotes, in and in apand sermons and anti-slavery and essaystackedon pendices; speeches at theend to demonstrate of In activities thenarrator. post-narrative out the extremely mixednatureof slave narratives one impointing mediately has to acknowledge how mixed and impure classic are books ofAugustine's autobiographies or can be also. The lastthree forexample,are in a different mode fromtherestof the Confessions, volume, and Rousseau's Confessions,which begins as a novelistic romanceand ends in a paranoid shambles,can hardlybe considered and is modallyconsistent all of a piece. Or ifmention made of theletters and appendedto slavenarratives, thenone thinks prefatory quickly of the letters the divide of Franklin's at whichhave Autobiography, muchthesameextra-textual existence letters oppositeendsofslave as at narratives. But all thissaid, we mustrecognizethatthenarrative let-

50

haven'tthesame intention theFranklin as tersor theappendedsermons or of moreimportant, letters Augustine's exegesis Genesis;and further, in elements slave narratives all themixed,heterogeneous, heterogeneric come to be so regular, constant, indispensable themode that so so to establish setofconventions-a seriesof observances a that theyfinally de unto themselves. become virtually riguer-for slave narratives for were so early and so firmly The conventions slave narratives thatone can imaginea sortof masteroutlinedrawnfrom established and the thegreatnarratives guiding lesserones. Such an outlinewould like this: look something A. An engravedportrait, signedby the narrator. B. A titlepage thatincludestheclaim,as an integral partof thetifrom statea (or tle,"Written Himself" someclosevariant:"Written by mentof FactsMade by Himself";or "Written a Friend,as Related by to Him by Brother Jones";etc.) and/or one or more prefacesor inC. A handfulof testimonials friend thenarrator of troductions written either a whiteabolitionist by (WilliamLloyd Garrison,WendellPhillips)or by a whiteamanuenfor WhitGreenleaf sis/editor/author actually responsible thetext(John in David Wilson,LouisAlexisChamerovzow), thecourseofwhich tier, is prefacethe readeris told thatthe narrative a "plain, unvarnished that "hasbeensetdowninmalice, tale"and nothing exaggerated, naught drawnfromtheimagination"-indeed,thetale, it is claimed, nothing the understates horrorsof slavery. fromWilliam Cowper. D. A poetic epigraph,by preference E. The actual narrative: "I 1. a first a sentence beginning, was born ... ," thenspecifying but not a date of birth; place 2. a sketchy account of parentage,, ofteninvolving whitefather; a of 3. description a cruelmaster, or overseer, detailsoffirst mistress, and numerous withwomen observedwhipping subsequent whippings, the victims; veryfrequently 4. an account of one extraordinarily slavestrong,hardworking often"pureAfrican"-who, because thereis no reason forit, refuses to be whipped; 5. recordof thebarriers raised againstslave literacy and the overdifficulties in encountered learningto read and write; whelming of 6. description a "Christian" of slaveholder (often one suchdying in terror) and the accompanying claim that "Christian" slaveholders no are invariablyworse than those professing religion; of 7. description theamountsand kindsof food and clothing given to slaves, the work requiredof them,the patternof a day, a week, a year;

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8. account of a slave auction, of familiesbeing separated and of mothers to children theyare as clinging their destroyed, distraught tornfromthem,of slave coffles being drivenSouth; of to 9. description patrols,of failedattempt(s) escape, of pursuit by men and dogs; of to 10. description successful attempt(s) escape, lyingby during in the day, travelling nightguidedby theNorthStar, reception a by freestate by Quakers who offer lavish breakfast a and much genial thee/thou conversation; one 11. takingof a new last name (frequently suggested a white by to as abolitionist) accordwithnew social identity a free man,butretenof tion of first name as a mark of continuity individualidentity; on 12. reflections slavery. materialF. An appendixor appendices composedof documentary billsof sale, detailsof purchasefrom slavery,newspaperitems-, furon ther reflections slavery, sermons, anti-slavery speeches,poems,appeals to the readerforfundsand moral supportin thebattleagainst slavery. of Aboutthis'MasterPlan forSlave Narratives" irony thephras(the nor insignificant) two observations ing being neitherunintentional shouldbe made: First, rather thatit not onlydescribes loosely a great narratives thatitalso describes but quitecloselythegreatest manylesser of themall, Narrative theLifeofFrederick of Douglass, An American whichparadoxicallytranscends slave the Slave, Written Himself,3 by most exact narrativemode while being at the same time its fullest, in Second, thatwhat is beingrecounted thenarratives representative; of of is nearlyalways therealities theinstitution slavery,almostnever moralgrowth thenarrator of theintellectual, (here,as often, emotional, without ceasingto be thebest Douglass succeedsin beingan exception of but slavery, example:he goes beyondthesingleintention describing thananyone he also describesit moreexactlyand moreconvincingly are else). The lives of thenarratives never,or almostnever,therefor and but own intrinsic, themselves fortheir always uniqueinterest nearly in their of capacityas illustrations what slaveryis reallylike. Thus in lives of theex-slaveswere as muchpossessed one sense thenarrative and used by the abolitionistsas their actual lives had been by slaveholders.This is why JohnBrown's storyis titledSlave Life in and "A Georgia and only subtitled Narrativeof the Life,Sufferings, Slave," and it is why CharlesBall's Brown,A Fugitive Escape of John story (which reads like historicalfictionbased on very extensive is research) called Slaveryin theUnitedStates,withthesomewhatexof of "A tended subtitle Narrative theLifeand Adventures CharlesBall, A Black Man, who livedforty yearsin Maryland,SouthCarolina and and was one year in the Georgia, as a slave, undervarious masters,

52 the an during latewar. Containing acnavywithCommodoreBarney, count of the mannersand usages of the plantersand slaveholdersof theSouth-a description thecondition of and treatment theslaves, of the withobservations thestateofmoralsamongst cotton planters, upon and sufferings a fugitive of and theperils slave,who twiceescapedfrom the cottoncountry."The centralfocus of thesetwo, as of nearlyall is and rather thenarratives, slavery,an institution an external reality, and and individuallifeas it is knowninternally subthana particular Thismeansthatunlike in the autobiography general narratives jectively. are all trainedon one and the same objective reality,they have a them have behind and guiding and them coherent defined audience, they an organizedgroup of "sponsors,"and they are possessed of very and motives,intentions, uses understood narrators, by sponspecific of and audiencealike: to revealthetruth slaveryand so to bring sors, be but about its abolition.How, then,could the narratives anything much like one another? very of established Severalof theconventions slave-narrative writing by of thistriangular audience,and sponsorsand the relationship narrator, of will logicthatdictates development thoseconventions bear and will reward closer scrutiny.The conventionsI have in mind are both and and theytendto turn as often theparapherin thematic formal up the I nalia surrounding narratives in thenarratives as themselves. have on so remarked theextra-textual letters commonly associated already withslave narratives have suggested they and that have a different logic to about themfromthe logic thatallows or impelsFranklin include in alien documents his autobiography; same is trueof the the similarly or photographs frequently be foundas so to portraits signedengraved in slave narratives. The portrait thesignature and (which frontispieces one mightwell find in other nineteenth-century autobiographical documents but withdifferent like theprefatory apand motivation), thetitular "Written Himself," and thestandard tag pendedletters, by opening"I was born," are intendedto attestto the real existenceof a narrator, sensebeingthatthestatusof thenarrative the will be concalled intodoubt,so itcannoteven begin,untilthenarrator's tinually is of realexistence firmly established. coursetheargument theslave Of is narratives thattheeventsnarrated factualand truthful that are and all reallyhappenedto thenarrator, thisis a second-stage but they arguis claim: ment;priorto theclaimof truthfulnessthesimple,existential "I exist."Photographs, letters all portraits, signatures, authenticating make thesame claim: "This man exists."Only thencan thenarrative begin.And how do mostof themactuallybegin?They beginwiththe existential claim repeated."I was born" are the first words of Moses wordsofthenarratives and are the Narrative, they likewise first Roper's of HenryBibb and Harriet and William Jacobs,of HenryBox Brown4

53 Wells Brown,of Frederick Douglass5and John Thompson,of Samuel W. of Ward and James C. Pennington, AustinStewardand Ringgold of of Roberts, WilliamGreenand WilliamGrimes, LevinTilmon James Anand PeterRandolph,of Louis Hughesand Lewis Clarke, of John and of and drewJackson ThomasH. Jones, LewisCharlton Noah Davis, of JamesWilliamsand William Parkerand William and Ellen Craft is of assertion variedonlyto theextent saying, (wheretheopening "My wifeand myself were born").6 We can see the necessity thisfirst for and most basic assertionon of thepartof theex-slavein thecontrary situation an autobiographer to likeBenjamin Franklin. Whileany reader was free doubtthemotives ofFranklin's no and memoir, one could doubthisexistence, so Franklin beginsnot withany claimsor proofsthathe was bornand now really existsbut withan explanationof why he has chosen to writesuch a document the one in hand. Withtheex-slave,however,it was his as and not thatwerecalled existence his identity, his reasonsforwriting, into question: if the former could be establishedthe latterwould be obviousand thesamefrom narrative another. one to citesfour Franklin for to motives writing book (to satisfy his descendants' curiosity; offer the events an exampleto others;to providehimself pleasureofreliving in thetelling;to satisfy own vanity),and while one can findnarhis of ratives ex-slaves have in themsomething each ofthese thatmight by of motives-JamesMars, for example, displays in part the first the Henson in partthethird, motives, Douglass in partthesecond,Josiah is and SamuelRinggold Ward in partthefourth-thetruth thatbehind or thatis in any way characteristic representative everyslave narrative which is and dominantmotivation, thereis the one same persistent of determined the interplay narrator, sponsors,and audience and by whichitself in determines narrative theme, the and form.The content, of themeis the realityof slaveryand the necessity abolishingit; the is content a seriesof eventsand descriptions will make thereader that see and feelthe realitiesof slavery;and the formis a chronological, with an assertionof existenceand surepisodic narrativebeginning roundedby various testimonial evidencesfor thatassertion. In thetitle of Brown's citedearlier-Slave and subtitle John narrative and of Lifein Georgia:A Narrative theLife,Sufferings, Escape ofJohn to Slave-we see thatthetheme Brown,A Fugitive promises be treated on two levels, as it were titularand subtitular: social or instituthe tional and the personalor individual.What typically happens in the knownand mostreliableofthem, actualnarratives, the especially best is that the social theme,the realityof slaveryand the necessityof on of it, abolishing trifurcates thepersonallevel to becomesubthemes and not which,though obviouslyand at first literacy, identity, freedom in nevertheless intoone another such lead sight closelyrelatedmatters,

54 and a way thattheyend up beingaltogether interdependent virtually as strands. Here,as so often, Douglass' Narindistinguishable thematic is rative at once thebestexample,theexceptional case, and thesupreme of The classic: Narrative achievement. fulltitle Douglass' book is itself by of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An AmericanSlave, Written of There is muchmore to the phrase "written himself," by Himself.7 of a course,thanthemerelaconic statement a fact: it is literally part in an thematic element theretellofthenarrative, becoming important are and a sense of freedom ing of the lifewhereinliteracy, identity, and the to all acquiredsimultaneously without first, according Douglass, and the lattertwo would neverhave been. The dual factof literacy and reflects back on theterrible ("written" "himself") ironyof identity the phrase in apposition, "An AmericanSlave": How can both of these-"American"and "Slave"-be true?And thisin turncarriesus all back to thename, "Frederick Douglass," whichis written around in on thenarrative: thetitle, theengraved and portrait, as thelastwords of the text: Sincerelyand earnestly hoping that this littlebook may do towardthrowing lighton theAmericanslave system, something to and hastening glad day of deliverance the millionsof my the in brethren bonds-faithfully relying upon the power of truth, love, and justice,forsuccessin myhumbleefforts-andsolemnanew to thesacredcause,--I subscribe ly pledging myself myself, FREDERICK DOUGLASS I "I subscribe myself"-I writemyselfdown in letters, underwrite my I have done in and all through and identity myverybeing,as indeed theforegoing narrative thathas brought to thisplace, thismoment, me thisstate of being. The abilityto utterhis name, and more significantly utterit in to the mysterious on characters a page whereit will continueto sound in silenceso longas readers continue construe characters, what to the is Narrative about, forin thatlettered is utterance assertion is Douglass' of identity in identity freedom-freedom and is from freedom slavery, fromignorance,freedom fromnon-being, freedom even fromtime. in WhenWendellPhillips, a standard to letter prefatory Douglass' Narthatin thepast he has always avoided knowingDouglass' rative,says "real name and birthplace" because it is "still dangerous, in for Massachusetts, honestmen to tell theirnames," one understands well enough what he means by "yourreal name" and the dangerof telling it-"Nobody knows my name," JamesBaldwinsays. And yet in a veryimportant way Phillipsis profoundly wrong,forDouglass had been sayinghis "real name" ever since escapingfromslaveryin

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his as and asserting identity theway in whichhe wentabout creating he a freeman: Frederick Douglass. In theNarrative says his real name not whenhe revealsthathe "was born" Frederick Baileybut whenhe below hisportrait before beginning subscribes the and putshissignature himself again afterthe end of thenarrative.Douglass' name-changes and self-naming highlyrevealingat each stage in his progress: are "Frederick AugustusWashington Bailey" by the name given him by hismother, was knownas "Frederick he "Fred"while Bailey"or simply growing up; he escaped fromslaveryunderthe name "Stanley,"but when he reachedNew York took thename "Frederick Johnson." (He in was married New York underthatname-and gives a copy of the in who certificate thetext-by theRev. J.W. C. Pennington marriage had himself escaped from Douglass and slaverysome tenyearsbefore who would producehis own narrative somefouryearsafter Douglass.) he and Finally,in New Bedford, foundtoo manyJohnsons so gave to hishost( one ofthetoo many-Nathan Johnson) privilege namthe of not me inghim,"buttoldhimhe must takefrom thenameof 'Frederick.' I musthold on to that,to preserve senseofmyidentity." Thus a new a of social identity a continuity personalidentity. but In narrating eventsthatproducedboth change and continuity the in his life,Douglass regularly reflects back and forth (and herehe is from personwritten the about to theperson verymuchtheexception) froma narrative past eventsto a present of narrator grown writing, out of thoseevents.In one marvellously revealing passage describing thecold he suffered from a child,Douglass says, 'My feet have been as so crackedwiththefrost, thatthepen withwhichI am writing might be laid in thegashes."One might inclined forget be to thatitis a vastly from personwritten the different about, but it is a very personwriting into to reminder refer thewriting and immensely effective significant arstrument a way of realizingthe distancebetweenthe literate, as inarticulate ticulatewriterand the illiterate, subject of the writing. a couldhave said thatthecold causedlesionsin hisfeet quarter Douglass of an inchacross, but in choosingthe writing instrument held at the presentmoment-"the pen with which I am writing"-by one now known to the world as Frederick Douglass, he dramatizeshow far worsenames, removedhe is from boy once called Fred(and other, the of course)withcracksin his feetand withno moreuse fora pen than forany of theothersignsand appendagesof theeducationthathe had been deniedand thathe would finally acquire only withthe greatest but also withthegreatest, mosttelling success,as we feelin difficulty now flowing from literal the and symbolic thequalityof thenarrative he holdsin hishand. Herewe have literacy, and pen identity, freedom, theomnipresent trio slave narratives, thematic of themostimportant all conveyedin a singlestartling image.8

56 Thereis, however,onlyone Frederick Douglass amongtheex-slaves who told theirstoriesand the storyof slaveryin a singlenarrative, and in even the best known, most highlyregarded of the other for narratives-those, example, WilliamWellsBrown,CharlesBall, by Henson, Solomon Northup, W. C. Pennington, J. HenryBibb, Josiah and Moses Roper--all theconventions observed-conventions are of and style-but theyremainjust that: convencontent, theme,form, tionsuntransformed unredeemed. and The first threeof theseconventionalaspectsof thenarratives as I have alreadysuggested, are, pretty determined therelationship between narrator the himself and clearly by thoseI have termed sponsors(as well as theaudience) of thenarthe rative.When the abolitionists invitedan ex-slaveto tell his storyof in slaveryto an anti-slavery convention,and when they experience the appearance of thatstoryin print,10 sponsored subsequently they well understood themselves well had certain clearexpectations, and by understood theex-slavetoo, about thepropercontent be observto by theme be developed,and theproper theproper to form be followto ed, ed. Moreover,content,theme,and formdiscoveredearly on an appropriate styleand thatappropriate stylewas also thepersonalstyle in the sponsoring abolitionists the letters and introducdisplayedby tionstheyprovidedso generously thenarratives. is not strange, for It of course,thatthestyleof an introduction thestyleof a narrative and shouldbe one and thesame in thosecases whereintroduction narand rativewere written the same person-Charles Stears writing inby and of troduction narrative Box Brown,forexample,or David Wilson of writing prefaceand narrative Solomon Northup.What is strange, and a good deal moreinteresting, theinstance whichthe is in perhaps, of the abolitionist introducer carriesover into a narrative that style is certified "Written Himself," thislatter as and is instance notnearby ly so isolatedas one might initially suppose. I want to look somewhat at three variationson stylistic that closely interchange I taketo representmoreor less adequatelythespectrum possiblerelationships of betweenprefatory and narrative or moregenerally between style style, sponsorand narrator: HenryBox Brown,wheretheprefaceand narrativeare bothclearly themanner CharlesStearns;SolomonNorin of where the enigmatical thup, prefaceand narrative, althoughnot so as in thecase of Box Brown,are nevertheless both in themanclearly nerof David Wilson; and HenryBibb,wheretheintroduction signis ed by Lucius C. Matlack and theauthor'spreface HenryBibb, and by wherethenarrative "Written Himself"-but wherealso a single is by is of author's and alike. style in control introduction, preface, narrative Box Brown's Narrative,we are told on the title-page, was Henry STATEMENT OF FACTS MADE BY HIMSELF.
WITH REMARKS UPON THE REMEDY FOR SLAVERY. BY CHARLES STEARNS. WRITTEN FROM A

57 it or and Whether is intentional not,theorderoftheelements thepunctuationof thissubtitle linestwo and three)make (withfullstopsafter itveryunclearjustwhatis beingclaimedabout authorship stylistic and for the narrative.Presumablythe "remarksupon the responsibility for remedy slavery"are by CharlesStearns(who was also, at 25 Corof but could nhill,Boston,thepublisher theNarrative), thistitle-page wellleave a readerin doubtabout theparty forthestylistic responsible of manner thenarration. Such doubtwill soon be dispelled,however, ifthereaderproceedsfromCharlesStearns'"preface" Box Brown's to to "narrative" CharlesStearns'"remarks theremedy slavery." for upon The prefaceis a most poetic, most high-flown, most grandiloquent over intoand through that,once crankedup, carriesright peroration to thenarrative issue in theappendedremarks whichcome to an end in a REPRESENTATION OF THE BOX in which Box Brown was fromRichmondto Philadelphia.Thus fromthe preface: transported "Not forthepurposeof administering a prurient to desireto 'hearand on see some new thing,' nor to gratify inclination thepart of the any hero of thefollowing storyto be honoredby man, is thissimpleand of narrative theperilsof a seekerafter 'boon of liberty,' the touching introduced the public eye . ... ," etc.-the sentencegoes on three to times as suflongerthanthisextract, describing itproceeds"thehorrid of of the shutoutfrom light heaven, ferings one as, in a portable prison, and nearly deprived of its balmy air, he pursued his fearful we journey..... " As is usual in such prefaces, are addresseddirectly tale, by theauthor:"O reader,as you perusethisheart-rending let the from tearofsympathy freely roll youreyes,and let thedeep fountains in of humanfeeling, whichGod has implanted thebreastof everyson of forth from and daughter Adam, burst their untila stream enclosure, on shall flowtherefrom to thesurrounding world, of so invigorating and purifyingnature, to arousefrom 'deathofthesin'ofslavery, a as the and cleanse fromthe pollutionsthereof, withwhom you may be all We connected." may notbe overwhelmed thesenseof thissentence by but surelywe mustbe by its richrhetorical manner. The narrative whichis all first itself, personand "theplain narrative of our friend," the prefacesays, beginsin thismanner: as I am not about to harrowthefeelings myreadersby a terof rific of of representation the untoldhorrors thatfearful system ofoppression, whichforthirty-three yearsentwined snaky its long foldsabout my soul, as theserpent South Americacoils itself of around theformof its unfortunate victim.It is not my purpose to descenddeeplyintothedark and noisomecavernsof thehell of slavery,and drag fromtheir abode thoselost spirits frightful with who haunt the souls of the poor slaves, daily and nightly theirfrightful sound of theirterpresence,and withthefearful

58 for rificinstruments torture; otherpens far abler than mine of thatportion thelabor ofan exposer of have effectually performed of the enormities slavery. of it thatthepen-than which Suffice to say of thispiece of finewriting there wereothers abler-was heldnotby Box Brownbutby Charles far removedthanit is from the Stearnsand thatitcould hardlybe further thatpen thatcould have been laid in held by Frederick Douglass, pen thegashes in his feetmade by thecold. At one point in his narrative how his brother was turnBox Brownis made to say (after describing to ed away froma streamwiththeremark"We do not allow niggers went fish"),"Nothingdaunted,however,by thisrebuff, brother my in obtainto anotherplace, and was quite successful his undertaking, of thefinny tribe.""It may be thatBox Brown's a plentiful ing supply of but storywas told from"a statement factsmade by himself," after thosefactshave been dressedup in theexoticrhetorical garments provided by Charles Stearnsthereis preciouslittleof Box Brown (other of in thantherepresentation thebox itself) thatremains thenarrative. And indeed for every fact there are pages of self-conscious, selfCharles Stearns,so gratifying, self-congratulatory philosophizing by thatif thereis any lifehere at all it is the lifeof thatman expressed in his veryown overheatedand foolishprose.12 and David Wilsonis a good deal morediscreet thanCharlesStearns, of the relationship prefaceto narrativein Twelve Years a Slave is thereforegreat a deal morequestionable, also moreinteresting, but than in theNarrativeof HenryBox Brown. Wilson'sprefaceis a page and witha song at theend and threeor a halflong; Northup'snarrative, four appendices, is threehundredthirty pages long. In the preface Wilsonsays, "Many of thestatements in contained thefollowing pages are corroboratedby abundant evidence-others rest entirely upon Thathe has adhered to Solomon'sassertion. the strictly thetruth, editor, of at least, who has had an opportunity detecting any contradiction in or discrepancy his statements, well satisfied.He has invariably is repeated the same story without deviating in the slightest is particular.... "13 Now Northup'snarrative not only a verylong witha vast amountof circumstantial one butis filled detail,and hence it strains reader'scredulity a somewhatto be told thathe "invariably in repeatedthesame storywithout deviating theslightest particular." Moreover,since the styleof the narrative(as I shall argue in a monot wellsuspecta fillment)is demonstrably Northup's own, we might out ingin and fleshing on thepartof-perhaps not the"onliebegetter" butat least-the actualauthorof thenarrative. thisis notthemost But in interesting aspect of Wilson'sperformance theprefacenor theone thatwill repay closestexamination.That comes withthe conclusion of the prefacewhich reads as follows:

59 It is believedthatthefollowing exaccountof his [Northup's] on Bayou Boeufpresents correct of Slavery, a picture perience in all itslights and shadows,as it now existsin thatlocality.Unor the biased, as he conceives,by any prepossessions prejudices, of the editorhas been to give a faithful of only object history Solomon Northup'slife,as he receivedit fromhis lips. In theaccomplishment thatobject,he trusts has succeeded, notof he it thenumerous faultsof styleand of expression may be withstanding foundto contain. To sortout, as faras possible,whatis beingasserted herewe would do well to startwith the final sentence,which is relatively easy to understand.To acknowledgefaultsin a publicationand to assume for in responsibility themis of coursea commonplace gesture prefaces, thequestionof styleand expression should be so importhoughwhy tant in giving"a faithful history"of someone's life "as . . . received . . . from lips" is notquiteclear; presumably virtues style his the of to to giveitwhatever and expression superadded thefaithful are history it as merits may lay claim to, and insofar thesefall shortthe literary author feels the need to acknowledgeresponsibility and apologize. is there no doubtabout who thisambiguity Nevertheless, aside, putting is responsible what in thissentence, for which,ifI might replaceproof nouns withnames, would read thus: "In the accomplishment that David Wilsontrusts thathe [David Wilson]has succeeded,notobject, the faults styleand ofexpression which of withstanding numerous [for it David Wilson assumesresponsibility] may be foundby the reader imto contain."The two preceding sentences, however,are altogether both in syntaxand in the assertiontheyare presumably penetrable as statement a passive one ("It is designedto make. Castingthe first believed .. .") and danglinga participlein the second ("Unbiased . . . "), so thatwe cannotknow in either case to whom the statethe mentshould be attached,Wilson succeeds in obscuringentirely It claimed for the narrative.14 would take too much being authority the (one might, however, glance spaceto analyzethesyntax, psychology at the familiar use of Northup'sgivenname), and the sense of these but affirmations, I would challengeanyone to diagram the second sentence("Unbiased . . . ") with any assuranceat all. refer: When As to thenarrative whichtheseprefatory to sentences we get a sentencelike this one describingNorthup'sgoing into a tribes intrusion had awakened the feathered swamp-"My midnight which of of relatives the'finny tribe' Box Brown/Charles [near Steams], of seemedto throng morassin hundreds thousands, the and their garforth suchmultitudinous sounds-therewas such rulousthroats poured a fluttering wings-such sullenplungesin thewaterall aroundmeof that I was affrighted appalled" (p. 141)-when we get such a and

60 we it sentence may think pretty finewriting and awfully but literary, thefinewriter clearlyDavid Wilsonrather is thanSolomon Northup. of instance thewhiteamanuensis/sentimental novelist Perhapsa better his overthefaithful as received from Norlaying mannered style history of celebration thup'slips is to be foundin thisdescription a Christmas wherea huge meal was providedby one slaveholderforslaves from at surrounding plantations:"They seat themselves the rustictablethemaleson one side,thefemales theother.The twobetween on whom there may have been an exchangeof tenderness, invariably manageto sitopposite;fortheomnipresent Cupid disdainsnot to hurlhis arrows into the simpleheartsof slaves" (p. 215). The entirepassage should be consultedto get the fulleffect Wilson's stylistic of extravagances when he pulls the stops out, but any readershould be forgiven who declinesto believethatthislastclause, withitsreference "thesimple to hearts slaves"and itsself-conscious, of inverted ("disdains not"), syntax was written someonewho had recently been in slaveryfortwelve by "is the years."Red,"we are toldby Wilson's Northup, decidedly favorite color amongtheenslaveddamselsof myacquaintance.Ifa redribbon does notencircle neck,you willbe certain find thehairoftheir the to all of wooly heads tiedup withred strings one sortor another"(p. 214). In the light of passages like these, David Wilson's apology for "numerous faultsof styleand of expression" takes on all sortsof innew meaning.The rustictable, the omnipresent teresting Cupid, the of simplehearts slaves, and thewoollyheads ofenslaveddamsels,like thefinny feathered and comefrom novel tribes, might any sentimental of the nineteenth century-one, say, by HarrietBeecherStowe; and so it comes as no greatsurpriseto read on the dedicationpage the "To Harriet BeecherStowe: Whose Name, Throughout the following: withtheGreatReform: This Narrative, World,Is Identified Affording Another Dedicated." While Key to UncleTom's Cabin, Is Respectfully notsurprising, this does litgiventhestyleof thenarrative, dedication tleto clarify authority the thatwe are asked to discoverin and behind the narrative, and the dedication,like the pervasivestyle,calls into seriousquestionthestatusof Twelve Years a Slave as autobiography and/or literature.15 ForHenryBibb'snarrative LuciusC. Matlack suppliedan introduction in a mighty on poeticvein in whichhe reflects theparadox that out of thehorrors slaveryhave come some beautiful of narrative productions. "Gushingfountainsof poetic thought,have startedfrom beneath rod ofviolence,thatwilllongcontinue slakethefeverish the to thirst humanity of untilswelling a flooditshallrushwith to outraged, violenceover theill-gotten of wasting heritage theoppressor.Startling incidents far in fiction theirtouching authenticated, excelling pathos, from pen ofself-emancipated the in slaves,do now exhibit slavery such

61

of revolting aspects, as to secure the execrations all good men, and becomea monument moreenduring thanmarble,in testimony strong of as sacredwritagainstit."16 The picture Matlack presents an outraged humanity witha feverish thirst gushing for fountains started by up therodofviolenceis a peculiar one and one thatseems,psychologically speaking, not very healthy. At any rate, the narrativeto which Matlack'sobservations reference have immediate was, as he says,from the pen of a self-emancipated slave (self-emancipated several times), withmuchtouching and itdoes indeedcontain incidents startling pathos about them;but thereallycuriousthing is about Bibb'snarrative that it displaysmuchthesame florid, rhetoric as sentimental, declamatory we findin ghostwritten as-told-tonarratives or and also in prefaces such as those by Charles Stearns,Louis Alexis Chamerovzow, and LuciusMatlack himself. ConsidertheaccountBibb givesof his courtHaving determined a hundred signsthatMalinshipand marriage. by da loved himeven as he loved her-"I could read itby heralways givof invitations to ing me thepreference her company;by her pressing visit even in oppositionto her mother'swill. I could read it in the and sparkling languageofherbright eye,penciledby theunchangable of finger nature,thatspake butcould notlie" (pp. 34-35)-Bibb decided to speak and so, as he says, "broachedthe subjectof marriage": I said, "I neverwillgivemyheartnorhand to any girlin marI knowhersentiments subriage,until first upon theall-important of Religionand Liberty. matter No how well I mightlove jects in out her,nor how greatthesacrifice carrying theseGod-given I here pledge myself And fromthiscourse neverto principles. be shakenwhilea singlepulsationof my heartshall continueto throbfor Liberty." And did his "dear girl"funkthe challengethusproposed by Bibb? Far fromit-if anythingshe proved more high-minded than Bibb himself. Withthisidea Malinda appeared to be well pleased, and with a smileshe looked me in the face and said, "I have long entertained the same views, and this has been one of the greatest reasons inclined enter married to the statewhile whyI have notfelt a slave; I have always felt desireto be free;I have longcherisha ed a hope thatI shouldyetbe free, either purchaseor running by In regardto thesubjectof Religion, have always felt I that away. itwas a good thing, and something thatI would seekforat some future period." It is all to thegood, of course,thatno one has everspokenor could everspeak as Bibb and hisbelovedare said to have done-no one, that novel of date c. 1849.17 is, outsidea bad, sentimental Though actualwritten Bibb,thenarrative, style for and tone,might wellhave as ly by

62 been the productof thepen of Lucius Matlack. But the combination of the sentimental and whitepreface-writing rhetoric whitefiction of of witha realistic presentation thefactsof slavery,all paradingunder the banner of an authentic-and authenticated-personalnarrative, fishnor fowl. A textlike Bibb's is thatis neither producessomething the and to committed twoconventional forms, slave narrative thenovel Nor either. of sentiment, caughtby both it is unable to transcend and that is thereasonfarto seek:thesensibility producedUncleTom'sCabin that the was closelyalliedto theabolitionist sensibility sponsored slave the narrativesand largelydetermined formthey should take. The be or master-slave go relationship might underground it might turned insideout but it was not easily done away with. detail in the relationand Considerone small but recurrent telling we JohnBrown'snarrative, ship of whitesponsor to black narrator. are toldby Louis AlexisChamerovzow,the"Editor"(actuallyauthor) tale of real Slaveof Slave Life in Georgia, is "a plain, unvarnished writes Austin to in life";EdwinScrantom, hisletter "recommendatory," Yearsa Slave and FortyYearsa Freeman, Stewardofhis Twenty-Two tale be sentout, and the storyof Slavery "Let its plain, unvarnished and its abominations,again be told by one who has feltin his own of heel";thepreface lash,and theweight itsgrinding personitsscorpion writer ("W. M. S.") forExperience a Slave in South Carolina calls of the AndrewJackson, but it "theunvarnished, ower truetale of John the Greenleaf Whittier, slave";John apparently dupe escapedCarolinian "The followofhis "ex-slave," Williams, says of The Narrative James of storyofan AMERICAN ingpages containthesimpleand unvarnished to SLAVE"; RobertHurnardtellsus thathe was determined receive Solomon Bayley'sNarrative"in his own simple,unvarand transmit nished style"; and HarrietTubman too is given the "unvarnished" in to honorific Sarah Bradford herpreface Scenesin theLifeofHarby book to give a plain and unrietTubman: "It is proposedin thislittle in accountofsomescenesand adventures thelifeofa woman varnished who, thoughone of earth'slowly ones, and of dark-huedskin, has in shownan amountofheroism hercharacter rarely possessedby those of any stationin life."The factthatthevarnishis laid on verythickly and Williams,forexamindeed in several of these(Brown,Jackson, but point,whichis to ple) is perhapsinteresting, it is not theessential be found in the repeateduse of just this word-"unvarnished"-to will all tales.The Oxford describe these English Dictionary tellus (which of we shouldhave surmised figure "darkanyway)thatOthello,another used theword "unvarnishfirst huedskin"butvastlyheroiccharacter, Of tale ed"-"I will a roundunvarnish'd deliver/ mywhole courseof love"; and that,at least so faras theOED recordgoes, theword does Burkeuseditin 1780,some175 yearslater("This notturn againuntil up

63 is a true,unvarnished, stateof the affair").I doubt that undisguised had anyonewould imaginethatwhiteeditors/amanuenses an obscure collective mind-or deep down Burkein theback of their passagefrom the in thatmind-when theyrepeatedly used thisword to characterize hero a of ex-slaves.No, itwas certainly Shakespearean narrative their hero wereunconsciously and notjustany Shakespearean evoking, they but always Othello, the Noble Moor. of "written himself" Various narrators documents by apologize for theirlack of grace or styleor writing ability,and again various narbut ratorssay that theirsare simple,factual,realistic presentations; no ex-slavethatI have foundwho writes own storycalls it an "unhis varnished"tale: the phrase is specificto whiteeditors,amanuenses, to the and writers, authenticators. around,when Moreover, turn matter a an ex-slavemakesan allusionto Shakespeare (whichis naturally very to or about his situation imoccurrence) suggest something infrequent of the plysomething hischaracter, allusionis neverto Othello.Frederick all horrors thatmight Douglass, forexample,describing theimagined "I overtakehimand his fellowsshouldtheytryto escape, writes, say, thispicturesometimes appalled us, and made us: 'rather bear those ills we had, Than flyto others,thatwe knew not of."' Thus it was in the lightof Hamlet's experienceand characterthat Douglass saw his own, not in the lightof Othello's experienceand Not so WilliamLloyd Garrison,however,who says in the character. that it is essentially prefaceto Douglass' Narrative,"I am confident truein all its statements; thatnothinghas been set down in malice, drawnfrom imagination.... "18 the We nothing exaggerated, nothing can be sure that it is entirely unconscious,this regularallusion to of Othello,butitsaysmuchabout thepsychological relationship white thattheformer shouldinvariably thelatsee patronto black narrator ter not as Hamlet, not as Lear, not as Antony, or any other Shakespeareanhero but always and only as Othello. When you shall theseunluckydeeds relate, Speak of themas theyare. Nothingextenuate, Nor set down aught in malice. Then mustyou speak Of one thatlov'd not wiselybut too well; Of one not easily jealous, but, being wrought, Perplex'din the extreme.... but The Moor, Shakespeare'sor Garrison's, was noble, certainly, he was also a creature unreliable of and character irrational passion-such, toward at least,seemsto have beenthelogicof theabolitionists' attitude

64 theirex-slavespeakersand narrators-and it was just as well forthe shortleash. Thus whitesponsorto keep him,ifpossible, on a pretty it was thattheGarrisonians-thoughnot Garrisonhimself-wereopposed to the idea (and let theiroppositionbe known) thatDouglass and WilliamWellsBrownshouldsecurethemselves againsttheFugitive their fromex-masters; because and Slave Law by purchasing freedom also to prevent it might harmtheircause the Garrisonians attempted from his The reaction WilliamWells Brownfrom dissolving marriage. when Douglass insisted the Garrisonians and fromGarrisonhimself on goinghis own way anyhowwas bothexcessiveand revealing, sugthatforthemtheMoor had ceased to be noble whilestill,ungesting a fortunately, remaining Moor. My Bondage and My Freedom,Garwith the virus of perrisonwrote,"in its second portion,is reeking towards WendellPhillips, and sonal malignity myself, theold organizaand and tionists generally, fullof ingratitude basenesstowardsas true "19 and disinterested as friends any man everyethad upon earth. That thissimplyis not trueof My Bondage and My Freedomis almostof to secondaryinterest what the words I have italicizedreveal of Garrison'sattitudetoward his ex-slaveand the unconsciouspsychology of betrayed, outragedproprietorship lyingbehindit. And whenGarrisonwrote to his wifethatDouglass' conduct"has been impulsive, inconsiderate and highlyinconsistent" and to Samuel J. May that of of was Douglass himself "destitute everyprinciple honor,ungrateful to thelast degreeand malevolent spirit,"20 picture pretty in the is clear: forGarrison, Douglass had becomeOthellogone wrong,Othellowith all his dark-hued and skin,his impulsiveness passion but none of his nobilityof heroism. The relationship sponsorto narrator notmuchaffect of did Douglass' own Narrative:he was capable of writing story his without askingthe Garrisonians' leave or requiring their guidance. But Douglass was an man and narwriter, other extraordinary and an altogether exceptional rativesby ex-slaves,even thoseentirely "Written Himself," scarceby ly rise above the level of the preformed, imposedand acceptedconventional.Of thenarratives thatCharlesNicholsjudgesto have been written withoutthehelp of an editor-those by "Frederick Douglass, William Wells Brown, JamesW. C. Pennington, Samuel Ringgold Ward, Austin Steward and perhaps Henry Bibb"21-none but Douglass' has any genuineappeal in itself, apart fromthe testimony itmight or merit. And provideabout slavery, any realclaimto literary whenwe go beyond thisbare handfulof narratives considerthose to written underimmediate abolitionist guidanceand control,we find, as we might well expect,even less of individualdistinction distincor tiveness thenarrators as show themselves more or less contentto remain slaves to a prescribed,conventional,and imposed form; or

65 perhapsit would be morepreciseto say thattheywere captiveto the intentions abolitionist and so the question of theirbeing contentor in. as otherwise entered Just thetriangular embracing hardly relationship other than made ofthelatter audience,and ex-slave something sponsor, freecreatorin the telling his lifestory,so also it made of an entirely ofthenarrative the case in mind) produced(alwayskeeping exceptional in otherthanautobiography any fullsense and something something of in otherthanliterature any reasonableunderstanding thattermas or an act of creativeimagination.An autobiography a piece of imbut aginativeliterature may of course observecertainconventions, it cannot be only, merelyconventionalwithoutceasing to be satisfacor and toryas either autobiography literature, thatis thecase, I should say, with all the slave narratives except the great one by Frederick Douglass. But herea mostinteresting paradox arises. While we may say that or do as theslave narratives notqualify either autobiography literature, and whilewe mayargue,againstJohn Baylissand Gilbert Osofskyand thattheyhave no real place in AmericanLiterature others, (justas we argue,and on thesame grounds, againstEllenMoers thatUncle might Tom's Cabin is not a greatAmericannovel), yet the undeniablefact in ceris thattheAfro-American tradition takesitsstart, theme literary tainlybut also oftenin contentand form,fromthe slave narratives. RichardWright's Black Boy, which many readers(myself included) as would take to be his supremeachievement a creativewriter, proa could be adducvidestheperfect case inpoint,though hostof others ed thatwouldbe nearly exemplary as (DuBois' variousautobiographical works; Johnson's of Autobiography an Ex-ColouredMan; Baldwin's fictionand essays; Ellison'sInvisibleMan; Gaines' autobiographical etc.). of Autobiography Miss JanePittman;Maya Angelou'swriting; In effect, looks back to slave narratives thesame timethat at Wright thatwould occurin Afro-American he projectsdevelopments writing Black Boy reenacts Black Boy (publishedin 1945). Thematically, after both thegeneral,objectiveportrayalof the realitiesof slaveryas an to calls "The Ethicsof LivingJim institution (transmuted whatWright Crow" in thelittlepiece thatlies behindBlack Boy) and also theparthat ticular,individualcomplexof literacy-identity-freedom we find centerof all of the most important slave narratives. at the thematic much In content form wellBlackBoy repeats, as mutatis and mutandis, in thisessaydescribing typical slave of thegeneral the plan givenearlier after moreor less chronological, narrative: like a Wright, theex-slave, a Crow, including episodic account of theconditionsof slavery/Jim of thedifficulty near impossibilityor vivid description particularly tellshow full but also theinescapablenecessity-ofattaining literacy, he escaped fromsouthern towardwhat he imagined bondage, fleeing

66 his and to would be freedom, new identity, theopportunity exercise a in free-state hard-wonliteracy a northern, city.That he did not find exactlywhat he expectedin Chicago and New York changesnothing did Douglass findeverything anabout Black Boy itself:neither he or unhappyfactin ticipated desiredin theNorth,but thatpersonally no way affects Narrative.Wright, his impelledby a nascentsense of freedom thatgrew withinhim in directproportionto his increasing in of and naturalistic fiction), literacy (particularly thereading realistic thatworld fledthe world of the South, and abandoned the identity had imposedupon him("I was whatthewhiteSouthcalleda 'nigger"'), of in searchof anotheridentity, identity a writer, the preciselythat writer know as "RichardWright.""Fromwherein thissouthern we could discover darknesshad I caughta sense of freedom?"22 Wright only one answer to his question: "It had been only through books . . . thatI had managedto keepmyself alive in a negatively vital letters and in thebare way" (p. 282). It was in his abilityto construe of his thatWright possibility putting lifeintowriting "caughta sense of freedom" and knewthathe mustworkout a new identity. could "I submit and live thelifeof a genialslave," Wright says, "but,"he adds, "that was impossible" 276). It was impossible because,likeDouglass (p. and other at wherethethree slaves,he had arrived thecrossroads paths ofliteracy, freedom suchknowledge there was met,and after identity, no turning back. in BlackBoy resembles slave narratives manywaysbutin other ways itis crucially from It different itspredecessors ancestors. is ofmore and thantrivialinsignificance Wright's that narrative does not beginwith "I was born,"nor is it undertheguidanceof any intention impulse or otherthanitsown, and whilehis book is largely episodicin structure, itis also-precisely by exercise symbolic of and memory-"emplotted" in wholesout "configurational" such a way as to construe "significant of scattered events." freed the himself from SouthWright Ultimately, at least thisis whathis narrative recounts-and he was also fortunatewere not, fromabolitionist control ly free,as theex-slavesgenerally and freeto exercisethatcreativememory thatwas peculiarly his. On thepenultimate page ofBlackBoy Wright says,"I was leavingtheSouth to fling intotheunknown,to meetothersituations thatwould myself perhapselicitfromme otherresponses.And if I could meetenough of a different then,perhaps,graduallyand slowlyI mightlearn life, who I was, what I might I was not leavingtheSouth to forget be. the butso thatsomeday I might understand might cometo know South, it, whatitsrigors I had done to me, to itschildren. fledso thatthenumbnessof mydefensive thawout and let me feelthepainlivingmight in yearslaterand faraway-of whatliving theSouthhad meant."Here not only exercisesmemory but also talks about it, reflecting Wright

67 on its creative,therapeutic, and liberating redemptive, capacities.In his conclusionWright harksback to the themesand the formof the and at thesame timehe anticipates slave narratives, themeand form in a greatdeal of more recentAfro-American writing, perhapsmost notablyin InvisibleMan. Black Boy is like a nexusjoiningslave narrativesof thepast to themostfully of creations the developedliterary the it the through powerofsymbolic present: memory transforms earlier narrativemode into what everyonemust recognizeas imaginative, creative bothautobiography fiction. their and In narratives literature, we might on say, theex-slavesdid thatwhich,all unknowingly their not partand onlywhenjoined to capacitiesand possibilities available to them,led righton to the tradition Afro-American of literature as we know it now. NOTES 1ProfessorRicoeur has generously to given me permission quote fromthisunpublished paper. 2 I have in mindsuch illustrations thelargedrawingreproduced as to AndrewJackson's as frontispiece John Experience a Slave in South of Carolina (London: Passmore& Alabaster,1862), described a "Facas of simile thegimlet whichI usedto borea hole in thedeckofthevessel"; theengraveddrawingof a torture on machinereproduced p. 47 of A Narrative of the Adventuresand Escape of Moses Roper, from AmericanSlavery (Philadelphia:Merrihew& Gunn, 1838); and the "REPRESENTATION OF THE BOX, 3 feet1 inchlong, 2 feetwide, 2 feet6 incheshigh,"in whichHenryBox Browntravelled freight by fromRichmondto Philadelphia,reproduced the following textof the Narrativeof HenryBox Brown,Who Escaped fromSlaveryEnclosed in a Box 3 Feet Long and 2 Wide. Written froma Statement Facts of Made by Himself.WithRemarksupon the Remedyfor Slavery. By Charles Steams. (Boston: Brown & Stearns,1849). The verytitleof of Box Brown'sNarrative demonstrates something themixedmode of On see slave narratives. thequestionof thetextof Brown'snarrative also notes 4 and 12 below. 3 fromthemasterplan on E4 (he was Douglass' Narrativediverges himself slave who refused be whipped),E8 (slave auctionshapthe to his but penednot to fallwithin experience, he does talkof theseparation of mothers and children of and the systematic destruction slave and E10 (he refuses tellhow he escaped because to do so to families), would close one escape routeto thosestillin slavery;in the Lifeand Times of Frederick Douglass he reveals thathis escape was different fromthe conventionalone). For the purposesof the presentessay-

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and also, I think,in general-the Narrativeof 1845 is a much more book thanDouglass' two laterautobiographical and interesting a better texts:My Bondage and My Freedom(1855) and Life and Times of Frederick productions Douglass (1881). These lattertwo are diffuse (Bondage and Freedomis threeto fourtimeslongerthan Narrative, and Timesfiveto sixtimes thatdissipate focalized the longer) Life energy of the Narrative in lengthyaccounts of post-slaveryactivitiesof abolitionist speeches,recollections friends, tripsabroad, etc. In interesting ways it seemsto me thattherelativeweaknessof thesetwo weaknessin theextended version laterbooks is analogous to a similar of Richard Wright'sautobiography publishedas AmericanHunger conceivedas part of the same textas Black Boy). (orginally 4 This is true of the version labelled "first English edition"Narrative theLifeof HenryBox Brown,Written Himself (Manby of Lee American editionchester: & Glynn,1851)-but notoftheearlier Narrative HenryBox Brown,Who Escaped fromSlaveryEnclosed of in a Box 3 Feet Long and 2 Wide. Written froma Statement Facts of Made by Himself.WithRemarksupon the Remedyfor Slavery. By CharlesSteams. (Boston: Brown & Stearns,1849). On thebeginning of theAmericaneditionsee the discussionlaterin thisessay, and on the relationship betweenthe two textsof Brown'snarrative note see 12 below. 5 Douglass' Narrative begins this way. Neither Bondage and withtheexistential assertion.This Freedomnor Lifeand Timesstarts no meanstheonlyor themostimportant is one thing, one, though by the twobooks from category slave narrative. the of thatremoves latter It is as ifby 1855 and evenmoreby 1881 Frederick Douglass' existence and his identity were secureenoughand sufficiently knownthat well of and basic assertion. he no longerfeltthe necessity the first 6 With the exceptionof William Parker's"The Freedman's Story" in and Monthly) (published theFebruary March1866 issuesofAtlantic all thenarratives listed wereseparate Therearemanymore publications. brief"narratives"-so briefthat theyhardlywarrantthe title"nara rative": from single short to or paragraph three fourpagesin lengththatbeginwith "I was born"; thereare, forexample,twenty-five or suchin thecollection Benjamin of Drew published TheRefugee: as thirty A North-Side ViewofSlavery.I have nottried multiply instances to the minorexamples;thoselistedin thetextincludethemostimby citing portantof the narratives-Roper, Bibb, W. W. Brown, Douglass, Steward, Clarke, the Crafts-even Thompson, Ward, Pennington, itis generally is Williams, James though agreedthathisnarrative a fraud In on an unwitting Whittier. Greenleaf amanuensis,John perpetrated additionto thoselistedin the text,thereare a numberof othernarrativesthatbegin withonly slightvariationson the formulaic tag-

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of WilliamHayden:"Thesubject thisnarrative born";Moses Granwas nameis Moses Grandy;I was born";AndrewJackson: An"I, dy: "My drewJackson, born";Elizabeth was has Keckley: "Mylife beenan eventfulone. I was born"; Thomas L. Johnson: to "According information from mother, thereckoning correct, was born... if I " received is my moreinteresting theseis thevariation than Solomon Perhaps playedby Northup,who was born a freeman in New York State and was kidnot napped and sentintoslaveryfortwelveyears;thushe commences with"I was born"but with"Havingbeen borna freeman"-as itwere the participialcontingency that endows his narrative with a special and a markeddifference fromothernarratives. poignancy Thereis a nice and ironicturnon the"I was born"insistence the in rather foolishscene in Uncle Tom's Cabin (ChapterXX) when Topsy famously opinesthatshewas notmadebutjust"grow'd."Miss Ophelia catechizesher: " 'Wherewere you born?' 'Neverwas born!' persisted Topsy." Escaped slaves who hadn'tTopsy's peculiarcombinationof in Stowe-icresignation manichighspirits theface of an imposed and were impelledto assertover and over, "I non-existence non-identity, was born." 7 Douglass' titleis classic to the degreethatit is virtually repeated and inserting by HenryBibb, changing only thename in theformula to Narrative readers: "Adventures," presumably attract spectacle-loving theLifeand Adventures HenryBibb, An AmericanSlave, Writof of tenby Himself.Douglass' Narrative was publishedin 1845, Bibb's in from 1849. I suspectthatBibb derivedhis title directly Douglass. That ex-slaves their narratives wereaware of earlier writing productions by fellowex-slaves(and thuswere impelledto samenessin narrative by adduced imitation well as by the conditionsof narration as outright in thetext to above) is madeclearin thepreface TheLifeofJohn ThompHis son, A Fugitive Slave; Containing History 25 Yearsin Bondage, of and His Providential Publish(Worcester: by Escape. Written Himself to ed by John 1856), p. v: "It was suggested me about two Thompson, to relating manythemain factsrelativeto my bonyearssince,after thatit would be a desirable dage and escape to theland of freedom, to form.I first thing put thesefactsintopermanent soughtto discover in whathad been said by otherpartners bondage once, but in freedom now...." Withthisforewarning readershould not be surprised the of to discoverthatThompson'snarrative followstheconventions the formveryclosely indeed. 8 However much Douglass changed his narrativein successive conincarnations-theopeningparagraph,for example, underwent chose to retainthissentence siderable transformation-he intact.It occurson p. 52 of theNarrativeof theLifeof Frederick Douglass . . . ed. Benjamin Mass., 1960); on p. 132 ofMy BonQuarles (Cambridge,

70 dage and My Freedom,intro.PhilipS. Foner(New York, 1969); and on p. 72 of Lifeand Timesof Frederick W. Douglass, intro.Rayford Logan (New York, 1962). 9 For convenience have adopted thislistfromJohnF. Bayliss'inI to troduction Black Slave Narratives (New York, 1970), p. 18. As will be apparent,however,I do not agreewiththepointBaylisswishesto Marion Wilson Starling's makewithhis list. Having quoted from unpublished dissertation,"The Black Slave Narrative: Its Place in to American thattheslave narratives, exLiterary History," theeffect cept those from Equiano and Douglass, are not generallyvery as is distinguished literature, Baylisscontinues:"Starling beingunfair heresincethenarratives show a diversity interesting do of styles... The leading such WellsBrown, narratives, as thoseofDouglass,William to and Ball,Bibb,Henson,Northup, Pennington, Roperdeserve be cona sideredfora place in Americanliterature, place beyond themerely historical." Since Ball's narrative was written one "Mr. Fisher" and by showsa good Northup's David Wilson,and sinceHenson'snarrative by one deal of thecharlantry might a expectfrom man who billedhimself UncleTom,"itseemsat besta strategic as 'The Original error Bayliss for to includethemamongthoseslave narratives said to show thegreatest distinction. putit another To literary way, itwould be neither surprisnorspecially if meritorious Mr. Fisher whiteman),David Wilson (a ing (a whiteman), and JosiahHenson (The OriginalUncle Tom) were to of whentheir narratives put are display"a diversity interesting styles" thoseby Douglass, W. W. Brown,Bibb, Pennington, and alongside is fact, Roper.Butthereallyinteresting as I shallarguein thetext, that of theydo not show a diversity interesting styles. 10Here we discoveranotherminorbut revealingdetail of the convention itself. as itbecameconventional have a signto Just establishing and authenticating ed portrait so it became at least letters/prefaces, semi-conventional have an imprint to readingmore or less like this: "Boston:Anti-Slavery A 25 Cornhill." Cornhill addressis given Office, of thenarratives Douglass, WilliamWells Brown, for,amongothers, Box Brown,Thomas Jones, Josiah Henson,Moses Grandy,and James Williams. The lastofthese especially is it for, interesting although seems thathis narrative at leastsemi-fraudulent, is Williamsis on thispoint, as on so many others,altogether representative. 11Narrativeof HenryBox Brown.... (Boston: Brown& Stears, 25. 1849), p. 12 The question of thetextof Brown'sNarrative a good deal more is thanI have space to show, but thatcomplication rather complicated than invalidatesmy argument above. The textI analyze strengthens above was publishedin Boston in 1849. In 1851 a "first Englishedition"was publishedin Manchester withthespecification "Written by

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Himself."It would appear that in preparingthe Americanedition Steamsworkedfrom ms. copy ofwhatwould be published a twoyears lateras the first Englishedition-or fromsome ur-text lyingbehind both. In any case, Stearnshas laid on theTrue Abolitionist Stylevery a heavily,but thereis already,in the version"Written Himself," by mannerpresentin diction,syntax,and good deal of the abolitionist tone.Ifthefirst edition was really written Brownthiswould English by makehiscase parallelto thecase ofHenry Bibb,discussed below,where theabolitionist itself into the textand takes over the styleinsinuates even when thatis actuallydone by an ex-slave. styleof the writing This is not theplace forit, but therelationship betweenthetwo texts, thevariationsthatoccurin them,and theexplanation thosevariafor tionswould provide the subjectforan immensely interesting study. 13 Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup,a Citizen of New-York,Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, froma Cotton PlantationNear the Red River,in Louisiana in (Auburn: Derby & Miller,1853), p. xv. References the textare to thisfirst edition. 14 I am surprised thatRobertStepto,in his excellent analysisof the internal of book, doesn'tmake moreof workings theWilson/Northup thisquestion whereto locatetherealauthority thebook. See From of of Behindthe Veil: A Study of Afro-American Narrative(Urbana, Ill., 1979), pp. 11-16. Whether or readers intentionally not,Gilbert Osofsky badlymisleads of thebook unfortunately called Puttin'On Ole Massa when he fails to includethe"Editor'sPreface"by David Wilsonwithhis printing of TwelveYearsa Slave: Narrative SolomonNorthup. Thereis nothing of in Osofsky'stextto suggest thatDavid Wilsonor anyoneelse butNorto "Northuphad anything do withthe narrative-on the contrary: were demonstrate, thup,Brown,and Bibb, as theirautobiographies menof creativity, wisdomand talent.Each was capable of writing his lifestory withsophistication" On (Puttin' Ole Massa [NewYork,1969], does not writehis lifestory,either withor p. 44). Northupprecisely withoutsophistication, Osofskyis guiltyof badly obscuring and this fact.Osofsky'sliterary withtwo-thirds whichI do not of judgement, of agree,is that"The autobiographies Frederick Douglass, HenryBibb, and SolomonNorthupfuseimaginative of stylewithkeenness insight. and They are penetrating self-critical, autobiography any by superior standards"(p. 10). 15 To anticipate one possibleobjection,I would argue thatthecase is essentially with different The Autobiography Malcolm X, written of in were manythings common by Alex Haley. To put it simply,there and Malcolm X; between white amabetween Haley nuenses/editors/authors ex-slaves, on the other hand, almost and was shared. nothing

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Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, An AmericanSlave, Written Himself. Withan Introduction Lucius by by C. Matlack (New York: Publishedby the Author; 5 Spruce Street, edition. 1849), p. i. Page citationsin the textare fromthisfirst of It is a greatpitythatin modernreprintings slave narratives-the in Puttin' Ole Massa, forexample-the illustrations three Osofsky's On A in theoriginals omitted. modemreadermissesmuchof theflavor are so of a narrative like Bibb's when theillustrations, fullof pathos and and violence, tender not some exquisitecruelty sentiment, to mention on are not withthe text.The two illustrations p. 45 (captions: "Can a motherforget sucklingchild?" and "The tendermerciesof the her wicked are cruel"),the one on p. 53 ("Never mindthe money"),and theone on p. 81 ("My heartis almostbroken")can be takenas typical. in factabout theillustrations Bibb's narAn interesting psychological rativeis thatof the twenty-one involve some formof total,eighteen of or The uncaptioned illustration torture, brutality. physicalcruelty, is p. 133 of two naked slaves on whom some infernal punishment befeverish ingpractised saysmuchabout (in Matlack'sphrase)thereader's thirst gushing for from beautiful fountains "started beneaththerod of violence." 17 Or 1852, the date of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Harriet BeecherStowe a novelistic whenshe read one (justas David recognized kindred spirit Wilson/Solomon Uncle Northupdid). In 1851, when she was writing Tom's Cabin, Stowe wroteto Frederick Douglass sayingthatshe was for information about lifeon a cottonplantation hernovel: "I seeking have beforeme an able paper written a southern planterin which by thedetails& modus operandiare givenfromhis pointof sight-I am anxiousto have some morefrom another standpoint-I wishto be able to make a picture thatshallbe graphic& trueto naturein itsdetailsSuch a person as HenryBibb, if in thiscountry, mightgive me just I is thekindof information desire."This letter dated July 1851 and 9, froma photographic has been transcribed copy reproducedin Ellen Moers, HarrietBeecher Stowe and American Literature (Hartford, Conn.: Stowe-Day Foundation,1978), p. 14. 18 Since writingthe above, I discover that in his Life and Times of work,"Othello'socDouglass says of theconclusion his abolitionist was gone" (New York: Collier-Macmillan, 1962, p. 373), but cupation a matter from whitesponsor's the thisstillseemsto me rather different of invariant to allusionto Othelloin attesting thetruthfulness theblack account. narrator's A contemporary reviewerof The Interesting Narrativeof the Life or Gustavus Vassa, the Africanwrote,in The of Olaudah Equiano, Review (July GeneralMagazine and Impartial 1789), "This is 'a round of unvarnished tale'of thechequered adventures an African .... "(see
16

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appendixto vol. I of The Lifeof Olaudah Equiano, ed. Paul Edwards [London: Dawsons of Pall Mall, 1969]. Whittier, JohnGreenleaf thoughstungonce in his sponsorshipof Williams'Narrative, not shrink did from second,similar a venJames in note" to theAutobiography the ture,writing, his "introductory of Rev. JosiahHenson (Mrs. HarrietBeecherStowe's "Uncle Tom") also knownas UncleTom's StoryofHis LifeFrom1789 to 1879-"The earlylifeof theauthor,as a slave, . . . provesthatin theterrible picor turesof 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' thereis 'nothing extenuate aughtset down in malice"' (Boston: B. B. Russell & Co., 1879, p. viii). 19 Quoted by Philip S. Foner in the introduction My Bondage to and My Freedom,pp. xi-xii. 20 Both quotationsfromBenjaminQuarles, "The Breach Between XXIII (April1938), Journal NegroHistory, Douglass and Garrison," of p. 147, note 19, and p. 154. 21 The listis from Nichols'unpublished doctoraldissertation (Brown 1948), "A Study of the Slave Narrative,"p. 9. University, 22Black Boy: A Record Childhoodand Youth(New York, 1966), of p. 282.