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"I Was Born": Slave Narratives, Their Status as Autobiography and as LiteratureAuthor(s): James OlneySource: Callaloo, No. 20 (Winter, 1984), pp. 46-73Published by: The Johns Hopkins University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2930678 .Accessed: 14/06/2011 03:45

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46"I WAS BORN":SLAVE NARRATIVES, THEIR STATUS AS AUTOBIOGRAPHYAND AS LITERATURE*byJamesOlney

Anyonewho sets boutreading single lavenarrative,reventwoorthree lavenarratives,might eforgivenhenatural ssumptionhatevery uchnarrative illbe,orought obe,a uniqueproduction; or-so would go the unconsciousargument-are not slave narrativesautobiography,nd is notevery utobiographyheuniquetale,uni-quelytold,ofa unique life? fsucha reader houldproceedto takeup anotherhalfdozennarratives, owever and theres a great ot ofthem romwhich o choose thehalfdozen),a sensenot ofuniquenessbutofoverwhelmingameness s almostcertain o be theresult.Andifour reader continues hrough wo or threedozen moreslave nar-ratives, tillhavinghardly egun obroachthewholebodyofmaterial(one estimate utsthe number f extantnarrativest oversixthou-sand),he is sure to comeaway dazed bythemererepetitivenessf itall: seldomwillhe discover nything ewordifferentutonly, lwaysmore nd moreof the ame.This raises number fdifficultuestionsbothfor he tudentfautobiographynd the tudentfAfro-Americanliterature. hy hould henarratives e so cumulativendso invariant,so repetitivend so much alike? Are theslavenarratives lassifiableunder some larger grouping (are they historyor literatureorautobiography r polemicalwriting?nd whatrelationship o theselarger roupings ear to one another?); r do thenarrativesepresenta mutant evelopment eallydifferentn kind from nyothermodeofwritinghatmightnitiallyeemto relate othem s parent, s sibl-ing, s cousin,oras some other ormal elation?Whatnarrativemode,what manner fstory-telling,o we find n theslavenarratives,ndwhat s theplaceofmemory oth nthisparticular ariety fnarrativeand inautobiographymoregenerally?What s therelationshipftheslavenarratives o laternarrativemodes and later hematicomplexesofAfro-Americanriting? he questions remultiple nd manifold.I proposetocomeat them ndtooffer ometentative nswers yfirstmaking ome observations boutautobiographyndits pecialnatureas a memorial,reativect;then utliningomeofthe ommon hemesand nearly nvariable onventions fslavenarratives;nd finally t-temptingo determine heplace ofthe slavenarrative ) in thespec-*This ssaywillappear nThe Slave'sNarrative,d. CharlesT. Davisand HenryLouis Gates (New York: OxfordUniv. Press,1984).


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47trumof autobiographicalwriting, ) in the historyof Americanliterature,nd3) in themaking fan Afro-Americaniteraryradition.I haveargued lsewhere hat here remanydifferentaysthatwecan legitimatelynderstandheword and the act of autobiography;here,however, want to restrictmyself o a fairly onventional ndcommon-sensenderstandingfautobiography. will notattemptodefine autobiographybut merelyto describe a certain kind ofautobiographical erformance-not heonlykindby anymeansbutthe one thatwill allow us to reflectmostclearlyon whatgoes on inslave narratives. orpresent urposes,then, utobiographymaybeunderstood s a recollective/narrativect inwhich thewriter, roma certain oint nhis life-the present-, looks back overthe eventsofthat ife nd recounts hem nsuch a way as to show how thatpasthistory as led to thispresent tateofbeing.Exercisingmemory,norderthathe mayrecollect nd narrate, heautobiographers not aneutral nd passiverecorder ut rather creative nd activeshaper.Recollection, r memory,n thisway a most creativefaculty, oesbackward o thatnarrative,tstwin ndcounterpart, aygoforward:memorynd narrationmovealongthe ame ineonly nreverse irec-tions.Or as inHeraclitus,heway upandthewaydown,thewaybackand thewayforward,reone and the ame. When saythatmemoryisimmenselyreative do not mean that tcreates or tselfvents hatnever ccurredofcourse his anhappentoo,butthat sanothermat-ter).What I mean instead s thatmemory reates hesignificancefeventsndiscoveringhepatternntowhich hose vents all.And sucha pattern,nthe kindofautobiographywherememory ules,will bea teleological nebringings, inandthrough arration,ndas itwerebyan inevitable rocess,to the endofall pastmomentswhich s thepresent.t is inthe nterplayfpast and present, fpresentmemoryreflectingverpast experience n itsway tobecoming resent eing,that events are liftedout of time to be resituatednot in merechronological equencebut in patterned ignificance.Paul Ricoeur, n a paperon "Narrative nd Hermeneutics,"makesthepoint n a slightly ifferentaybut na waythat llows us to sortout theplace of time nd memory othin autobiographyngeneraland intheAfro-Americanlave narrativenparticular. Poiesis," c-cording o Ricoeur's nalysis, bothreflectsnd resolves heparadoxoftime";and he continues: Itreflectst to theextent hatthe act ofemplotmentombinesnvariousproportionswotemporal imensions,one chronologicalnd the othernon-chronological.he firstmaybecalled theepisodicdimension. t characterizeshestory s made outofevents.The second sthe onfigurationalimension,hanks o whichthe plot construes ignificant holes out of scattered vents."' Inautobiographyt is memory hat, n therecollectingnd retellingf


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48events, ffectsemplotment";t ismemory hat, haping hepastac-cording otheconfigurationfthepresent,sresponsible or the on-figurationalimension"hat construesignificantholes outofscat-tered vents." t is for hisreasonthat n a classicofautobiographicalliteratureikeAugustine's onfessions,or xample,memorys notonlythemodebutbecomes hevery ubject fthewriting.should magine,however, hat nyreader f slave narrativessmost mmediatelytruckby the almostcompletedominanceof "theepisodicdimension," henearly otal ack ofany "configurationalimension," nd the virtualabsenceofanyreferenceo memory r anysense thatmemory oesanything utmakethepast facts nd eventsof slavery mmediatelypresent o thewriter nd hisreader. Thus one often ets,"I can seeeven now .... I canstillhear. .. .," etc.)There sa verygoodreasonfor his, ut tsbeing verygoodreasondoesnotalter he onsequencethatthe slavenarrative,witha veryfewexceptions, endsto exhibita highlyonventional,igidlyixed orm hat earsmuch he amerela-tionship oautobiographyna full ense s painting ynumbers earsto painting s a creative ct.I say there s a good reason forthis, nd there s: The writer faslave narrative indshimselfn an irresolvablyight indas a resultofthevery ntention nd premise fhisnarrative,which s to giveapicture f"slavery s it s." Thus it s thewriter'slaim, t mustbe hisclaim,thathe is notemplotting,e isnotfictionalizing,nd he isnotperformingnyactofpoiesis =shaping, making).To givea truepic-tureofslavery s it itreally s, he mustmaintain hathe exercisesclear-glass, eutralmemoryhat s neither reative orfaulty-indeed,if t were creative t would be eo ipso faulty or"creative"would beunderstood y skeptical eaders s a synonym or"lying."Thus theex-slavenarrator s debarred rom se of a memory hatwould makeanything f his narrativebeyondor otherthanthepurely,merelyepisodic, nd he is denied ccess,bytheverynature nd intent fhisventure, o theconfigurationalimension fnarrative.Of the kindof memory entral o theact of autobiography s Idescribed tearlier,ErnstCassirerhas written: Symbolicmemorystheprocessbywhichman notonlyrepeatshispast experience ut alsoreconstructshis xperience.magination ecomes necessarylementoftrue ecollection."nthatword"imagination,"owever,iesthe okerfor an ex-slavewho would write he narrative fhis life n slavery.WhatwefindAugustine oing nBook XoftheConfessions-offeringup a disquisition n memory hatmakesbothmemorytself nd thenarrativehat tsurrounds ully ymbolic-wouldbe inconceivablena slave narrative. f course x-slaves o exercisememoryntheir ar-ratives,buttheynevertalk about itas Augustine oes, as Rousseaudoes,as Wordsworth oes,as Thoreaudoes, as HenryJames oes, as


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49a hundred ther utobiographersnottosaynovelistsikeProust)do.Ex-slavescannot talkabout it because of thepremises ccording owhichtheywrite,one of thosepremisesbeingthatthere s nothingdoubtful rmysteriousboutmemory: n thecontrary,t s assumedto be a clear,unfailing ecordofevents harpand distinct hatneedonlybe transformedntodescriptiveanguagetobecomethesequen-tialnarrative fa life nslavery. nthe ameway,the x-slavewritinghisnarrative annotafford oputthepresentnconjunctionwiththepast (againwithveryrarebutsignificantxceptions obe mentionedlater)forfear hat nso doinghe willappear,from hepresent, o bereshapingnd so distortingndfalsifyinghepast.As a result,he lavenarrative s mostoften non-memorial escription itted o a pre-formedmold, moldwith egular epressions ere ndequallyregularprominenceshere-virtuallybligatoryigures,cenes, urns fphrase,observances, nd authentications-thatarryover fromnarrative onarrative nd giveto them s a groupthespeciescharacter hat wedesignateby thephrase"slave narrative."What is thisspeciescharacter ywhich we mayrecognize slavenarrative? he most bviousdistinguishingark sthat t san extreme-lymixedproduction ypically ncluding ny or all of thefollowing:an engravedportrait r photograph f thesubjectof thenarrative;authenticatingestimonials,refixedrpostfixed;poeticpigraphs,nat-chesofpoetrynthetext, oemsappended; llustrationsefore,nthemiddleof,or after he narrativetself;2nterruptionsfthe narrativeproperby way ofdeclamatory ddresses o thereaderand passagesthat s to stylemightwell comefrom n adventure tory, romance,or a novelofsentiment; bewildering ariety fdocuments-lettersto and from henarrator, ills of sale, newspaper lippings,noticesof slave auctions and of escaped slaves, certificatesfmarriage, fmanumission, f birth nd death,wills,extracts rom egal codes-that ppearbefore hetext, n the text tself,nfootnotes,nd in ap-pendices; nd sermons ndanti-slaverypeeches ndessaystackedonat theend to demonstrateost-narrativectivities fthenarrator.npointing ut theextremelymixednatureof slave narratives ne im-mediatelyhas to acknowledge how mixed and impure classicautobiographiesre orcanbe also. The lastthree ooks ofAugustine'sConfessions, or xample, re ina different ode from herestofthevolume, and Rousseau's Confessions,whichbeginsas a novelisticromance nd ends in a paranoidshambles, an hardlybe consideredmodally onsistentnd all ofa piece.Or ifmention smade of the et-ters refatoryndappended oslavenarratives,hen ne thinksuicklyofthe etters t the divideofFranklin's utobiography,whichhavemuch he ameextra-textualxistence s letterstopposite ndsofslavenarratives. ut all this aid,we mustrecognize hatthe narrativeet-


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ters rthe ppended ermons aven't he ame ntentions theFranklinlettersrAugustine'sxegesis fGenesis; ndfurther, ore mportant,all themixed,heterogeneous,eterogenericlementsnslave narrativescome to be so regular, o constant, o indispensableo the mode thatthey inallystablish setofconventions-a series fobservanceshatbecomevirtually e riguer-forslave narratives ntothemselves.The conventions or slave narrativeswere so earlyand so firmlyestablishedhatone can imagine sortofmaster utlinedrawnfromthegreatnarrativesndguiding he esser nes. Such an outlinewouldlook somethingike this:

A. An engravedportrait, ignedby thenarrator.B. A title age that ncludes heclaim,as an integral artoftheti-tle, WrittenyHimself"orsome close variant: Writtenrom state-ment fFactsMade byHimself"; r "Writteny a Friend, s Relatedto Himby BrotherJones"; tc.)C. A handful f testimonialsnd/or one or moreprefaces r in-troductions ritten ither ya white bolitionist riend fthenarrator(WilliamLloydGarrison,WendellPhillips)or by a white manuen-sis/editor/authorctually esponsibleor he extJohn reenleafWhit-tier, avidWilson,LouisAlexisChamerovzow),nthe ourse fwhichpreface he reader s told that the narratives a "plain,unvarnishedtale" ndthatnaught hasbeen etdown nmalice,nothing xaggerated,nothing rawnfrom he magination"-indeed, hetale, t s claimed,understateshe horrors f slavery.D. A poetic epigraph,by preferenceromWilliamCowper.E. The actualnarrative:

1. a firstentence eginning,I was born ... ," then pecifyingplace but not a date ofbirth;2. a sketchyccountofparentage,,ften nvolving whitefather;3. descriptionf a cruelmaster,mistress,roverseer, etails f firstobservedwhippingnd numerous ubsequentwhippings, ithwomenveryfrequentlyhevictims;4. an accountofone extraordinarilytrong,hardworkinglave-often pureAfrican"-who,because there s no reason for t,refusesto be whipped;5. recordofthe barriers aisedagainst lave literacynd the over-whelming ifficultiesncounteredn learning o read and write;6. descriptionfa "Christian" laveholderoften fone suchdyingin terror) nd theaccompanying laim that "Christian" laveholdersare invariablyworse than thoseprofessing o religion;7. descriptionfthe mounts nd kindsof food and clothing ivento slaves,the workrequiredof them, hepattern f a day, a week,a year;


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518. account of a slave auction, of familiesbeing separatedanddestroyed, fdistraughtmothers lingingo their hildren s they retornfrom hem,of slave coffles eingdrivenSouth;9. descriptionfpatrols,offailed ttempt(s) o escape, ofpursuitbymenand dogs;10. descriptionfsuccessful ttempt(s) o escape, lyingby duringtheday, travellingynight uidedby theNorthStar,receptionnafree tateby Quakerswho offer lavish breakfast nd muchgenialthee/thou onversation;11. taking fa new astname frequentlyne suggested ya whiteabolitionist)oaccordwithnewsocial dentitys a freeman,butreten-tion of first ame as a markof continuityf individual dentity;12. reflectionsn slavery.F. An appendix rappendices omposed fdocumentary aterial-billsofsale,detailsofpurchase rom lavery,newspaper tems-, fur-ther eflectionsnslavery, ermons,nti-slaverypeeches, oems,ap-peals to the readerforfunds nd moralsupport n the battleagainstslavery.AboutthisMaster Planfor lave Narratives"the rony fthephras-ing beingneitherunintentional or insignificant)wo observationsshould be made: First, hat t notonlydescribes atherooselya greatmany esser arratives ut that talso describesuiteclosely hegreatestof them ll,Narrative ftheLifeofFrederick ouglass,AnAmericanSlave, Writteny Himself,3 hichparadoxically ranscendshe slavenarrativemode whilebeingat the same time tsfullest,mostexactrepresentative;econd,thatwhat sbeingrecounted nthenarrativesisnearly lwaystherealities fthe nstitutionfslavery, lmostneverthe ntellectual,motional,moralgrowth f thenarratorhere, s often,Douglasssucceeds nbeing n exceptionwithout easing o be thebestexample:hegoesbeyond he inglententionfdescribinglavery, uthe also describes tmoreexactly nd moreconvincinglyhananyoneelse). The livesofthenarrativesrenever,or almostnever, here orthemselvesnd for heir wn ntrinsic,nique nterestutnearly lwaysintheir apacity s illustrationsfwhatslavery s really ike.Thus inone sensethenarrativeivesofthe ex-slaveswere as muchpossessedand used by the abolitionists s theiractual lives had been byslaveholders.This is whyJohnBrown'sstory s titledSlave Life nGeorgiaand onlysubtitledA Narrative f theLife,Sufferings,ndEscapeofJohn rown,A Fugitive lave," and it swhyCharlesBall'sstory which reads like historicalfictionbased on very extensiveresearch)scalledSlavery n theUnited tates,with he omewhat x-tended ubtitleANarrativeftheLife ndAdventuresfCharlesBall,A BlackMan,wholivedforty ears nMaryland, outhCarolinaand

Georgia,as a slave, undervariousmasters, nd was one yearin the


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52navywithCommodoreBarney, uring he ate war.Containingn ac-countof the manners nd usagesoftheplanters nd slaveholders ftheSouth-a descriptionf thecondition nd treatmentf the laves,with bservationsponthe tate fmorals mongsthe otton lanters,andtheperils ndsufferingsf a fugitivelave,who twice scapedfromthe cottoncountry."The central ocusofthesetwo, as ofnearly llthenarratives,s slavery, n institutionnd an external eality, atherthan particularnd individual ife s it s known nternallynd sub-jectively. his means hat nlike utobiographyngeneralhenarrativesare all trainedon one and the same objectivereality, heyhave acoherentnd definedudience, hey ave behind hemndguidingheman organizedgroupof "sponsors,"and theyare possessedof veryspecificmotives, ntentions,nd uses understood ynarrators,pon-sors,and audience like: to revealthetruth fslavery nd so tobringabout its abolition.How, then, ould the narratives e anything utverymuch ike one another?Severalof theconventionsf slave-narrative ritingstablished ythis riangular elationshipfnarrator, udience, ndsponsors nd thelogicthatdictates evelopment fthose onventionswillbear andwillreward closer scrutiny.The conventions have in mind are boththematicnd formal ndthey end o turn pas oftenn theparapher-naliasurroundinghenarratives s inthenarrativeshemselves. havealreadyremarkedn theextra-textualetterso commonly ssociatedwith lave narrativesnd havesuggestedhat heyhavea differentogicabout themfrom he ogicthatallows or impelsFranklin o includesimilarlylien documentsn hisautobiography;he ame strue f thesigned ngraved ortraitsrphotographso frequentlyobefound sfrontispiecesnslave narratives. heportraitndthe ignaturewhichone mightwell find in othernineteenth-centuryutobiographicaldocuments ut withdifferent otivation),ike theprefatorynd ap-pended etters,he titular ag"WrittenyHimself,"nd thestandardopening"I was born,"are intended o attest o thereal existence fa narrator,he ensebeing hat he status fthenarrativewill be con-tinually alled ntodoubt,so itcannotevenbegin,until henarrator'srealexistencesfirmlystablished. f course he rgumentfthe lavenarrativess that heeventsnarrated re factual nd truthfulnd thatthey llreallyhappened othenarrator,utthis sa second-stagergu-ment;prior otheclaim oftruthfulnesssthe imple, xistentiallaim:"I exist."Photographs, ortraits, ignatures, uthenticatingetters llmakethe sameclaim: "This man exists."Onlythen an thenarrativebegin.And how do mostofthem ctuallybegin?Theybeginwith heexistential laimrepeated."I was born"are thefirstwords ofMosesRoper'sNarrative,ndthey re ikewise hefirst ordsofthenarrativesofHenryBibband HarrietJacobs, fHenryBoxBrown4ndWilliam


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53WellsBrown,ofFrederick ouglass5 ndJohn hompson,ofSamuelRinggoldWard and JamesW. C. Pennington,fAustinSteward ndJames oberts, fWilliamGreen nd WilliamGrimes, f LevinTilmonand PeterRandolph,of LouisHughesand LewisClarke,ofJohnAn-drewJacksonndThomasH. Jones,fLewisCharltonnd NoahDavis,ofJamesWilliamsand WilliamParkerand Williamand Ellen Craft(where heopening ssertionsvariedonly othe xtent fsaying, Mywife and myselfwereborn").6We can see thenecessity orthisfirst nd mostbasic assertion nthepartoftheex-slave n thecontraryituation fan autobiographerlikeBenjamin ranklin.While nyreaderwas free odoubtthemotivesofFranklin'smemoir, o one coulddoubthisexistence,nd so Franklinbeginsnotwith nyclaimsorproofs hathewas bornand nowreallyexistsbut withan explanation fwhyhe has chosento write uch adocument s the one in hand. With theex-slave,however, t was hisexistencendhis dentity,ot hisreasonsforwriting,hatwere calledintoquestion: f theformer ould be established he atterwould beobvious nd the ame from nenarrativeoanother. ranklinites ourmotives orwriting is book (tosatisfy escendants'uriosity;oofferan example oothers; oprovidehimselfhepleasure frelivingventsin thetelling; o satisfy is own vanity), nd while one can findnar-ratives yex-slaves hatmight ave in them omethingfeachofthesemotives-JamesMars, forexample, displays n partthefirst f themotives,Douglass inpartthe econd,JosiahHenson npartthethird,andSamuelRinggoldWard npart hefourth-the ruthsthatbehindevery lave narrative hat sinanywaycharacteristicrrepresentativethere s the one same persistentnd dominantmotivation,which sdeterminedythe nterplayfnarrator,ponsors, nd audienceandwhich tself etermineshenarrative ntheme, ontent,ndform.Thetheme s thereality fslavery nd thenecessity fabolishing t; thecontentsa series fevents nd descriptionshatwillmakethereadersee and feelthe realities fslavery;and the form s a chronological,episodicnarrative eginningwithan assertion f existence nd sur-roundedby various testimonialvidencesforthat assertion.In the itle nd subtitlefJohn rown'snarrativeited arlier-SlaveLife nGeorgia:A Narrative ftheLife, ufferings,ndEscapeofJohnBrown,A Fugitive lave-we seethat hetheme romises o be treatedon two levels,as itwere titular nd subtitular: he social or institu-tionaland thepersonalor individual.Whattypically appens n theactualnarratives,specially hebestknown ndmostreliable fthem,is that the social theme, herealityof slaveryand thenecessity fabolishingt,trifurcatesn thepersonal eveltobecome subthemes fliteracy,dentity,ndfreedom hich, hough otobviously ndat firstsight losely elatedmatters, everthelessead intooneanothernsuch


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54a way that hey ndup being ltogethernterdependentnd virtuallyindistinguishables thematictrands.Here,as so often, ouglass'Nar-rativesatonce thebest xample, he xceptionalase,and the upremeachievement. he full itle fDouglass'book is itself lassic: Narrativeof theLifeof Frederick ouglass, An AmericanSlave, Written yHimself.7 here s much more to thephrase"writtenyhimself,"fcourse,than the mere aconicstatement f a fact: t is literally partof thenarrative, ecomingn importanthematic lementn theretell-ingof the ifewherein iteracy, dentity,nd a senseoffreedom reallacquired imultaneouslynd without hefirst,ccordingoDouglass,the atter wo would neverhave been. The dual factof literacy ndidentity"written"nd "himself")eflects ack on theterriblerony fthephrasein apposition,"An AmericanSlave": How can both ofthese-"American" and "Slave"-be true?And this n turn arriesusback to thename,"Frederick ouglass,"which s written ll aroundthenarrative:nthe itle, nthe ngraved ortrait,nd as the astwordsofthe text:Sincerely nd earnestly opingthat this ittlebook may dosomethingoward hrowingight n theAmerican lavesystem,

and hasteninghegladday ofdeliverance o themillions fmybrethrennbonds-faithfully elying pon thepoweroftruth,love,and justice, or uccess nmyhumble fforts-and olemn-ly pledgingmyselfnewtothe acred ause,--I subscribemyself,FREDERICK DOUGLASS

"I subscribemyself"-Iwritemyselfdown in etters, underwrite yidentitynd my verybeing, s indeed have done inand all throughtheforegoingarrative hathasbroughtme to thisplace,thismoment,this stateofbeing.The ability o utterhisname,and moresignificantlyo utter t inthemysteriousharacters n a page where t will continue o soundinsilence o longas readers ontinue oconstrue he haracters,s whatDouglass'Narrative sabout,for nthat ettered tterances assertionof dentitynd in dentitysfreedom-freedomrom lavery, reedomfrom gnorance, reedom romnon-being, reedom venfrom ime.WhenWendellPhillips,na standardetter refatoryoDouglass'Nar-rative, aysthat n thepasthehas alwaysavoidedknowingDouglass'"real name and birthplace"because it is "still dangerous, inMassachusetts, orhonestmento tell theirnames,"one understandswell enoughwhat he meansby "yourrealname"and thedangeroftellingt-"Nobody knowsmyname,"JamesBaldwinsays. Andyetin a very mportantway Phillips s profoundlywrong,forDouglasshad beensayinghis "real name" ever sinceescapingfrom lavery n


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55theway in whichhe wentaboutcreatingnd asserting is dentitysa freeman: Frederick ouglass. In theNarrative esayshis real namenot whenherevealsthathe "was born" Frederick aileybut when heputshis ignatureelow hisportraitefore hebeginningnd subscribeshimselfgain after he end of the narrative.Douglass' name-changesand self-namingre highlyrevealing t each stage in his progress:"Frederick ugustusWashington ailey" by the namegivenhimbyhismother, ewas known s "Frederickailey"orsimply Fred"whilegrowing p; he escapedfrom laveryunderthe name"Stanley,"butwhen he reachedNew York took the name "Frederick ohnson." Hewas marriednNew York underthatname-and givesa copyofthemarriage ertificatenthetext-by theRev.J.W. C. Pennington hohad himselfscapedfrom lavery ome tenyearsbeforeDouglass andwho wouldproducehis own narrativeomefouryears fter ouglass.)Finally,nNew Bedford, e found oomanyJohnsonsnd so gave tohishost oneofthe oomany-NathanJohnson)heprivilegefnam-inghim, but oldhimhe mustnottakefromme thenameof Frederick.'I mustholdon tothat, opreserve senseofmy dentity." hus a newsocial identity ut a continuityfpersonal dentity.

In narratinghe eventsthatproducedbothchangeand continuityin his life,Douglass regularly eflects ack and forthand here he isverymuchthe xception) rom hepersonwritten bout to thepersonwriting, rom narrative fpast events o a present arrator rownout of thoseevents. n onemarvellously evealing assagedescribingthe old he sufferedroms a child,Douglasssays, My feethave beenso crackedwiththefrost,hat hepenwithwhich amwritingmightbe laidinthegashes."One might e inclined oforgethat t s a vastlydifferentersonwritingrom hepersonwrittenbout,but t sa verysignificantnd immenselyffectiveeminderorefero thewritingn-struments a way ofrealizing he distancebetween heliterate, r-ticulatewriter nd the illiterate,narticulateubjectof thewriting.Douglasscouldhave said that he oldcaused esionsnhisfeet quarterofan inchacross,but in choosing hewritingnstrumenteld at thepresentmoment-"thepen withwhich am writing"-byone nowknownto theworld as Frederick ouglass, he dramatizeshow farremovedheisfrom heboyonce called Fred and other,worsenames,ofcourse)with racks nhis feet nd withno moreusefor penthanfor nyof theother igns ndappendages f the ducation hathe hadbeen deniedand thathe would finally cquireonlywiththegreatestdifficultyutalso withthegreatest,mosttellinguccess, s we feel nthequalityofthenarrative owflowing rom he iteral nd symbolicpenheholds nhis hand. Here we have iteracy,dentity,ndfreedom,theomnipresenthematicrioofthemost mportantlavenarratives,all conveyed n a single tartlingmage.8


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56There s, however, nlyone Frederickouglass amongthe x-slaveswho told their tories nd thestoryofslavery n a singlenarrative,and in even the best known, most highlyregardedof the othernarratives-those, or xample, yWilliamWellsBrown,CharlesBall,HenryBibb,JosiahHenson,SolomonNorthup,J.W. C. Pennington,andMoses Roper--all the conventions reobserved-conventions fcontent, heme, orm, nd style-but theyremain ustthat: conven-tionsuntransformednd unredeemed. he first hree fthese onven-tional spectsof thenarrativesre,as I havealready uggested, rettyclearly eterminedytherelationshipetween henarrator imselfndthose have termed hesponsors as well as theaudience)ofthe nar-rative.Whenthe abolitionists nvited n ex-slave to tell his story fexperiencen slaveryto an anti-slaveryonvention, nd whentheysubsequentlyponsored heappearanceofthatstory nprint,10heyhad certain learexpectations, ellunderstood ythemselvesndwellunderstood ythe x-slave oo,about theproper ontentobe observ-ed,theproper heme o bedeveloped, ndtheproper orm obe follow-ed. Moreover,content, heme, nd formdiscovered arlyon an ap-propriate tyle nd thatappropriate tylewas also thepersonal tyledisplayedby thesponsoring bolitionistsn the etters nd introduc-tions heyprovided o generously or henarratives.t is notstrange,ofcourse, hat he tyle f an introductionnd the tyle fa narrativeshouldbe one andthe ame nthose ases where ntroductionnd nar-rativewerewritten y the sameperson-Charles Stears writingn-troductionndnarrativefBoxBrown, or xample, r David Wilsonwriting reface nd narrative fSolomonNorthup.Whatis strange,perhaps, nda gooddeal more nteresting,sthe nstancenwhich hestyleof theabolitionist ntroducerarriesover intoa narrative hatiscertifieds "WrittenyHimself,"nd this atternstances notnear-lyso isolated s onemightnitially uppose.I want to looksomewhatclosely t three ariations n stylisticnterchangehat take torepre-sentmoreor essadequately he pectrumfpossiblerelationshipse-tweenprefatorytyle nd narrative tyle, r moregenerally etweensponsor nd narrator:HenryBox Brown,where hepreface nd nar-rative rebothclearlyn themanner fCharles tearns; olomonNor-thup,wheretheenigmatical reface nd narrative, lthoughnot soclearly s inthecase of BoxBrown, re nevertheless oth ntheman-nerof David Wilson;andHenryBibb,where he ntroductions sign-edbyLuciusC. Matlack and theauthor'spreface yHenryBibb,andwherethenarrative s "WrittenyHimself"-butwhere lso a singlestylesincontrol f ntroduction,uthor's reface,ndnarrativelike.HenryBox Brown'sNarrative,we are told on thetitle-page,wasWRITTEN FROM ASTATEMENT OF FACTS MADE BY HIMSELF.WITH REMARKS UPON THE REMEDY FOR SLAVERY.BY CHARLES STEARNS.


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57Whethert s intentionalrnot,theorder f the lementsnd thepunc-tuation f this ubtitlewithfull topsafterines two and three)makeitveryunclearustwhat sbeing laimed boutauthorshipndstylisticresponsibilityorthe narrative.Presumably he "remarks pon theremedy or lavery" rebyCharles Stearnswhowas also, at 25 Cor-nhill,Boston,thepublisher f theNarrative), ut this itle-pageouldwell eavea reader ndoubt bout theparty esponsibleor he tylisticmanner fthenarration. uch doubtwillsoon be dispelled,however,ifthereaderproceedsfromCharlesStearns' preface" oBoxBrown's"narrative"oCharlesStearns' remarkspontheremedy or lavery."The preface s a mostpoetic,mosthigh-flown,mostgrandiloquentperorationhat,once crankedup, carries ight ver nto and throughthenarrative o issue ntheappendedremarkswhichcome to an endin a REPRESENTATION OF THE BOX in whichBox Brown wastransportedromRichmond o Philadelphia.Thus from hepreface:"Not for hepurposeofadministeringoa prurientesire o hearandsee some newthing,' or to gratify nyinclination n thepartoftheheroofthefollowingtory o be honoredbyman, is this imple ndtouching arrative ftheperilsofa seeker fter he boon of iberty,'introduced o thepubliceye . ... ," etc.-the sentence oes on threetimesonger han his xtract, escribings itproceeds thehorrid uf-feringsfoneas, ina portable rison, hut ut from he ight fheaven,and nearly deprived of its balmy air, he pursued his fearfuljourney. ... " As isusual insuchprefaces,we are addresseddirectlybythe uthor: O reader, s youperuse hisheart-rendingale, etthetearofsympathyollfreelyromyour yes,and let thedeepfountainsofhumanfeeling,whichGod has implantednthebreast fevery onanddaughter fAdam,burst orth rom heir nclosure, ntil streamshallflowtherefromn to thesurrounding orld,ofso invigoratingandpurifyingnature,s to arousefromhe death fthe in'of lavery,and cleansefrom hepollutions hereof,ll with whomyou maybeconnected."Wemaynotbe overwhelmedythe enseof this entencebut surelywe must be by its richrhetoricalmanner.The narrativetself,which sall first erson nd "theplainnarrativeof our friend," s thepreface ays, begins n thismanner:I amnotabout to harrow hefeelings fmyreadersbya ter-rific epresentationfthe untoldhorrors fthatfearfulystemofoppression, hich or hirty-threeongyears ntwinedts nakyfolds boutmysoul,as the erpent fSouth America oils itselfaround theform fitsunfortunateictim. t is notmy purposetodescenddeeply nto the darkandnoisome cavernsofthehellofslavery, nd dragfrom heir rightfulbode those ostspiritswho hauntthesouls ofthepoor slaves,dailyand nightlywiththeir rightfulresence, nd withthe fearful oundof their er-


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58rific nstrumentsf torture; or otherpensfar ablerthan minehaveeffectuallyerformedhatportion fthe aborofan exposerof the enormities f slavery.Sufficet to say of thispieceoffinewritinghatthepen-than whichtherewereothers ar bler-was heldnotbyBox BrownbutbyCharlesStearns ndthat tcouldhardly e furtheremoved han t s from hepenheldbyFrederick ouglass, thatpenthat ould have been aid inthegashes n hisfeetmadebythecold. At one point n hisnarrativeBox Brown s made tosay (after escribing ow hisbrotherwas turn-ed away from streamwiththe remark We do not allow niggers o

fish"), Nothingdaunted,however,by thisrebuff,mybrotherwentto another lace, andwas quitesuccessfuln hisundertaking,btain-inga plentifulupplyofthefinnyribe."" tmaybe thatBox Brown'sstorywas toldfrom a statementf factsmadebyhimself," utafterthosefactshave beendressedup in theexoticrhetorical arments ro-videdbyCharles Stearns here s precious ittle f Box Brown otherthantherepresentationfthebox itself) hatremainsn thenarrative.And indeed for everyfact there are pages of self-conscious,elf-gratifying,elf-congratulatoryhilosophizing y CharlesStearns, othat f there s any lifehere at all it is the ifeof thatmanexpressedin his veryown overheated nd foolishprose.12David Wilson sa gooddeal morediscreet hanCharles tearns, ndtherelationship f prefaceto narrativen Twelve Years a Slave isthereforegreat ealmore uestionable,utalsomore nteresting,hanintheNarrative fHenryBox Brown. Wilson'sprefaces a page anda half ong;Northup'snarrative,with songat theend and three rfourappendices, s threehundred hirty ages long. In theprefaceWilson ays,"Manyof the tatementsontainedn thefollowing agesare corroborated y abundantevidence-othersrestentirely ponSolomon's ssertion. hathe has adhered trictlyo the ruth,he ditor,at least,who has had an opportunityfdetectingnycontradictionor discrepancynhis statements,s well satisfied.He has invariablyrepeated the same story without deviating in the slightestparticular.... "13Now Northup'snarrative s not onlya very ongone but sfilledwith vastamountofcircumstantialetail, ndhenceitstrains reader's redulityomewhat o be toldthathe "invariablyrepeated he amestorywithout eviatingnthe lightestarticular."Moreover, ince thestyleofthenarrativeas I shall argue n a mo-ment) sdemonstrablyotNorthup's wn,wemightwellsuspect fill-ing nandfleshinguton thepartof-perhapsnot the onliebegetter"but at least-the actualauthor fthenarrative. ut this s notthemostinterestingspectof Wilson'sperformancentheprefacenorthe onethatwillrepayclosestexamination.That comeswiththe conclusionof theprefacewhich reads as follows:


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59It isbelievedthat hefollowingccountofhis [Northup's] x-perience n Bayou Boeufpresents correct icture f Slavery,inall its ights nd shadows,as itnow existsn that ocality.Un-

biased,as heconceives,by anyprepossessionsrprejudices, heonlyobjectof the editorhas been to give a faithful istory fSolomonNorthup's ife,as he received t fromhis lips.Inthe ccomplishmentf that bject,he trusts e hassucceeded, ot-withstandinghenumerous aults fstyle nd ofexpressiontmaybefound to contain.To sortout,as far s possible,what sbeing sserted erewe woulddo well to startwiththe finalsentence,whichis relatively asy tounderstand.To acknowledgefaults n a publication nd to assumeresponsibilityor hems of course commonplace esturenprefaces,thoughwhythequestionofstyle nd expressionhould be so impor-tant n giving"a faithful istory" f someone'slife"as . . . receiv-ed . . . from is ips" s notquiteclear;presumablyhevirtues fstyleandexpressionresuperadded o thefaithfulistoryogive twhateverliterarymeritstmay lay claimto, and insofar s thesefallshort heauthor feels the need to acknowledgeresponsibilitynd apologize.Nevertheless,uttinghis mbiguityside,theresno doubt boutwhoisresponsible orwhat n this entence,which, f might eplacepro-nounswithnames,would read thus:"In theaccomplishmentfthatobject,David Wilsontrustshathe [DavidWilson]hassucceeded,not-withstandinghenumerous aults fstyle ndofexpressionforwhichDavid Wilsonassumesresponsibility]tmaybe foundby thereadertocontain."Thetwoprecedingentences, owever, realtogetherm-penetrable oth in syntax nd in theassertion heyare presumablydesigned o make. Castingthefirsttatements a passiveone ("It isbelieved . .") and danglinga participle n the second ("Unbias-ed . . . "), so thatwe cannotknow in either ase towhomthe state-ment hould be attached,Wilson succeeds n obscuring ntirely heauthority eingclaimedforthenarrative.14t would take too muchspacetoanalyze he yntax,hepsychologyonemight, owever, lanceat thefamiliar se ofNorthup'sgivenname), and the senseof theseaffirmations,ut I would challengeanyone to diagramthe secondsentence"Unbiased . . ") withany assurance at all.As to thenarrative o whichtheseprefatoryentences efer:Whenwe get a sentence ike this one describingNorthup'sgoing into aswamp-"My midnightntrusion ad awakened the featheredribes[near elativesfthefinnyribe' fBoxBrown/Charlesteams],whichseemed othrong hemorass nhundreds fthousands, nd their ar-rulous hroats ouredforth uchmultitudinousounds-therewas sucha flutteringfwings-such sullenplungesnthewater ll aroundme-that was affrightednd appalled" (p. 141)-when we get such a


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60sentencewe maythinktpretty inewritingnd awfully iterary, utthefinewriters clearlyDavid Wilsonrather hanSolomonNorthup.Perhaps betternstance fthewhite manuensis/sentimentalovelistlaying ismanneredtyle verthefaithfulistorys received romNor-thup's ips s to be found nthisdescriptionfa Christmas elebrationwhere hugemealwas providedby one slaveholder or lavesfromsurroundinglantations: Theyseat themselvest the rustic able-themaleson oneside,thefemales ntheother.The twobetweenwhomtheremayhavebeenan exchange ftenderness,nvariablymanagetositopposite;for heomnipresentupiddisdainsnot tohurlhis arrowsintothesimpleheartsof slaves" (p. 215). The entire assage shouldbe consulted o getthe fulleffect f Wilson'sstylistic xtravaganceswhen he pullsthestopsout,butanyreader houldbe forgivenwhodeclines obelievethat his astclause,with tsreferenceo"the implehearts f slaves" ndits elf-conscious,nvertedyntax"disdains ot"),was writtenysomeonewhohad recently een in slaveryfortwelveyears. Red,"weare toldbyWilson'sNorthup,isdecidedlyhefavoritecoloramongthe nslaveddamselsofmyacquaintance. fa red ribbondoes notencircleheneck,youwillbe certainofind ll thehairoftheirwoolyheads tiedup withredstringsfone sortor another"p. 214).In the light of passages like these, David Wilson's apology for"numerous aults fstyle nd ofexpression" akeson all sortsof in-terestingewmeaning.The rustic able,theomnipresentupid, thesimplehearts fslaves,andthewoollyheadsofenslaveddamsels, ikethefinnyndfeatheredribes,mightomefromnysentimentalovelof thenineteenthentury-one,say, by HarrietBeecher towe; andso it comes as no great surprise o read on thededicationpage thefollowing: To Harriet eecher towe: WhoseName,ThroughoutheWorld, s Identified ith heGreatReform: hisNarrative,AffordingAnotherKeytoUncleTom'sCabin,Is Respectfullyedicated."Whilenotsurprising,iven he tyle fthenarrative,hisdedication oes lit-tletoclarifyhe uthorityhatwe areaskedtodiscover nand behindthenarrative, nd thededication, ike thepervasive tyle, alls intoseriousquestionthe status fTwelveYearsa Slave as autobiographyand/or iterature.15

ForHenryBibb'snarrative ucius C. Matlacksupplied n introduc-tion n a mighty oeticveininwhichhe reflects n theparadoxthatoutofthehorrors fslaveryhave come somebeautiful arrative ro-ductions."Gushingfountains f poetic thought,have startedfrombeneath herod ofviolence, hatwill ongcontinue oslake thefeverishthirstfhumanityutraged, ntil welling oa flood t shallrushwithwasting iolenceover the ll-gotteneritage ftheoppressor. tartlingincidentsuthenticated,arexcelling ictionntheir ouching athos,from hepenofself-emancipatedlaves,do nowexhibitlaveryn such


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61revoltingspects,as to securetheexecrations f all good men,andbecomea monumentmoreenduringhanmarble, ntestimonytrongas sacredwrit gainst t."16 he pictureMatlackpresentsfan outrag-edhumanitywith feverishhirst orgushing ountainstarted p bytherodofviolence s a peculiar neand one that eems, sychologicallyspeaking,not very healthy.At any rate, the narrativeto whichMatlack'sobservations aveimmediate eference as, as hesays,fromthepen ofa self-emancipatedlave (self-emancipatedeveraltimes),and tdoes ndeed ontain tartlingncidents ithmuch ouchingathosaboutthem;butthereally urious hing boutBibb'snarratives thatitdisplaysmuchthe ameflorid, entimental,eclamatoryhetoricswe find n ghostwrittenr as-told-tonarratives nd also in prefacessuch as thoseby CharlesStearns,Louis Alexis Chamerovzow,andLuciusMatlack himself. onsider heaccountBibbgivesofhiscourt-shipandmarriage.Havingdeterminedya hundred igns hatMalin-da lovedhimeven as he loved her-"I could read tbyher lways giv-ingmethepreferencef hercompany; byherpressingnvitations ovisiteven in oppositionto her mother'swill. I could read it in thelanguageofherbrightndsparkling ye, penciledbytheunchangablefingerfnature, hat pakebut couldnot ie" pp. 34-35)-Bibb decid-ed to speak and so, as he says, "broachedthesubjectofmarriage":I said, "I neverwillgive myheartnor hand to anygirl nmar-riage, ntil first nowher entimentsponthe ll-importantub-jectsofReligion nd Liberty.No matter ow well I mightoveher,norhowgreat he sacrificencarryinguttheseGod-givenprinciples.And I herepledgemyself rom his course never tobe shakenwhile a singlepulsation fmyheart hallcontinue o

throbforLiberty."And didhis "deargirl"funk hechallenge husproposedbyBibb?Far from t-if anything he proved morehigh-mindedhan Bibbhimself.Withthis dea Malinda appearedtobe wellpleased,andwitha smileshe looked me in the face and said, "I have longenter-tainedthe same views, and thishas been one of thegreatestreasonswhy have notfelt nclined o enter hemarried tatewhilea slave; I havealwaysfelt desire obe free; have longcherish-ed a hopethat shouldyetbefree, ither y purchase rrunningaway. Inregard o the ubject fReligion, havealwaysfelt hatitwas a good thing,ndsomethinghat wouldseekfor t somefuture eriod."It is all tothegood, ofcourse,thatno one has ever pokenorcouldever peakas Bibb and his beloved are said tohavedone-no one,thatis, outside bad, sentimentalovelofdatec. 1849.17 houghactual-

lywrittenyBibb,thenarrative,or tyle ndtone,mights wellhave


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62been theproductofthepenofLucius Matlack. Butthe combinationofthe sentimental hetoric fwhitefiction nd whitepreface-writingwith realistic resentationf thefacts fslavery, ll paradingunderthe bannerof an authentic-and authenticated-personalnarrative,produces omethinghat s neither ishnor fowl. A text ikeBibb's scommittedo two conventionalorms,he lave narrativend thenovelofsentiment,nd caughtbyboth t s unableto transcendither.Noris the easonfar oseek:the ensibilityhat roducedUncleTom's Cabinwas closely lliedto the bolitionistensibilityhat ponsored he lavenarratives nd largelydetermined heformtheyshould take. Themaster-slaveelationshipmight o undergroundr itmight e turnedinsideout but it was not easilydone away with.Considerone small but recurrentnd telling etail n the relation-shipof white ponsorto blacknarrator.JohnBrown'snarrative,weare toldbyLouisAlexisChamerovzow, he Editor" actually uthor)ofSlave Life n Georgia, s "a plain,unvarnished ale ofreal Slave-life"; dwinScrantom,nhis etterrecommendatory,"rites o AustinSteward f hisTwenty-Two earsa Slave andFortyYearsa Freeman,"Letitsplain,unvarnishedale be sentout, and thestory fSlaveryand itsabominations, gain be toldby one who has felt n his ownpersonts corpionash,and theweight f tsgrindingeel";theprefacewriter"W. M. S.") forExperience fa Slave inSouthCarolina callsit "theunvarnished, ut ower truetaleofJohnAndrewJackson, heescapedCarolinian lave";John reenleafWhittier,pparentlyhedupeofhis"ex-slave,"aysofTheNarrativefJamesWilliams,The follow-ingpagescontain he imple ndunvarnishedtory f anAMERICANSLAVE"; RobertHurnardtellsus thathe was determinedo receiveand transmitolomonBayley'sNarrative inhisown simple,unvar-nishedstyle";and HarrietTubman too is giventhe "unvarnished"honorificySarah Bradfordnherpreface oScenes n theLife fHar-rietTubman:"It isproposed nthis ittle ook togivea plainand un-varnishedccount fsomescenes nd adventuresn the ife fa womanwho, thoughone of earth's owlyones, and ofdark-hued kin,hasshown n amount fheroismnher haracterarely ossessedbythoseofanystationn life."The fact hat hevarnish s laidon very hicklyindeed n severalof these Brown,Jackson, nd Williams,forexam-ple) is perhaps nteresting,ut t s not theessential oint,which s tobe found n therepeateduse of just this word-"unvarnished"-todescribellthese ales.The Oxford nglish ictionary illtellus (whichwe shouldhave surmisednyway) hatOthello, nother iguref"dark-hued skin"butvastlyheroic haracter, irst sed theword "unvarnish-ed"-"I willa round unvarnish'dale deliver/Ofmywhole courseoflove"; and that, t leastso far s theOED recordgoes,theworddoesnotturn pagainuntil urke sed t n1780, ome175years ater "This


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63is a true,unvarnished, ndisguised tateoftheaffair"). doubtthatanyonewouldimagine hatwhite ditors/amanuensesad an obscurepassagefrom urke n theback of their ollectivemind-or deepdowninthatmind-when they epeatedly sedthiswordto characterizehenarrativef their x-slaves.No, itwas certainly Shakespearean erotheywereunconsciouslyvoking, ndnot ust ny Shakespearean erobut alwaysOthello,the Noble Moor.Various narrators fdocuments writtenyhimself"pologizefortheir ack ofgraceor styleorwriting bility, nd againvarious nar-rators ay that theirs re simple,factual,realistic resentations; utnoex-slave hat have foundwho writes is ownstory alls itan "un-varnished" ale: thephrase s specific o whiteeditors, manuenses,writers,nd authenticators.oreover, o turn hematterround,whenan ex-slavemakes n allusion oShakespearewhich snaturally veryinfrequentccurrence) osuggest omethingbout his situation r im-ply omethingfhischaracter,he llusionsnever oOthello.FrederickDouglass,for xample,describingll the maginedhorrors hatmightovertakehim nd his fellows houldthey ry oescape,writes, I say,thispicture ometimes ppalled us, and made us:

'rather ear those lls we had,Than flyto others, hatwe knew not of."'Thus it was in thelightof Hamlet'sexperience nd character hatDouglass saw his own, not in thelightof Othello'sexperience ndcharacter.Not so WilliamLloydGarrison,however,who says inthepreface o Douglass' Narrative, I am confidenthat t is essentiallytrue n all itsstatements;hatnothinghas been setdown in malice,nothing xaggerated, othing rawnfrom he magination ... "18Wecan be sure thatit is entirely nconscious,thisregular llusiontoOthello,but tsaysmuch boutthepsychological elationshipf whitepatron o black narrator hat heformer hould nvariablyee the at-ter not as Hamlet, not as Lear, not as Antony, or any otherShakespeareanhero but always and onlyas Othello.

Whenyou shall theseunluckydeedsrelate,Speak of them s they re. Nothing xtenuate,Nor setdown aught n malice. Then mustyou speakOf one that ov'd notwiselybut too well;Of one not easily ealous, but,being wrought,Perplex'd n the extreme....TheMoor, Shakespeare'sor Garrison's,was noble,certainly,ut hewas also a creaturef unreliableharacterndirrationalassion-such,at east, eems ohavebeenthe ogicof the bolitionists'ttitudeoward


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64their x-slave peakers nd narrators-andit was justas well forthewhite ponsortokeephim, fpossible,on a prettyhort eash. Thusitwas that heGarrisonians-thoughnot Garrisonhimself-were p-posed to the dea (and let their ppositionbe known)thatDouglassand WilliamWellsBrown hould ecure hemselvesgainst heFugitiveSlave Law by purchasingheir reedom rom x-masters;nd becauseitmight armtheir ause theGarrisoniansttemptedlso to preventWilliamWellsBrownfrom issolving ismarriage. he reaction romthe Garrisonians nd fromGarrisonhimselfwhenDouglass insistedongoinghis ownway anyhowwas both excessive ndrevealing,ug-gestinghatfor hem heMoor had ceasedto be noble whilestill,un-fortunately,emaining Moor. My Bondageand My Freedom,Gar-risonwrote,"in its secondportion, s reekingwiththevirusofper-sonalmalignityowardsWendell hillips,myself,ndtheoldorganiza-tionists enerally,ndfullof ngratitudend basenesstowards s trueand disinterestedriendss anyman everyethaduponearth. 19 hatthis imply s not trueofMy Bondageand My Freedom s almostofsecondarynterestowhat thewords have italicized evealofGar-rison'sattitude owardhis ex-slave and the unconsciouspsychologyofbetrayed, utragedproprietorshipyingbehind t.Andwhen Gar-rison wroteto his wife thatDouglass' conduct "has been impulsive,inconsiderate nd highly nconsistent" nd to Samuel J.May thatDouglasshimself as "destitutefevery rinciple fhonor,ungratefultothe astdegree nd malevolentnspirit,"20hepicturesprettylear:forGarrison, ouglasshad becomeOthellogonewrong,Othellowithall his dark-huedkin,his impulsivenessnd passionbut noneofhisnobility fheroism.

Therelationshipfsponsor o narrator id notmuch ffect ouglass'own Narrative:he was capableofwriting isstorywithout sking heGarrisonians' eave or requiringheir uidance.ButDouglasswas anextraordinaryan and analtogetherxceptionalwriter,nd other ar-ratives yex-slaves, ven those ntirelyWrittenyHimself,"carce-lyriseabove the evelofthepreformed,mposedand acceptedcon-ventional.Of thenarratives hatCharlesNichols udgesto have beenwritten ithout hehelpofan editor-thoseby "Frederick ouglass,William Wells Brown,JamesW. C. Pennington, amuel RinggoldWard, Austin Steward and perhaps Henry Bibb"21-none butDouglass' has anygenuine ppeal in itself, partfrom hetestimonyitmight rovide boutslavery, ranyreal claimtoliterarymerit.Andwhen we go beyondthisbare handful fnarratives o consider hosewritten nder mmediate bolitionist uidanceand control,we find,as we mightwellexpect, ven ess of ndividual istinction r distinc-tiveness s thenarrators how themselvesmore or less content o re-main slaves to a prescribed, onventional, nd imposedform;or


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65perhaps twould be moreprecise o say that heywerecaptiveto theabolitionistntentionsnd so thequestionof theirbeingcontent rotherwiseardlynteredn.Justs the riangularelationshipmbracingsponsor, udience, nd ex-slavemadeofthe atteromethingther hanan entirelyree reator n thetelling f his life tory, o also it madeofthenarrativeroduced alwayskeeping he xceptionalaseinmind)somethingther hanautobiographynanyfull ense and somethingother han iteraturenanyreasonableunderstandingfthatterm san act of creative magination.An autobiography r a piece of im-aginative iteraturemayof course observecertain onventions, utitcannot be only, merely onventionalwithout easingto be satisfac-tory s eitherutobiographyr iterature,nd that s the ase, I shouldsay, withall theslave narratives xceptthegreatone by FrederickDouglass.But herea most nterestingaradoxarises. While we may say thatthe lavenarratives o notqualify s eitherutobiographyr iterature,and whilewemay argue, gainstJohn ayliss ndGilbert sofsky ndothers, hat heyhavenorealplace inAmerican iteraturejustas wemightrgue, ndon the amegrounds, gainstEllenMoers thatUncleTom's Cabin is nota greatAmericannovel),yetthe undeniablefactis that heAfro-Americaniteraryradition akes ts tart,ntheme er-tainlybut also often n content nd form, rom he slave narratives.RichardWright'sBlack Boy, whichmanyreaders myselfncluded)would taketo be his supreme chievement s a creativewriter, ro-vides theperfectase inpoint, hough hostofothers ould be adduc-ed thatwould benearly s exemplaryDuBois'various utobiographicalworks;Johnson's utobiography fan Ex-ColouredMan; Baldwin'sautobiographical iction nd essays; Ellison's nvisibleMan; Gaines'AutobiographyfMissJanePittman;Maya Angelou'swriting; tc.).In effect,Wrightooks back to slave narratives t the sametime hatheprojects evelopmentshatwould occur nAfro-Americanritingafter lackBoy(publishedn1945). Thematically, lackBoyreenactsboth thegeneral, bjectiveportrayal f therealities fslavery s aninstitutiontransmutedowhatWrightalls "The Ethics fLivingJimCrow" inthe ittle iecethat iesbehindBlackBoy) and also thepar-ticular, ndividual omplexof literacy-identity-freedomhatwe findat thethematic enter f all of themost mportantlave narratives.Incontent ndform s wellBlackBoyrepeats,mutatismutandis,muchof thegeneral langiven arliern this ssaydescribinghe ypical lavenarrative:Wright,ike the x-slave, fter moreor esschronological,episodicaccountof theconditions f slavery/Jimrow, includingparticularlyividdescriptionfthedifficultyrnear mpossibility-but also the nescapablenecessity-ofattainingull iteracy, ellshowheescapedfrom outhern ondage, fleeing owardwhathe imagined


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66wouldbefreedom, new dentity,nd theopportunityoexercise ishard-won iteracyna northern,ree-stateity.That he did not findexactlywhathe expected nChicagoandNew Yorkchangesnothingabout Black Boy itself:neither id Douglass findeverythinge an-ticipated rdesired ntheNorth,but thatpersonally nhappyfact nno way affects is Narrative.Wright,mpelledby a nascent enseoffreedom hatgrewwithinhimin directproportion o his increasingliteracyparticularlynthereading frealistic nd naturalisticiction),fledtheworld of theSouth,and abandoned the dentityhatworldhadimposeduponhim "Iwas whatthewhite outhcalled a 'nigger"'),in searchof another dentity,he dentityf a writer, recisely hatwriterwe know as "RichardWright." Fromwhere n this southerndarknesshad I caughta senseoffreedom?"22 right ould discoveronly one answer to his question: "It had been only throughbooks . . . that hadmanaged okeep myselflive n a negativelyitalway" (p. 282). Itwas inhisability o construe etters nd in thebarepossibilityfputting is ife ntowritinghatWright caught senseoffreedom" nd knewthathe mustwork out a newidentity.I couldsubmit nd live the ife fa genial lave,"Wright ays,"but,"headds,"thatwas impossible"p. 276). It was impossible ecause, ikeDouglassandother laves,hehad arrived t the rossroadswhere he hree athsof iteracy,dentity,reedommet, ndafter uchknowledge herewasno turning ack.BlackBoyresembleslave narrativesnmanywaysbut notherwaysit scrucially ifferentrom tspredecessorsndancestors.t s ofmorethantrivialnsignificancehatWright's arrative oes notbeginwith"I was born,"nor s it under heguidanceofanyintention r impulseother han tsown,and whilehisbook is largely pisodic nstructure,it salso-precisely byexercise fsymbolicmemory-"emplotted"nd"configurational"nsucha wayas toconstrue significantholes outofscattered vents."Ultimately, rightreed imself rom heSouth-at leastthis swhathis narrative ecounts-and he was also fortunate-lyfree, s theex-slavesgenerallywerenot,from bolitionist ontrolandfree o exercise hat reativememory hatwas peculiarly is. Onthepenultimateageof BlackBoyWrightays, Iwasleaving he outhtoflingmyselfntotheunknown, o meetother ituations hatwouldperhapselicitfromme otherresponses.And if could meetenoughofa differentife,then,perhaps,gradually nd slowly mightearnwhoI was, what might e. I was not eavingtheSouth toforgetheSouth,but so that omeday might nderstandt,mightome toknowwhat tsrigors addone tome,to itschildren. fled o that henumb-ness ofmydefensiveivingmight haw out and let me feelthepain-years ater ndfar way-of what ivingntheSouthhadmeant."HereWright otonlyexercisesmemory ut also talks about it,reflecting


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67on itscreative, herapeutic, edemptive,nd liberatingapacities. nhisconclusionWright arksback to the themes nd the form ftheslavenarratives,nd at thesametimehe anticipates heme nd formin a greatdeal ofmore recentAfro-American riting, erhapsmostnotably nInvisibleMan. BlackBoy is likea nexus oining lave nar-ratives fthepasttothemostfully eveloped iteraryreations fthepresent:hroughhepowerof ymbolicmemoryttransformshe arliernarrativemode intowhat everyonemustrecognize s imaginative,creativeiterature,othautobiographyndfiction.n their arrativeswe might ay, theex-slavesdid thatwhich, ll unknowinglyn theirpart nd onlywhen oinedtocapacities ndpossibilities otavailableto them, ed right n to the tradition fAfro-Americaniterature swe know itnow.

NOTES1ProfessorRicoeur has generously ivenme permission o quotefrom hisunpublished aper.2 I have in mindsuch llustrationss the argedrawing eproducedas frontispieceoJohn ndrewJackson'sxperiencefa Slave inSouthCarolina London:Passmore& Alabaster,1862),described s a "Fac-simile fthegimletwhich usedtoborea hole nthedeckofthevessel";theengraveddrawing f a torturemachinereproduced n p. 47 ofANarrativeof the Adventures and Escape of Moses Roper, fromAmericanSlavery Philadelphia:Merrihew& Gunn, 1838); and the"REPRESENTATION OF THE BOX, 3 feet1 inch ong,2 feetwide,

2 feet incheshigh," nwhichHenryBox Browntravelled yfreightfromRichmond oPhiladelphia, eproduced ollowing hetext ftheNarrative fHenryBoxBrown,WhoEscapedfrom laveryEnclosedina Box 3 FeetLongand 2 Wide. Writtenrom Statement fFactsMade byHimself.WithRemarksupon theRemedyfor Slavery. ByCharles Steams. (Boston:Brown & Stearns,1849). The verytitleofBox Brown'sNarrative emonstratesomethingfthemixedmodeofslave narratives. n thequestionof thetext fBrown'snarrativeeealso notes 4 and 12 below.3 Douglass' Narrative iverges rom hemaster lan on E4 (hewashimself he lave who refused o be whipped),E8 (slaveauctionshap-penednotto fallwithin isexperience, uthe does talkofthe epara-tionofmothers nd children nd thesystematic estructionf slavefamilies), nd E10 (herefuses o tellhowhe escapedbecauseto do sowould close one escaperoute to thosestill n slavery; n theLife ndTimesofFrederick ouglass he reveals thathis escapewas differentfrom heconventional ne). For thepurposesofthepresent ssay-


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68and also, I think,ngeneral-theNarrative f1845 is a much moreinterestingnda better ookthanDouglass'two ater utobiographicaltexts:My Bondage and My Freedom 1855) and Lifeand TimesofFrederick ouglass (1881). These latter wo are diffuse roductions(Bondageand Freedom s three o fourtimes ongerthanNarrative,Life nd Times ive o sixtimesonger) hat issipatehefocalizednergyof the Narrativein lengthy ccounts of post-slavery ctivities-abolitionistpeeches, ecollectionsffriends,rips broad,etc. In in-teresting ays itseemsto me thattherelativeweaknessofthesetwolaterbooks is analogoustoa similarweakness ntheextended ersionof RichardWright's utobiography ublishedas AmericanHunger(orginally onceived as partof thesame text s BlackBoy).4 This is true of the version labelled "firstEnglishedition"-Narrative ftheLifeofHenryBoxBrown,WrittenyHimselfMan-chester: ee & Glynn, 851)-but notofthe arlierAmerican dition-Narrative f HenryBoxBrown,WhoEscaped from laveryEnclosedina Box 3 FeetLongand 2 Wide. Writtenrom StatementfFactsMade byHimself.WithRemarksupon theRemedyforSlavery. ByCharlesSteams. (Boston:Brown& Stearns, 849). On thebeginningofthe American dition ee the discussion ater n thisessay,and ontherelationship etween hetwo texts f Brown'snarrative ee note12 below.5Douglass' Narrative begins this way. NeitherBondage andFreedomnorLife nd Times tartswiththeexistential ssertion.Thisis one thing, hough ynomeans theonlyorthemost mportantne,that emoves he atter wobooksfrom he ategory fslave narrative.It s as ifby1855andevenmoreby1881 Frederick ouglass' existenceand his dentity ere secure noughand sufficientlyellknownthathe no longerfelt henecessity f thefirst nd basic assertion.

6 Withtheexception fWilliamParker's"The Freedman's tory"(publishedn theFebruarynd March1866 ssuesofAtlanticMonthly)all thenarrativesistedwere eparate ublications.here remanymorebrief narratives"-so brief hattheyhardlywarrant hetitle nar-rative": rom single hort aragrapho three r four ages n ength-thatbeginwith "I was born"; there re,forexample,twenty-fiverthirtyuch nthe ollection fBenjamin rewpublisheds TheRefugee:A North-Side iewofSlavery. have not tried omultiplyhe nstancesbycitingminor xamples;those isted nthetext nclude hemost m-portantof the narratives-Roper,Bibb, W. W. Brown,Douglass,Thompson,Ward, Pennington, teward, Clarke, the Crafts-evenJamesWilliams,hought sgenerallygreed hathisnarrativesa fraudperpetratedn an unwittingmanuensis,JohnGreenleafWhittier.nadditionto those isted n thetext, here re a number f othernar-ratives hatbeginwithonlyslight ariations n the formulaic ag-


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69WilliamHayden:"Thesubject fthisnarrative asborn";Moses Gran-dy: "Myname sMosesGrandy; was born";AndrewJackson: I,An-drewJackson, asborn";Elizabeth eckley: My ifehasbeen nevent-fulone. I was born";ThomasL. Johnson:According o informationreceived rommymother,fthereckoningscorrect,was born... "Perhapsmore nterestinghan hese sthevariation layedbySolomonNorthup,whowas borna freeman inNew York State and was kid-nappedand sent nto lavery or welveyears;thushe commences otwith Iwas born"but with Havingbeen born a freeman"-as itweretheparticipial ontingencyhatendowshis narrativewitha specialpoignancy nd a markeddifferencerom thernarratives.There s a nice and ironic urn n the"I was born" nsistencentherather oolish cene n Uncle Tom's Cabin (ChapterXX)whenTopsyfamouslypines hat hewas notmadebut ust grow'd."MissOpheliacatechizesher:" 'Wherewereyouborn?' Never was born!'persistedTopsy." Escaped slaveswho hadn'tTopsy's peculiarcombination fStowe-ic esignationndmanichigh piritsn thefaceof an imposednon-identity,on-existence ere mpelled o assertover and over,"Iwas born."

7 Douglass' title s classicto thedegreethat t is virtually epeatedby HenryBibb,changing nlythenamein the formula nd inserting"Adventures,"resumablyo attractpectacle-lovingeaders:NarrativeoftheLife ndAdventures fHenryBibb,An American lave, Writ-tenbyHimself.Douglass' Narrativewas published n1845,Bibb's n1849. I suspect hatBibb derivedhis title irectlyrom ouglass. Thatex-slaveswritingheir arratives ereawareofearlier roductions yfellow x-slaves and thuswere mpelled o sameness nnarrative youtrightmitation s well as by the conditions fnarration dducedinthe extbove) ismadeclear ntheprefaceoTheLife fJohn homp-son,A Fugitive lave; Containing isHistory f25 Years nBondage,and His Providential scape. WrittenyHimselfWorcester: ublish-edbyJohn hompson,1856),p. v: "It was suggestedome abouttwoyears ince,after elating omanythemain facts elative omybon-dage and escape to the and offreedom, hat twould be a desirablething oputthesefacts ntopermanentorm. firstought odiscoverwhathad been saidbyother artnersnbondageonce,but n freedomnow ..." Withthisforewarninghereader hould notbe surprisedto discover hatThompson'snarrative ollows heconventions ftheformveryclosely ndeed.8 However much Douglass changed his narrative n successiveincarnations-theopeningparagraph,forexample,underwent on-siderable ransformation-hehose toretain his entencentact. toc-curson p. 52 ofthe Narrative ftheLifeofFrederick ouglass . . .ed. BenjaminQuarles Cambridge,Mass., 1960);onp. 132ofMyBon-


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70dage andMy Freedom, ntro.PhilipS. Foner New York,1969); andon p. 72 ofLife nd TimesofFrederick ouglass, intro.RayfordW.Logan (New York,1962).

9For convenience have adoptedthis istfromJohn . Bayliss' n-troductionoBlackSlaveNarrativesNewYork,1970),p. 18. As willbe apparent,however, do notagreewiththepointBaylisswishestomakewithhis ist.HavingquotedfromMarion WilsonStarling's n-publisheddissertation, The Black Slave Narrative: Its Place inAmerican iterary istory," othe ffect hat he lavenarratives,x-cept those fromEquiano and Douglass, are not generallyverydistinguisheds literature,ayliss ontinues: Starlingsbeingunfairhere ince henarratives o showa diversityf nterestingtyles...The eading arratives,uch s those fDouglass,WilliamWellsBrown,Ball, Bibb,Henson,Northup, ennington,ndRoperdeserve o becon-sideredfor place inAmericaniterature, place beyondthemerelyhistorical." ince Ball's narrativewas writtenyone "Mr. Fisher" ndNorthup's yDavidWilson, nd sinceHenson'snarrativehows gooddealofthe harlantrynemightxpect rom manwhobilledhimselfas The OriginalUncleTom," t eems tbest strategicrror orBaylissto nclude hem mongthose lavenarratives aid to showthegreatestliteraryistinction. o put t anotherway,itwouldbe neitherurpris-ingnor peciallymeritoriousfMr. Fishera whiteman),DavidWilson(a whiteman),andJosiahHenson The OriginalUncleTom) were todisplay a diversityf nterestingtyles"whentheir arratives reputalongsidethosebyDouglass, W. W. Brown,Bibb,Pennington,ndRoper.Butthereallynterestingact, s I shallargue nthetext,s thattheydo not show a diversityf interestingtyles.

10Here we discover notherminorbutrevealing etail of the con-vention stablishingtself. usts itbecame onventional o have a sign-ed portrait nd authenticatingetters/prefaces,o itbecame at leastsemi-conventionalo have an imprint eadingmoreor less likethis:"Boston:Anti-Slaveryffice, 5Cornhill."A Cornhill ddress sgivenfor, mongothers, henarrativesfDouglass,WilliamWellsBrown,BoxBrown,ThomasJones, osiahHenson,MosesGrandy, ndJamesWilliams. he astofthese sespecially nterestingor, lthoughtseemsthathisnarratives at leastsemi-fraudulent,illiams s on thispoint,as on so manyothers, ltogether epresentative.11Narrative f HenryBoxBrown.... (Boston:Brown& Stears,1849), p. 25.12 The question fthetext f Brown'sNarrative s a good deal morecomplicated han have space to show,but thatcomplication atherstrengthenshan nvalidatesmy argumentbove. The text analyzeabove was published n Boston n 1849. In 1851 a "first nglish di-tion"was publishednManchesterwiththespecificationWritteny


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71Himself." t would appear thatin preparing heAmerican editionSteamsworkedfrom ms.copyofwhatwould bepublished woyearslater as the first nglish dition-or from ome ur-textyingbehindboth. nanycase, Stearnshas laid on theTrue Abolitionist tyleveryheavily,but there s already, n the version Written y Himself,"good deal of the abolitionistmannerpresentn diction, yntax, ndtone. fthefirstnglishditionwas reallywrittenyBrown hiswouldmakehiscaseparallel o the ase ofHenryBibb,discussed elow,wherethe abolitionist tyle nsinuates tself nto the text nd takes over thestyleof thewriting ven when that s actuallydone by an ex-slave.This s not theplacefor t,but therelationshipetween hetwotexts,thevariations hat ccur nthem, ndtheexplanation or hosevaria-tionswould providethesubjectfor an immenselynterestingtudy.13 Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative fSolomonNorthup, CitizenofNew-York,Kidnapped n Washington ityin 1841, and Rescuedin1853,from Cotton PlantationNear the Red River, n Louisiana(Auburn:Derby& Miller,1853), p. xv. Referencesn the text re tothisfirst dition.

14 I am surprisedhatRobert tepto, nhis excellentnalysisof theinternal orkings ftheWilson/Northupook,doesn'tmakemoreofthis uestion fwhere o ocatetherealauthorityf thebook. SeeFromBehindtheVeil:A StudyofAfro-American arrativeUrbana, Ill.,1979), pp. 11-16.Whetherntentionallyrnot,Gilbert sofsky adlymisleads eadersofthebook unfortunatelyalled Puttin'On Ole Massa when he failsto include he"Editor's reface" yDavid WilsonwithhisprintingfTwelveYears Slave: Narrative fSolomonNorthup. here snothinginOsofsky's ext osuggest hatDavid Wilsonoranyoneelse butNor-thuphad anythingo do with the narrative-on thecontrary: Nor-thup,Brown,and Bibb, as their utobiographies emonstrate, eremenofcreativity, isdomand talent.Each was capable ofwriting islife torywith ophistication"Puttin' n Ole Massa [NewYork,1969],p. 44). Northupprecisely oes not writehis life tory, itherwithorwithout ophistication,nd Osofsky s guilty fbadlyobscuring hisfact.Osofsky's iteraryudgement,withtwo-thirdsf which do notagree, s that TheautobiographiesfFrederickouglass,HenryBibb,and SolomonNorthup use maginativetylewithkeenness f nsight.Theyarepenetratingnd self-critical,uperior utobiography y anystandards" p. 10).

15 To anticipate ne possibleobjection, would arguethatthe caseisessentially ifferentithTheAutobiographyfMalcolmX,writtenbyAlexHaley. To put tsimply, hereweremanythingsn commonbetween Haley and Malcolm X; between white ama-nuenses/editors/authorsnd ex-slaves,on the otherhand, almostnothingwas shared.


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7216 Narrative of the Life and Adventuresof Henry Bibb, AnAmerican lave, WrittenyHimself.With n IntroductionyLuciusC. Matlack (New York: Publishedby theAuthor;5 Spruce Street,

1849), p. i. Page citationsn the text re from hisfirst dition.It is a greatpity hat nmodern eprintingsfslave narratives-thethreenOsofsky's uttin'On Ole Massa, for xample-the llustrationsin theoriginalsre omitted.A modemreadermissesmuchoftheflavorofa narrativeike Bibb's when the llustrations,o fullofpathosandtenderentiment,ottomention omeexquisite rueltyndviolence,arenot withthetext.The two illustrationsn p. 45 (captions:"Cana mother orget ersuckling hild?" and "The tendermercies f thewicked are cruel"),the one on p. 53 ("Nevermindthemoney"), ndtheoneonp. 81 ("Myheart salmostbroken") an be taken s typical.An interestingsychological act boutthe llustrationsnBibb's nar-rative s thatof thetwenty-oneotal,eighteennvolvesomeform fphysical ruelty,orture,rbrutality. he uncaptionedllustrationfp. 133 of two naked slaves on whom some nfernal unishments be-ingpractised aysmuch bout inMatlack'sphrase) hereader's everishthirst orgushing eautiful ountains started rom eneath herod ofviolence."17 Or 1852, the date ofUncleTom'sCabin. HarrietBeecher towerecognized kindred ovelisticpiritwhen he read one (justas DavidWilson/SolomonNorthupdid). In 1851,when she was writing ncleTom'sCabin,Stowe wrotetoFrederick ouglass saying hat he wasseekingnformationbout ife n a cottonplantation orhernovel: "Ihavebeforeme an able paperwritten y a southern lanternwhichthedetails& modusoperandi regivenfromhispointofsight-I amanxioustohave some morefromnothertandpoint-Iwishtobe ableto makea picture hat hallbe graphic& true onaturen ts details-Such a personas HenryBibb, if n thiscountry,might iveme justthekind of nformationdesire."This letters datedJuly , 1851andhas been transcribedrom photographic opy reproducedn EllenMoers, HarrietBeecherStowe and American LiteratureHartford,Conn.: Stowe-DayFoundation,1978), p. 14.18 Since writing he above, I discover that n his Lifeand TimesDouglass saysofthe onclusion fhisabolitionist ork, Othello's c-cupationwas gone" NewYork:Collier-Macmillan,962,p. 373),butthis till eems omerather differentatter rom hewhite ponsor'sinvariantllusion o Othello nattestingo the ruthfulnessf theblacknarrator's ccount.A contemporaryeviewer f The Interesting arrative ftheLifeofOlaudah Equiano, or GustavusVassa, theAfricanwrote, n TheGeneralMagazineand ImpartialReview July 789),"This s a roundunvarnished ale'ofthe hequered dventuresf an African ... "(see


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73appendix ovol. I of TheLifeofOlaudah Equiano, ed. Paul Edwards[London:Dawsons of Pall Mall, 1969].JohnGreenleafWhittier,hough tungonce in his sponsorship fJamesWilliams'Narrative, idnotshrink rom second,similar en-ture,writing,nhis"introductoryote"to theAutobiography ftheRev. JosiahHenson (Mrs. HarrietBeecherStowe's "UncleTom") -also known s UncleTom'sStory fHisLife rom1789to 1879-"Theearly ife f theauthor, s a slave, . . . provesthat nthe terrible ic-tures f Uncle Tom's Cabin' there s 'nothing xtenuate r aughtsetdown in malice"' Boston:B. B. Russell& Co., 1879, p. viii).19Quoted by PhilipS. Foner n the introductiono My Bondageand My Freedom,pp. xi-xii.20 BothquotationsfromBenjaminQuarles, "The BreachBetweenDouglassandGarrison," ournal fNegroHistory,XXIII April1938),p. 147, note19, and p. 154.21 The list s fromNichols'unpublished octoraldissertationBrownUniversity,948), "A Studyof the Slave Narrative," . 9.22BlackBoy:A RecordofChildhood nd Youth New York, 1966),p. 282.

olney iwasborn

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