Book Description
Olaudiah Equiano's 1789 narrative tells the remarkable story of his childhood in Africa, his kidnapping and subsequent years as a slave and seaman, and his eventual road to freedom in the Caribbean and in England. The text reprinted here is that of the 1789 first edition. It is accompanied by explanatory annotations, textual notes, and a map of Equiano's travels. "Contexts" provides essential related public writings on the work by James Tobin, Gustavus Vassa (Olaudiah Equiano), and Samuel Jackson Pratt; general and historical background by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Eav Beatrice Dykes, Wylie Sypher, Charles H. Nichols, Nathan I. Huggins, and David Dabydeen; related travel and scientific literature by Anthony Benezet, John Matthews, and John Mitchell; eighteenth-century works by African authors James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, John Marrant, and Quobna Ottabah Cugoano; and English debates about the slave trade by Thomas Clarkson, John Wesley, and William Wilberforce, as well as antislavery verse by Thomas Day and John Bicknell. "Criticism" includes six contemporary reviews of The Interesting Narrative in the Life of Olaudiah Equiano. Nine modern essays are contributed by Paul Edwards, Charles T. Davis, Houston A. Baker, Jr., Angelo Costanzo, Catherine Obianju Acholonu, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Geraldine Murphy, Adam Potkay, and Robert J. Allison. A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are included.
About the Series: No other series of classic texts equals the caliber of the
Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with the comprehenive pedagogical apparatus necessary to appreciate the work fully. Careful editing, first-rate translation, and thorough explanatory annotations allow each text to meet the highest literary standards while remaining accessible to students. Each edition is printed on acid-free paper and every text in the series remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice for excellence in scholarship for students at more than 2,000 universities worldwide.
Customer Reviews:
Teachers beware--poorly proofread edition!.......2005-04-13
This review is neither of Equiano's text itself, nor of the editorial material (both are excellent for teaching). When I ordered this text for my class, I was dismayed to discover numerous proofreading errors which generated some confusion among students. These tend not to be mispellings, but much worse: substitutions of one word for another, or omissions of important words, as though the whole text had only been run through a spell-checker. Some of these are embarrassing (Equiano's report of "the mortifying circumference of not daring to eat with the free-born children" [33-34]) and others more serious (the omitted word in the crucial sentence "I own offer here the history of neither a saint, a hero, nor a tyrant" in the first paragraph). There is probably one major error for every page of this text. I don't think this has to do with fidelity to the London first edition of 1789, although I haven't checked. The errors seem to have been introduced at Norton. So, sadly, despite Werner Sollors's excellent introduction and the useful maps prefacing the text, I can't recommend this book until Norton gets its act together. Use the texts in either Henry Louis Gates's "Pioneers of the Black Atlantic" or Vincent Carretta's "Unchained Voices" instead--the notes to the latter make it the teaching edition of choice.
Interesting indeed, an amazing account of an unusual life.......2002-07-16
"The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudiah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African, written by Himself" is the story of an African man, Olaudiah Equiano (slave name: Gustavus Vassa) who was (evidently) born in 1745 in what is now Nigeria. He was captured by African slave traders, taken to the Atlantic coast, and sold into the slave trade. He was taken to the Caribbean, then Virginia, and eventually Europe. He served a ship's captain and sailed the Mediterranean and on a voyage to explore the North Pole (Greenland). He obtained his freedom and became an author and early anti-slavery activist. The publication of this book made him the best-selling black African author ever (up to that time). This book became a prototype of the "up-from-slavery" autobiography (typified by Frederick Douglass) and is a classic among Atlantic slave narratives.
The book is autobiographical and arranged chronologically, the author detailing events of his African childhood and his years as a slave and eventual self-emancipation. One notable thing about the book is the extent to which it is a travelogue: Equiano clearly enjoys telling travel tales more than decrying the horrors of slavery. His depictions of being a "stranger in a strange land" (e.g., the first time he encounters a clock, a painted portrait, books) are memorable.
The Norton edition is filled with related texts pertaining to Equiano and his times: articles and excerts by other writers about Africa, slavery, abolition, Equiano's birthplace, his literary influences; a useful map; a diagram of a sailing ship, etc. A good choice among several editions of Equiano's book.
Book Description
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Written by Himself was the first work that began the nineteenth-century genre of slave narrative autobiographies. Written and published by Equiano, a former slave, it became a prototype for those that followed.
Kidnapped in Africa as a child, Equiano was transported to the Caribbean and then to Virginia, bought by a Quaker shipowner, and placed in service at sea. Aboard various American and British ships, he sailed throughout the world, and he continued to do so after having purchased his freedom in 1766. Once settled in London, he fought tirelessly to end slavery, and his Interesting Narrative was placed on members' desks in the Houses of Parliament.
This edition of The Interesting Narrative places the text in the center of abolitionist activity in the late eighteenth century. Equiano knew many of the leading abolitionist figures of his time, and this edition allows readers to trace the common ideas and cross-influences in the works of the political and literary figures who fought for the end of slavery in America and England. The original 1789 text of the narrative has been used for the Broadview edition with Equiano's subsequent emendations included in the appendices.
Customer Reviews:
Olaudah, an African Heart........2005-11-10
Olaudah Equiano's narrative is his experience away from his dear home. The slave trade from the very beginning was one of the worst components of European history. This narrative is a moving but important historical document that recounts the hardship the slaves had to endure and survive in their nightmare to the New World.
"In this way I grew up till I had turned the age of eleven, when an end was put to my happiness..."(p.47). This way began the Olaudah's odyssey after been kidnapped and taken through many African countries reaching finally the African west coast and the slave ship that brought him/them to the West Indies and North America.
Africa, as the land of Equiano, was divided among different tribes with different organizations and related customs, in some cases speaking similar languages, in other cases as we see in the towns close to the coast, almost strangers. These tribes used to have their own defense system against the hunt and persecution of slave traffickers, which during the XVIII century it was a dark business, a daily affair, and a way of revenue.
That was the circumstance of this little boy and many others like him experiencing 'fatigue and grief'(p.47), 'violence and despair' (p.49), and wishing for death rather than anything else'(p.59). After they reached the slave ship waiting for its human cargo a chained multitude of black people of every description expressing dejection and sorrow (p.54) awaited to board in an overpopulated deck filled with horrors of every kind.
Many, as Equiano, were young and ignorant of what was happening, where they were going, and the reason for such adventure. They were told by other prisoners confessing to be 'carried to white people's country to work for them'(p.55), but of course the pain and suffering yet to come was a disguised mystery and heart destructive lifelong encounter. The living conditions of the journey were brutal and cruel: the smell, the vomiting, the cries, the anguish, and the suffocation under decks overcrowded where many of them were unable to reach the other side of the Atlantic, dying under those inhuman conditions. Sometimes some of them, embracing hopelessness, ran toward the open board and preferring death to such a life of misery, jumped into the sea (p.57), to die in the deep waters of the dark blue sea.
The Mediterranean labor shortage after the 8th century primarily brought about the African external slave trade. But the West Indies European demand for slaves changed all the institution of slavery transforming it in a deadly and huge intensive labor business. Two-thirds of all these immigrant slaves went directly to the Caribbean (Caribbean-West Indies-Brazil), and fewer than 1/20 went to Colonial North America which started 100 years later; and in 1671 we had already in Barbados (where Equiano first experienced the new world)30,000 slaves and 3,000 in Virginia.
A great deal of trembling and bitter cries from these terrified Africans of all languages did not stop whites from transporting them, as in Equiano's case, first to the island of Barbados unloading them at Bridgetown. They were transported to the merchant's yard, like sheep in a fold (p.58) without regard to sex or age. On a sign given to the buyers they run at once toward them and 'picked up' what parcel they like best. Many of them, family and friends, from that very moment were separated forever. Never to see each other again.
From the merchant's yard they were shipped to different North American Colonies as was needed and pleased the slave traders; one after another chapter of disgrace would be recounted over the 'white' shoulders for generations to come. Some slaves, as this poor boy, were taken as servants to England.
The conditions they confronted later on in sugar or rice plantations by their brutal slave codes and violent methods of control were deadly; much of the cases included diseases and no possibility to become free one day. They were treated as cheap merchandise, deprived of any human right given by our Creator.
The story of Olaudah Equiano over moistens my eyes. His narrative and lack of vengeance or hate; his imploration to the heart and the reason of supposed Christians made me feel the need to meet him and embrace him, and tell him: "Hope is not gone at all my friend.
Olaudah young boy, you were right when you cited those true gospel words:
"O, ye nominal Christians! Might not an African ask you--Learned you this from your God, who says unto you, Do unto all men as you would men should do unto you?"
Alejandro Roque.
Response to Robert Allison.......2000-07-13
The 1772 publication date of Gronniosaw's _Narrative_ seems to have been recently established by Vincent Carretta in _Unchained Voices: An Anthology of Black Authors in the English-Speaking World of the 18th Century_ (Kentucky, 1996), with the evidence offered on pp. 53-54. The post-1791 editions in which Equiano understandably deletes the wording "My hand is ever free--if any female Debonair wishes to obtain it" after his April 7, 1792 marriage to Susanna Cullen are the 5th (Edinburgh, 1792), the 6th & 7th (both London, 1793), the 8th (Norwich, 1794), and the 9th and last (London, 1794). My source for this information is Vincent Carretta's authoritative Penguin edition of Equiano's _Interesting Narrative_ (1995), pp. 297-297, note 633. A reader from Virginia
Response to Robert Allison.......2000-07-13
The 1772 publication date of Gronniosaw's _Narrative_ seems to have been recently established by Vincent Carretta in _Unchained Voices: An Anthology of Black Authors in the English-Speaking World of the 18th Century_ (Kentucky, 1996), with the evidence offered on pp. 53-54. The post-1791 editions in which Equiano understandably deletes the wording "My hand is ever free--if any female Debonair wishes to obtain it" after his April 7, 1792 marriage to Susanna Cullen are the 5th (Edinburgh, 1792), the 6th & 7th (both London, 1793), the 8th (Norwich, 1794), and the 9th and last (London, 1794). My source for this information is Vincent Carretta's authoritative Penguin edition of Equiano's _Interesting Narrative_ (1995), pp. 297-297, note 633. A reader from Virginia
caveat emptor.......1999-03-13
Prospective buyers of Mr. Allison's edition of Equiano's autobiography should be advised that although Mr. Allison says that his "edition follows the first American printing . . . (New York, 1791)" and that "the only significant changes . . . are the insertion of paragraph breaks and notes to the text," Mr. Allison does not warn the reader that he's silently combined parts of various editions of the autobiography to form a book Equiano himself never published. For example, if you compare the next-to-the-last paragraph (p. 195), in which Equiano mentions his marriage, to the passage on page 187, where he says his hand is free, you might get the impression that he's saying he's available for adultery or bigamy. But the fault lies not in Equiano, who changed the earlier passage after he added the paragraph about his marriage in 1792. What Mr. Allison gives us is his text, not Equiano's. And he might have mentioned that the New York edition was published without Equiano's knowledge or permission. Readers should also not assume that all "facts" given are true. For example, on page 21, Gronniosaw's book was published in 1772 (not 1770), Marrant's in 1785 (not 1790), and Equiano died on 31 March 1797 (not in April).
Book Description
In May 1769, soon after our return from Turkey, our ship made a delightful voyage to Oporto in Portugal, where we arrived at the time of the carnival. On our arrival, there were sent on board to us thirty-six articles to observe, with very heavy penalties if we should break any of them; and none of us even dared to go on board any other vessel or on shore till the Inquisition had sent on board and searched for every thing illegal, especially bibles. Such as were produced, and certain other things, were sent on shore till the ships were going away; and any person in whose custody a bible was found concealed was to be imprisoned and flogged.
Product Description
An 18-century best-seller, it is a magnificent revolutionary abolitionist autobiography, a tale of spiritual quest and a treatise on religion, politics and economics written by a former native African slave.
Book Description
Edited and with Notes by Shelly Eversley
Introduction by Robert Reid-Pharr
In this truly astonishing eighteenth-century memoir, Olaudah Equiano recounts his remarkable life story, which begins when he is kidnapped in Africa as a boy and sold into slavery and culminates when he has achieved renown as a British antislavery advocate. The narrative “is a strikingly beautiful monument to the startling combination of skill, cunning, and plain good luck that allowed him to win his freedom, write his story, and gain international prominence,” writes Robert Reid-Pharr in his Introduction. “He alerts us to the very concerns that trouble modern intellectuals, black, white, and otherwise, on both sides of the Atlantic.”
The text of this Modern Library Paperback Classic is set from the definitive ninth edition of 1794, reflecting the author’s final changes to his masterwork.
Customer Reviews:
ok book.......2007-10-07
Not much to say. Sometimes fascinating, often times tedious and annoying... don't just read it for readings sake. Vassa... or is it Equiano will surprise you in the end.
And he might not even be the true author!
Beauty from Ashes.......2005-09-13
Of all the firsthand accounts known to us as "slave narratives," Vassa's description is unique in many ways. To begin with, he takes his readers all the way back to his African roots, shedding historically-confirmed light on almost lost ancient traditions. His discussion of the harrowing and epically sad capture and separation of he and his sister are among the most moving in this genre.
He then describes the despicable, inhumane conditions in the holds of the slave ships with a "you-are-there" writing style. Again, confirmed by other sources, these are some of the most often quoted accounts in historical texts. In this same chronological phase, Vassa also depicts the shared empathy among the enslave Africans, helping us to see how they collaborated to survive.
His ongoing narrative offers one of the more balanced looks at slavery. Vassa clearly tells the horrors of this evil system and the people responsible for it. At the same time, he often shares accounts of Europeans and White Americans who befriended him. In fact, his positive statements about non-Africans lend further credence to his critique of the many evils of slavery.
His narrative also contains unique elements in his descriptions of his path toward freedom and his life as a freeman. We learn that in his era, for a man of his race, it was barely more tolerable to be free, given the hatred that he still endured.
Though some reviewers tend to minimize or criticize it, his conversion narrative is classic. In fact, it may well have been the standard from which later testimonies were crafted about how "God struck me dead." Perhaps the evangelical nature of his conversion turns off some. However, if we are to engage Vassa in his other accounts, we must engage him here. Further, coming as it did later in his life, it is easy to see how his account of his entire life is entirely shaped by his conversion experience. Clearly, Vassa sees even the evils that he has suffered as part of a larger plan. In doing so he never suggests that God condones the evils of slavery. Rather, he indicates that God created beauty from ashes.
Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of "Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction," and of "Soul Physicians" and "Spiritual Friends."
Product Description
An 18-century best-seller, it is a magnificent revolutionary abolitionist autobiography, a tale of spiritual quest and a treatise on religion, politics and economics written by a former native African slave.
Book Description
Olaudah EquianoÂ's capture by slave-traders at the age of ten took him from life in what is now Eastern Nigeria and thrust him on a fateful journey that would submerge him in an incomprehensible world. He emerged a gifted writer and has provided insights into centuries of slave trading and why the relationship between black and white seems always in favor of white. First published in 1789, EquianoÂ's engaging narrative, written in English, describes his life before and after his capture—looking forward to recognition as a descendant of a chief; working on slave ships; traveling to the southern states of America, the West Indies, Europe, and the Arctic; and fighting a war. He eventually grew to be an extremely confident man who, even in the worst slavery imaginable, never lost his sense of purpose or his humanity. After buying his freedom, he was an ardent supporter of abolishing slavery. Written with a sense of literary history, EquianoÂ's account corrects wrong impressions about Africa and explores what it is like for an African to find himself suddenly alien in a world that considers Africans as not quite human.
Customer Reviews:
History of the others.......2005-12-29
The African slave trade is one of the great stains of human history. Much has been written about it by European - white authors, though unfortunately, there are very few recollections of the slave trade by actual slaves. This book is one of those works. The author, Olaudah Equiano, was born in Nigeria and captured as a child and sold of to slavery in the New World. He eventually accummulated enough money to free and educate himself, and make his way thru the world as a free man. This book is his story, told by himself. He retells his kidnapping, his trip from Africa to N. America, his service to different masters, how he bought his own freedom, and then his life as a free man. He retells both the punishments he endured, the work he had to do, and the opportunities denied to him while he was a slave. Overall, a good book to read about the life of a slave.
Well written with attention toward the truth, not opinion........2001-03-06
I'm not sure if the person below read the book. Equiano was 11 when he was enslaved.
A must read for anyone interested in the horror of slavery.......1997-12-06
An amazing story of an amazing man. Olaudah Equiano tells the story of his life with such clarity and recollection it is hard to put this book down. A slave, who at the age of 7, was kidnapped from his village in Africa and subsequently enslaved for 11 years until which time he could buy his freedom. His life was filled with both horror and wonder. He witnessed great events and horrific injustices. He tells these tales with clarity and an unusual objectiveness. A boy, who at age 7, did not read or write or even know of the white man. Olaudah grew to learn and have great command of the language in which he would retell his tales. This is not only an impressive work, it is more so coming from a former slave. It is a must read for everyone interested in the struggle for life that these people endured for over two centuries.
Product Description
An 18-century best-seller, it is a magnificent revolutionary abolitionist autobiography, a tale of spiritual quest and a treatise on religion, politics and economics written by a former native African slave.
Product Description
An 18-century best-seller, it is a magnificent revolutionary abolitionist autobiography, a tale of spiritual quest and a treatise on religion, politics and economics written by a former native African slave.
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