This blog is devoted to crime and mystery fiction, but the
novel I wish to discuss this month is not a mystery. The Bondwoman’s Narrative
is the story of one woman’s escape from slavery. The discovery of the novel and
the efforts of several scholars to identify the author is a literary detective
story as exciting as the novel.
Discussion of this fascinating novel is difficult because it
requires close reading to examine the strengths and weaknesses of plot and characterization
and the historical context. So, I discuss it only briefly. Furthermore, the
effort of scholars to verify the author’s identity is a literary detective
story deserving its own critical analysis. For an in-depth discussion of the
book, read Paul Berman’s brilliant and
illuminating essay “The True Story of American’s First Black Female Slave
Novelist” on the New Republic website.
The Bondwoman’s Narrative was published in 2002 by Warner Books
and edited with introduction by Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. chair of the
Afro-American Studies Department at Harvard University. His discovery of the
unpublished manuscript in the Swann Galleries catalogue was exciting because “Holograph,
or handwritten, manuscripts by blacks in the nineteenth century are exceedingly
rare….” The manuscript had never been edited by a professional editor or
mediated by a white person as many of the fictional and nonfictional slave
narratives were. If he could authenticate the manuscript and confirm the
author’s identity, The Bondwoman’s Narrative would prove to be the first novel
written by a former female slave in the United States.
The Bondwoman’s Narrative by Hannah Crafts: A Fugitive Slave Recently
Escaped from North Carolina is
the full handwritten title on the first page of this important black
sentimental novel. As does many fictional and nonfictional slave narratives, it
depicts the evils of slavery. Hannah, the literate narrator/ protagonist, tells
the story of her escape from a plantation in Virginia, her capture and resale
to the Wheelers in North Carolina, and finally her escape to New Jersey. Aunt
Hetty an old white woman who lived near the plantation where Hannah grew up
defied the law and taught her to read. Like many slaves who learned to read and
write, Hannah knows the Bible and begins each chapter with a biblical epigraph.
Hannah seemingly accepts her condition as a slave: “’I am a
slave’ thus my thoughts would run. ‘I can never be great; I cannot hold an
elevated position, but I can do my duty, and be kind in the sure and certain
hope of eternal reward.[‘]”. She is also
a perceptive observer of people: “Instead of
books,” she “studied faces and characters, and arrived at conclusions by a sort
of sagacity that closely approximated to the unerring certainty of animal
instinct.” This talent for wearing the masks to conceal her feelings and
thoughts from the masters, which many slaves learned, allows her to
adjust to the different circumstances in which she finds herself. When the mask no longer works, she realizes it’s
time to again make a try for freedom.
The former slave clearly mastered the techniques of novel
writing that made her an outstanding storyteller. She reveals the effects of
slavery on master and slave, especially how supposedly kind masters supported
the peculiar institution. In the preface she asks, “Have I succeeded in showing
how it blights the happiness of the white as well as the black race?” My reply
is a resounding yes.
Experts in ink and paper helped Professor Gates establish
that the novel was written in the 1850s. His examination of the prose showed
that the author was familiar with and borrowed from Jane Eyre and Bleak House. Unfortunately, he was unable to establish
her identity. The story of the discovery of the novel is in itself as exciting
as the novel, but even more exciting is the mystery of the author’s identity.
Once the novel was authenticated, the literary detectives went to work to solve
the mystery: who was Hannah Crafts?
An article in the New York Times dated September 18, 2013,
claims that, 12 years after Professor Gates found the novel, Professor Gregg Hecimovich, chairman of the English Department at
Winthrop University in Rock Hill South Carolina, had found additional evidence
that revealed the author was named Hannah Bond, a slave on the plantation of
John Hill Wheeler in North Carolina. Professor Hecimovich planned to publish
his discovery in a book titled The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts.
If you are interested in African American literature, read The
Bondwoman’s Narrative and the efforts to identify the author. You will
not be disappointed.
The novel is certainly not a mystery, but the subject,
slavery, was a national crime.
