The Bondwoman's Narrative (Virago Modern Classics) [Paperback]

According to the editor this manuscript has existed for 140 years, and is quite probably the "earliest known novel by a female African-American slave and the earliest known novel by a black woman anywhere." Also according to Mr. Gates a slave escaped from a North Carolina plantation in 1857 and was able to reach New Jersey. It is his contention that she is the author of this book.

Whether one wishes to question the authenticity of his identification or not is quite immaterial considering the compelling material within "The Bondwoman's Narrative." The relationship between ladies' maids and their mistresses is revealed in sharp detail, as are the offensive overtures by a relentless master. The slave and narrator is presented not as a human being but as chattel, valued only for what she might bring on the block.

Ms. Craft has ably evoked pictures of the old South as well as the horrific conditions imposed by bondage. It is a miracle that these people could even hope for freedom. It is a wonder that this manuscript was brought to light at last.

- Gail Cooke

The second narrative, of course, and really the most important, is Hannah Craft's novel itself, which is thought so far to be autobiographical, in which a first person narrator describes her experience as a house slave and her eventual escape from a plantation near Wilmington, NC, via the Underground Railroad to New Jersey. The novel is a quick read, like a popular novel today with traces of the 19th C. sentimental novels of its day, with suspense and Dickens-like characterizations. There is a noted motif of "passing" (as one race for another and one gender for another) that is fascinating to trace throughout the story. Perhaps the great "pass" of all is the unanswered question about the racial identity of the author, a question that bothers some greatly that it is even being asked and is critically important to others that it be answered as accurately as possible.

Gates includes material that makes this version of the book "teachable" as well (he plans a later scholarly edition)--a listing of the library holdings Crafts is presumed to have had access to; passages from Dickens's BLEAK HOUSE set side by side with echoes from Crafts's novel; chapter notes by the editor that point to issues in similar narratives by Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs, etc.

Whether you eventually "buy" Gates's claims about its authenticity and importance or not, the book provides a focal point for discussions of many issues, both for the general reader and the specialist in American literature, American studies, history, gender studies, textual studies, and many others. It's also a peek inside the work of literary scholars, which reveals just how much fun our detective work (often thought to be dry and dusty by others) really is.

I say, read it, and let the conversations, and thought-provoking arguments, begin!

~Prof. Connie Ann Kirk

The bondwoman is Hannah Crafts, a mulatto and a slave, who wrote her story as an autobiographical novel. Hannah Crafts was not uneducated, she was self-educated. And, as anyone familiar with world literature will realize, Hannah Crafts, may have been very well educated, indeed. As we read her story, written in an effusive style, we realize that she was well aware of the limitations and injustices society inflicted on persons of color in 19th century America. What she didn't realize is that the freedom and life of the plantation's mistress is soon to be in as much peril as is her own and that their destinies will intertwine. Is Hannah Crafts story an autobiographical rendition or is it a flight of fancy, albeit a very good flight of fancy? I think it is up to each individual reader to judge.

"The Bondwoman's Narrative" really doesn't tell us anything new about the times in which Hannah Crafts lived. It's significance lies not in the facts it presents (although they are interesting), but in its historical value. The fact that this is, quite probably, the first narrative to have been written by a black woman makes "The Bondwoman's Narrative" unique and unprecedented and a true literary event.

Almost as interesting as the story of Hannah, herself, is Professor Gates' introduction in which he details his own search for the real Hannah Crafts and the true facts of her life.

Although the details in this book are details we have read before, perhaps several times before, we have not read them as presented by Hannah Crafts. The experience of slavery was important in shaping the character of America and, because of this importance, Hannah Crafts' voice is a voice that should be heard. I don't think anyone who reads this unique and sometimes very lovely book, will ever regret it.