Close attention is paid to Crafts's extensive borrowing or departing from popular novels of the day-such as Charles Dickens's Bleak House and Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. Here, the authors tend to operate by the assumption that Crafts is indeed, a black fugitive slave, and they treat her story as a novel or a fictionalized autobiography. Also noteworthy is Joe Nickell's account of how he dated the manuscript by analyzing the paper, ink, and writing style-and his thoughts on who the author might have been.īut, of course, the heart of the book lies in the critical attention paid to Crafts's writing and its relation to the society in which she lived. In "The Case for Hannah Vincent," Nina Baym argues for a free black author, while, in the same chapter, Katherine Flynn, a certified genealogical records specialist, traces the life of fugitive slave Jane Johnson, and presents formidable evidence that she was the author. Among the book's most interesting essays are those that seek to solve the mystery of the author's identity. Yet, while essays such as Zoe Trodd's "Don't speak dearest, it will make you worse," take for granted prior knowledge of other academic texts, many require little more than a general interest in the subject.Īnyone who has read The Bondwoman's Narrative is no doubt familiar with the lengthy and fascinating process by which Gates acquired and attempted to authenticate Crafts's novel. In Search of Hannah Crafts is designed primarily for an academic audience. Du Bois Institute) then compiled some of the most provocative responses to Crafts's handiwork and Gates's discovery of it. Gates and Hollis Robbins (of Harvard's W.E.B. Told through the eyes of a self-educated, white-appearing woman who is a "bondwoman" under the South's peculiar institution, the text raised a number of questions regarding its origins and its influences and aims, as well as how it changes, supports, or simply adds to our understanding of life under slavery. Purportedly the first novel by a female slave, and quite possibly the first novel by an African American woman, The Bondwoman's Narrative has captured the attention of both scholars and the reading public at large. published a 19th-century manuscript that caused a national sensation. In 2002, Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Hollis Robbins Basic Civitas Books, January 2004 $27.50, ISBN 4-8 In Search of Hannah Crafts: Critical Essays on The Bondwoman's Narrative Edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr. APA style: In Search of Hannah Crafts: Critical Essays on the Bondwoman's Narrative.In Search of Hannah Crafts: Critical Essays on the Bondwoman's Narrative." Retrieved from MLA style: "In Search of Hannah Crafts: Critical Essays on the Bondwoman's Narrative." The Free Library.
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