PAL: Perspectives in American Literature - A Research and Reference Guide

Chapter 2: Early American Literature - Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797)

Page Links: | Primary Works | Selected Bibliography | Study Questions | MLA Style Citation of this Web Page |

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(Source: St. Andrew's Church, Chesterton) 

 

Among the tradition of slave narratives, Equiano's is considered a remarkable achievement since the autobiographical style was not a well-developed genre in the eighteenth century. His narrative has vivid and concrete details and is written in the picaresque style. Equiano also provides a detailed account of the his kidnapping, his trek through the jungles, his arrival at the sea coast, and the arduous crossing of the Atlantic in the belly of a slave ship.

Primary Works

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself, 1789 (E-Text); Equiano's Travels: His Autobiography, ed. Paul Edwards, 1967.

The life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Written by himself. NY: Negro UP, 1969. HT869.E6 A3

The Classic slave narratives. Edited and with an introduction by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. NY: New American Library, 1987. E444 .C63

| Top | Selected Bibliography

Acholonu, Catherine Obianuju, "The Home of Olaudah Equiano -- A Linguistic and Anthropological Search," The Journal of Commonwealth Literature. 22 (1987).

Carretta, Vincent, ed. Olaudah: The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings. New York: Penguin Books, 1995.

Costanzo, Angelo. Surprising Narrative: Olaudah Equiano and the Beginnings of Black Autobiography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1987. (See especially Chapter 4.)

Fichtelberg, Joseph. "Word between Worlds: the Economy of Equiano's Narrative." American Literary History 5:3 (1993): 459-80.

Francis, Elman V. "Olaudah Equiano: A Profile." Negro History Bulletin 44, No. 2 (August-June 1981): 31, 43-4.

Harris, Sharon M. "Early American Slave Narratives and the Reconfiguration of Place." Journal of the American Studies Association of Texas 21 (1990): 15-23.

Hinds, Elizabeth. "The Spirit of Trade: Olaudah Equiano's Conversion, Legalism, and the Merchant's Life." African American Review 32.4 (Wint 1998): 635-47.

Isichei, Elizabeth. "The Igbo Roots of Olaudah Equiano." Journal of African History 33.1 (Jan 1992): 164(2).

Ito, Akiyo. "Olaudah Equiano and the New York Artisans: The First American Edition of The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano." Early American Literature 32.1 (1997): 82-101.

Kaplan, Sidney. "Olaudah Equiano: The Image of Africa." The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution, Greenwich Conn.: New York Graphic Society, 1973, 193-206.

Kennerly, K. The Slave Who Bought His Freedom; Equiano's Story. NY: Dutton, 1971.

Marren, Susan M. "Between Slavery and Freedom: The Transgressive Self in Olaudah Equiano's Autobiography." PMLA 108.1 (Jan 1993): 94(12).

Mottolese, William. "Almost an Englishman: Olaudah Equiano and the Colonial Gift of Language." Bucknell Review 41.2 (1998): 160-71.

Murphy, G. "Olaudah Equiano, Accidental Tourist." Eighteenth-Century Studies 27 (1994): 677-92.

Orban, Katalin. "Dominant and Submerged Discourses in The Life of Olaudah Equiano Gustavus Vassa." African-American Review 27.4 (1993): 655-64.

Overton, Bill. "Countering Crusoe: Two Colonial Narratives." Critical-Survey 4.3 (1992): 302-10.

Potkay, A. "Olaudah Equiano and the Art of Spiritual Autobiography." Eighteenth-Century Studies27(1994): 677-92.

Samuels, Wilfred. "Disguised Voice in the Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano." Black American Literature Forum 19.2 (1985): 64-69.

Study Questions

1. What kind of picture does Equiano paint of his African slave experiences as opposed to his later encounters with slavery in the Western world?

2. Examine those points of resemblance between Elizabeth Ashbridge's Some Account and Olaudah Equiano's Narrative. What does Ashbridge confirm about the horrors of servitude? What does Equiano tell us about the role the Quakers played in the struggle for human freedom?

3. Reread the early chapters of Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation and contrast the portrait of life aboard the Mayflower with Equiano's account of life aboard the slave ship. Consider the various meanings different colonial authors attribute to the word removal.

MLA Style Citation of this Web Page

Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 2: Early American Literature - Olaudah Equiano." PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide. URL: http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap2/equiano.html (provide page date or your date of login).
 

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