by HarrietJacobs (Author), ValerieSmith (Contributor)
One of hundreds of slave narratives published just before the Civil War, this account is unique in that it is written by a woman. This offers a different, perhaps more realistic, perspective on slave experience than that presented in the more typical 'heroic' male narrative. The work is notable for its blending and manipulation of several narrative techniques, including those of the sentimental novel, of autobiography, and of the classical slave narrative.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 352
Edition: New Ed
Publisher: OUP USA
Published: 29 Aug 1991
ISBN 10: 0195066707
ISBN 13: 9780195066708
My personal favorite...Jacobs confronts the contradictions inherent in the category 'the black woman writer.' By engaging these issues and negotiating a course through them, she anticipates the literary and ideological position of subsequent generations of black women writers. --Jean Fagan Yellin, The Washington Post Book World
A corrective to those who have identified the slave narrative primarily as a male genre....This particular edition, with its introduction by Valerie Smith, sheds new light on the choices its heroine Linda Brent makes. --The Women's Review of Books