|
Other Books
on Nathaniel Turner
(1800-1831)
Nat
Turner A
Slave Rebellion in History and Memory by Kenneth
Greenberg
Nat
Turner Before the Bar of Judgment by Mary Kemp Davis
Nat
Turner's Tragic Search by
Catherine Hermary-Vielle
The Rebellious Slave
Nat Turner in American Memory by Scot French
* *
* * *
Nat
Turner's Tragic Search
for Freedom from Deprivation to
Vengeance
By Catherine Hermary-Vielle
Translated by Robin Orr Bodkin
In early
November 1831 a slave by the name of Nat Turner was tried,
convicted, and executed for murder in the Commonwealth of
Virginia. Approximately sixty white men, women, and children
died as a result of the rebellion that he planned and led
against the slaveholders of Jerusalem, a small farming hamlet in
the southeast section of the state. Of the hundreds of uprisings
that took place throughout the history of American slavery Nat
Turner's rebellion was more successful than most in dispelling
the myth of the "contented slave," an individual too
passive to fight for basic human rights or self-determination.
Nat
Turner's Tragic Search is a narrative of the events that led up to this
rebellion as well as drove it to its bloody conclusion. If it
were but a question of its known facts, which are few and far
between, one might feel content with a quick determination of
its import. After behavior beyond the pale, a protagonist,
whether as an actual historical figure or as a fictionalized
representation, receives his just due. That is, in the eyes of
the law a slave rebels against his "masters" by taking
their lives or encouraging others to do so.
Subsequently, he is arrested, tried, and sentenced to a
fate as equally horrifying as the one visited upon his victims.
Catherine Hermary-Vieille, however, perceptively anchors the
origin of this story elsewhere. From beginning to end she paints
it with Africa in mind as well as the inescapable influence that
a mother and her beliefs can bring to bear on her child.
"As long as blood coursed through her [Nat's
mother] veins, no one would ever convince her that a black
person's desire to be free was wrong or unlawful. What she did
know for sure, however, was the indisputable criminality of
forcing another human being into the bonds of slavery. She could
never break those bonds by herself, but Nat... would find a way
to do it."
Thus, Hermary-Vieille invites the reader to focus not
so much on the Nat Turner dossier as on the larger meaning of
his life and its message. In this light his story is both a
literal and figurative search for freedom, a search that
tragically consumes his life as it feeds his spirit.--
Amazon Book Description
As
a slave and self-proclaimed leader for all those held against
their will, Nat Turner first tried passive resistance as a means
of transforming an unjust world. The indifference with which
this approach was met forced him to conclude that only violence
could effectuate the kind of change he desired.
Accordingly,
he organized and led a slave rebellion that resulted in the
deaths of some sixty men, women, and children. This brutal
revolt took place in rural Virginia during the 1830s. Not only
did it catch the local slaveholders unaware but it succeeded in
terrorizing them long after "justice was served" at
the end of a hangman's noose. To look into the face of hatred
and have no inkling as to its origin struck fear in the hearts
of the white survivors as well as clouded their sense of right
and wrong.
After
this tragic sequence of events, slavery and the conservative
politics that supported it grew even stronger before finally
giving way to a more enlightened outlook some thirty-five years
later.
Was
Nat Turner a murderer or a hero? Should we deplore his actions
as we do those of a terrorist or was there something heroic
about them, particularly in the context of slavery as a crime
against humanity? Who can say for sure? The value of human life
is often in the eyes of the beholder. What can we say is that
Nat Turner was a visionary, a complex, inherently intelligent
man haunted by questions of good and evil. Whatever he did,
whatever the sacrifices involved, he never failed to give his
all.
Excoriated
by some, venerated by others, few will dispute the indelible
mark that nat Turner left on American history.--
Publisher
An
important historical novel . . . breathtaking--Groupe
de La Cité International Diffusion
In
her epic narrative Catherine Hermary-Vielle gets to the truth
[of Nathaniel Turner] in what just may be her most stunning book
todate. A talented biographer, Hermary-Vieille paints an
impassioned [Nathaniel} Turner on a canvas of the harsh
realities of slavery . . . realities that virtually leap from
the page.--Femme
actuelle
If
American historians have treated him [Nathaniel Turner] as
nothing more than a common murderer, the author of this book
shows a man ready to sacrifice himself for the sake of his loved
ones and his people.--Femina
Hebdo
Catherine
Hermary-Vielle sees him [Nathaniel Turner] in a new light. She
sees him as an intelligent, spiritual man, often deeply
troubled, yet thoroughly courageous and thus more than willing
to sacrifice his own life for something larger than himself.--Le
Berry Républicain
Source:
Nat Turner's Tragic Search As Colette R.
Oberlin of France-Amérique noted in 1998 after L'Ange noir
(translated as
Nat
Turner's Tragic Search)
had received the Prix Littéraire du Quartier Latin, "we
don't have to introduce Catherine Hermary-Vieille
anymore. With all her success... her talent is unanimously
recognized."
It is indeed! With more than two decades of
stirring prose behind her, some eighteen books to her credit,
many already in translation, copies sold by the hundreds of
thousands, sufficient critical attention and literary awards to
arouse the interest of even the most successful writer,
Catherine Hermary-Vieille is at the top of her game. Yet far be
it from her to rest on her laurels. While the notion of a fine
wine over time comes to mind, it seems woefully inadequate as a
characterization of this remarkably gifted, creative writer
whose perspicacity and attention to detail have been the
hallmark of a distinguished career.
Right from the beginning with Le Grand Vizir de la
Nuit (which captured the Prix Fémina in 1981) her writing
assumed that most hallowed of French traditions-- le mot juste--
and did so in a rather unpretentious way. Whether they know her
as a biographer (in La Marquise des Ombres, the saga of a
famous murderess or the tragic destinies of Romy and Lola), a
journalist (her numerous articles in such notable publications
as Le Figaro, Paris Match, or Gala), a
reporter (especially her insightful communiqués from Lebanon
for Jours de France), or an editor (her deft contributions to
the film productions of Gilles Carle and Alain Jessuah), her
readers have steadily grown in number through the years. They
have come to appreciate that distinctive clarity and penetrating
insight that her writing brings to whatever subject captures her
gaze.
* * *
* *
* * * * *
|
The New Jim Crow
Mass Incarceration in the Age of
Colorblindness
By Michele Alexander
Contrary to the
rosy picture of race embodied in Barack
Obama's political success and Oprah
Winfrey's financial success, legal
scholar Alexander argues vigorously and
persuasively that [w]e have not ended
racial caste in America; we have merely
redesigned it. Jim Crow and legal racial
segregation has been replaced by mass
incarceration as a system of social
control (More African Americans are
under correctional control today... than
were enslaved in 1850). Alexander
reviews American racial history from the
colonies to the Clinton administration,
delineating its transformation into the
war on drugs. She offers an acute
analysis of the effect of this mass
incarceration upon former inmates who
will be discriminated against, legally,
for the rest of their lives, denied
employment, housing, education, and
public benefits. Most provocatively, she
reveals how both the move toward
colorblindness and affirmative action
may blur our vision of injustice: most
Americans know and don't know the truth
about mass incarceration—but her
carefully researched, deeply engaging,
and thoroughly readable book should
change that.—Publishers
Weekly |
 |
*
* * * *
 |
Blacks in Hispanic Literature: Critical Essays
Edited by
Miriam DeCosta-Willis
Blacks in Hispanic Literature is a
collection of fourteen essays by scholars and
creative writers from Africa and the Americas.
Called one of two significant critical works on
Afro-Hispanic literature to appear in the late
1970s, it includes the pioneering studies of
Carter G. Woodson and
Valaurez B. Spratlin, published in the 1930s, as
well as the essays of scholars whose interpretations
were shaped by the Black aesthetic. The early
essays, primarily of the Black-as-subject in Spanish
medieval and Golden Age literature, provide an
historical context for understanding 20th-century
creative works by African-descended, Hispanophone
writers, such as Cuban
Nicolás Guillén and Ecuadorean poet, novelist,
and scholar
Adalberto Ortiz, whose essay analyzes the
significance of Negritude in Latin America. This
collaborative text set the tone for later
conferences in which writers and scholars worked
together to promote, disseminate, and critique the
literature of Spanish-speaking people of African
descent. . . .
Cited by a
literary critic in 2004 as "the seminal study in the
field of Afro-Hispanic Literature . . . on which
most scholars in the field 'cut their teeth'."
|
* * * * *
The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
* *
* * *
Ancient African Nations
* * * * *
If you like this page consider making a donation
* * * * *
Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
1950
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
____ 2005
Enjoy!
* * * * *
The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
/
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
/
Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
* *
* * *
The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
* * * * *
* *
* * *
update 1 December 2011
|
