The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings (Penguin Classics S.) - Softcover

Equiano, Olaudah

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140434852 ISBN 13: 9780140434859

Publisher: Penguin, 1996

Synopsis

This is an account of the slave trade by a native African, former slave. Olaudah Equiano recounts his kidnapping at the age of ten in Africa, his service as the slave of an officer in the British Navy and his years of labour on slave ships until he was able to purchase his freedom in 1766. As a free man on a Central American plantation, he supervised slaves. Increasingly disgusted by their treatment, he returned to England in 1771. In England he worked for the resettlement of blacks in Sierra Leone, married an English woman and became a leading and respected figure in the anti-slave movement. This narrative is an autobiography and a treatise on religion, politics and economics.

About this title

Review:

The appetite for Equiano and his memoir shows no signs of abating, as this new edition shows. (James Walvin, The Times)

The book adds to the body of knowledge about a great man, Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, The African. Students now have a wider chose of resources as they study his complex but interesting life. (Arthur Torrington, The Equiano Society)

This book will change our assumptions about slavery and affect, and also change our sense of what works can be connected to this vast enterprise. It makes for what is sometimes surprising reading, but it also makes so much sense that the century will never again look quite the same as it did before this book. (George E. Haggerty, SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900)

From the Back Cover:

An account of the slave trade by a native African, former slave and loyal British subject, The Interesting Narrative is both an exciting, often terrifying, adventure story and an important precursor to such famous 19th century slave narratives as Frederick Douglas's autobiography. Oludah Equiano's Narrative recounts his kidnapping in Africa at the age of 10, his service as the slave of an officer in the British Navy and his years of labour on slave ships until he was able to purchase his freedom in 1766. As a free man on a Central American plantation, he supervised slaves; increasingly disgusted by his co-workers, he returned to England in 1774. In England he worked for the resettlement of blacks in Sierra Leone, married an Englishwoman and became a leading and respected figure in the anti-slave movement. A spirited autobiography, a tale of spiritual quest and fulfilment, a sophisticated treatise on religion, politics, and economics, The Interesting Narrative is a work of enduring literary and historical value.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0140434852
• ISBN 13: 9780140434859
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400
• Editor: Carrett Vincent