The Confessions of Nat Turner by Nat Turner

In the novel Turner's grandmother is brought from Africa to Virginia by a Yankee slaver in 1782. But Styron by no means builds on the meager information supplied in the original Confessions much of it he ignores. In an introductory note, Styron says: 'During the narrative that follows I have rarely departed from the known facts about Nat Turner and the revolt of which he was the leader.' So far as the actual events of the revolt are concerned, that is true. Styron's Turner, hoping only to cut a padi to the Dismal Swamp and set up a permanent fortress there, is both less bloodthirsty and less dedicated to freeing his people than the record warrants.

But the real Confessions of 1831 and die other known facts of the rebellion suggest that Turner and his followers hoped for their rising to spread throughout the whole country.

The slaughtering of even die most harmless and helpless whites is outstanding evidence that Turner and his followers had an apocalyptic vision of vengeance guiding them. It was surely something more than a rational stroke for political freedom. Most of the reasoning about Turner's personality must be inferential, and so must the reconstruction of his full intentions about his rebellion. On the matter of his superior attitude toward fellow slaves, the best historical evidence that exists supports Styron, but aloofness is not always an expression of contempt, and the real Nat Turner may very well have felt more identification with and compassion for his fellow slaves than Styron allows.

Partisans of the revolutionary tradition and especially black militants see Turner as a folk hero, and are understandably offended that Styron portrays him as aloof and contemptuous toward most blacks, and affectionate only toward selected black boys and white girls. Much of the debate over the novel has turned on the character of Nat Turner himself. Stowe, it gains favorable publicity even when it is attacked, and is now being seriously recommended to students of history as a generally valid description of slavery as it was in the southern United States. $6.95.) William Styron's Confessions of Nat Turner is the most widely read and discussed representation of American Negro slavery since Uncle Tom's Cabin. In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:īOOK REVIEWS The Confessions of Nat Turner.

The Confessions of Nat Turner by Nat Turner