[Of] female slave narratives, Harriet Jacobs's "Incidents in the
Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself" is the crowning
achievement. Manifesting a command of rhetorical and narrative
strategies rivaled only by that of Frederick Douglass, Jacobs's
autobiography is one of the major works of Afro-American
literature...Jacobs's narrative is a bold and gripping fusion of
two major literary forms: she borrowed from the popular sentimental
novel on one hand, and the slave narrative genre on the other. Her
tale gains its importance from the fact that she charts, in great
and painful detail, the sexual exploitation that daily haunted her
life--and the life of every other black female slave...Ms. Yellin's
superbly researched edition ensures that Harriet Jacobs will never
be lost again.--Henry Louis Gates, Jr. "New York Times Book Review
"
[The book] is a major work in the canon of writing by Afro-American
women...Jacobs's book--reaching across the gulf separating black
women from white, slave from free, poor from rich, "bad" women from
"good"--represents an early attempt to establish an American
sisterhood.--Wayne Lionel Aponte "The Nation "
[Of] female slave narratives, Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the
Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself is the crowning
achievement. Manifesting a command of rhetorical and narrative
strategies rivaled only by that of Frederick Douglass, Jacobs's
autobiography is one of the major works of Afro-American
literature...Jacobs's narrative is a bold and gripping fusion of
two major literary forms: she borrowed from the popular sentimental
novel on one hand, and the slave narrative genre on the other. Her
tale gains its importance from the fact that she charts, in great
and painful detail, the sexual exploitation that daily haunted her
life--and the life of every other black female slave...Ms. Yellin's
superbly researched edition ensures that Harriet Jacobs will never
be lost again.
ÝOf¨ female slave narratives, Harriet Jacobs's "Incidents in the
Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself" is the crowning
achievement. Manifesting a command of rhetorical and narrative
strategies rivaled only by that of Frederick Douglass, Jacobs's
autobiography is one of the major works of Afro-American
literature...Jacobs's narrative is a bold and gripping fusion of
two major literary forms: she borrowed from the popular sentimental
novel on one hand, and the slave narrative genre on the other. Her
tale gains its importance from the fact that she charts, in great
and painful detail, the sexual exploitation that daily haunted her
life--and the life of every other black female slave...Ms. Yellin's
superbly researched edition ensures that Harriet Jacobs will never
be lost again. -- Henry Louis Gates, Jr. "New York Times Book
Review"
ÝThe book¨ is a major work in the canon of writing by Afro-American
women...Jacobs's book--reaching across the gulf separating black
women from white, slave from free, poor from rich, "bad" women from
"good"--represents an early attempt to establish an American
sisterhood. -- Wayne Lionel Aponte "The Nation"
This may be the most important story ever written by a slave woman,
capturing as it does the gross indignities as well as the subtler
social arrangements of the time. An introduction is invaluable in
clarifying many incidents and personalities...The author writes
with passion and insight into the peculiar institution of slavery.
Her writing, modern in several respects, prefigures many of the
developments in the later literature of the South.
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