Tayari's Blog: A Literary Mystery

Posted by TayariJones on October 31, 2005 04:11 PM
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One of my students just brought this to my attention. Many of you have probably read the slave narrative of Olaudah Equiano, the only enslaved author with memories of Africa. Well, a new book out is suggesting that Mr. Equiano was really born in South Carolina and is more novelist than memorist.

Therein lies the mystery: If the man who penned "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself" was not African-born, but rather an African-American born in South Carolina -- as University of Maryland scholar Vincent Carretta claims -- then who was he? Where did he learn to speak fluent Igbo? And how did he get such excruciating details about life aboard an 18th-century slave ship?
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