DISCOVER A TALE OF UNIMAGINABLE ADVERSITY Twelve Years a Slave tells the story of Solomon Northup, a free-born man of colour who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the American South in 1841. His true tale of captivity, torture and abuse brings to life the unimaginable evils of slavery in a time when it was yet to be outlawed. Equal parts slave, travel, and spiritual narrative, Twelve Years A Slave reveals Northup to be a person of astonishing strength and wisdom. An insightful introduction by David Fiske reveals the world into which Northup was born, the kidnapping phenomenon to which he fell victim, and the legacy of slavery today.
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Solomon Northup. Twelve Years a Slave
Table of Contents
Guide
Pages
TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE. The Black History Classic
INTRODUCTION
SOLOMON NORTHUP
LIFE PRE-SLAVERY
AFTER PUBLICATION
WHAT HAPPENED TO NORTHUP?
ACCURACY AND AUTHORSHIP
RECEPTION AND IMPACT
THE FORGOTTEN PHENOMENON
THE HUMANITY OF RESCUERS
OTHER KIDNAPPING CASES
NORTHUP'S POPULAR LEGACY
MODERN SLAVERY
REFERENCES
ABOUT DAVID FISKE
ABOUT TOM BUTLER-BOWDON
EDITOR'S PREFACE
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX
X
XI
XII
XIII
XIV
XV
XVI
XVII
XVIII
XIX
XX
XXI
XXII
ROARING RIVER. A REFRAIN OF THE RED RIVER PLANTATION
APPENDIX A. CHAP. 375
APPENDIX B. MEMORIAL OF ANNE
APPENDIX C
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Отрывок из книги
Also available in the same series:
From the 1853 edition.
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The question of authorship has also arisen over time. Did Northup pen the narrative, or was it David Wilson? Wilson has sometimes been called the book's “ghost writer,” yet he is clearly identified as the book's editor (even supplying his own preface). Wilson explains that the content of the book came from Northup, in response to questions from Wilson. We know that Wilson authored other books, and a comparison of the writing style in Twelve Years a Slave with those titles indicates much more dry and matter-of-fact language compared to the Northup book, which is highly descriptive. Though it's possible that the difference is due to the intervention of an editor at the publishing house, it is more likely that this is simply Northup's style. We know that, when he lectured, he was a dramatic storyteller who did not require Wilson's presence on stage to captivate an audience.
Another clear sign of Northup's voice in the book are the sometimes tortuously detailed detours from the main narrative. In Chapter XIV, for example, he devotes several paragraphs to how he designed and built a fish trap. Throughout the book, he goes into great detail in explaining agricultural practices in Louisiana. It is hard to imagine that anyone besides Northup would have demanded inclusion of such secondary topics.
