Olaudah Equiano (–1797)
Författare till Gustavus Vassa, afrikanen : en slavs berättelse
Om författaren
One of the most remarkable figures in the history of African literature is Olaudah Equiano, who is also known as Gustavus Vassa. He was born into an Igbo community that he called Essaka, or most probably Isieke, in what is now the Ihiala local government area of the Anambra State of Nigeria. visa mer Captured and sold into slavery at the age of 12, he was taken to the West Indies. There he was resold to a British naval officer who helped him acquire an education and some nautical experience. When Equiano was beginning to consider himself a free man, he was unexpectedly sold again to a Philadelphia trader, for whom he undertook business trips to the West Indies. These trips enabled Equiano to make enough money to buy his freedom. As a free man, Equiano continued his vocation as a sailor and traveled extensively in Europe, Africa, and the Americas. He eventually joined the abolitionist movement in Great Britain, where he settled down as a respectable African European, married an English woman, and had two children. Equiano moved in high social circles, wrote and spoke frequently in various public media on abolition issues, and petitioned the British Parliament on the evils of slavery. But by far his most important contribution to the abolition movement was his autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself, which was first published in London in 1789. Not only was The Interesting Narrative an eloquent diatribe against the evils of slavery; its early chapters presented a thoroughly idyllic picture of the culture, social life, and geographical environment of his Igbo home, which he describes as "a charming, fruitful vale." In the autobiography, Equiano refutes the detractions of African peoples in European and oriental literatures, religious dogmas, and philosophical and ethnographic writings. He emerges as the first spokesperson of pan-African nationalism, black consciousness, negritude, and a whole range of other contemporary African and African American intellectual movements. The Narrative is a mixture of factual ethnographic and historical details, debatable assertions, and outright fallacies; it is as mystifying as it is revealing. So powerful is its eighteenth-century rhetorical style that, despite the assertion in its title that it was "written by himself," few of his white contemporaries were convinced that such elegant prose and humane sentiments could be written by an African. (Bowker Author Biography) visa färre
Foto taget av: This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired in the United States and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years or less.
Verk av Olaudah Equiano
The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings: Revised Edition (Penguin Classics) (1998) 582 exemplar
The Interesting Narrative in the Life of Olaudah Equiano [Norton Critical Edition] (1789) 128 exemplar
Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States From W. H. Taft to G. W. Bush / The Life of Olaudah Equinao… (2004) 2 exemplar
The African 1 exemplar
Associerade verk
The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Volume 1 (1990) — Bidragsgivare, vissa utgåvor — 250 exemplar
American Sea Writing: A Literary Anthology (Library of America) (2000) — Bidragsgivare — 227 exemplar
American Antislavery Writings: Colonial Beginnings to Emancipation (2012) — Bidragsgivare — 119 exemplar
Growing Up in Slavery: Stories of Young Slaves as Told By Themselves (2005) — Bidragsgivare — 87 exemplar
The Penguin Book of Migration Literature: Departures, Arrivals, Generations, Returns (2019) — Bidragsgivare — 70 exemplar
I Was Born a Slave: An Anthology of Classic Slave Narratives: Volume One, 1770-1849 (1999) — Bidragsgivare — 43 exemplar
Unchained Voices: An Anthology of Black Authors in the English-Speaking World of the Eighteenth Century (1996) — Bidragsgivare — 40 exemplar
Lapham's Quarterly - Lines of Work: Volume IV, Number 2, Spring 2011 (2011) — Bidragsgivare — 29 exemplar
Early Black British Writing: Olaudah Equiano, Mary Prince, and Others (2003) — Bidragsgivare — 9 exemplar
Slave Narrative (Six Pack 1)- Uncle Tom's Cabin, Twelve Years A Slave, Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation,… (2015) — Bidragsgivare — 7 exemplar
Voices From Slavery: The Life and Beliefs of African Slaves in Britain (2007) — Bidragsgivare — 2 exemplar
Taggad
Allmänna fakta
- Andra namn
- Vassa, Gustavus
- Födelsedag
- 1745 ca.
- Avled
- 1797-03-31
- Begravningsplats
- Whitefield's Tabernacle, Tottenham Court Road, London, England, UK
- Kön
- male
- Nationalitet
- Benin
- Land (för karta)
- Nigeria
- Födelseort
- Essaka, Kingdom of Dahomey (now Nigeria)
- Dödsort
- London, England, UK
- Bostadsorter
- Essaka, Kingdom of Dahomey (now Nigeria)
Barbados
Virginia, British America
London, England
Montserrat
Mosquito Coast (visa alla 8)
Soham, Cambridgeshire, England, UK
Sierra Leone - Yrken
- writer
merchant
explorer
sailor
plantation manager - Organisationer
- Sons of Africa
London Corresponding Society - Kort biografi
- Olaudah Equiano was born to a noble family in the African kingdom of Benin in approximately 1745. While still a boy, he was kidnapped, enslaved, and taken to the West Indies. For the next eleven years he traveled from the Americas to Europe and through the Caribbean. After being freed in 1767, he moved to London, became an active abolitionist, and helped freed slaves settle in the African colony of Sierra Leone. In 1789 he published his best-selling autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African which served as the model for many later writers, including Frederick Douglass. He died in England in 1797, survived by his wife, Susanna Cullen, and their two daughters. [from The Kidnapped Prince , an adaptation of his autobiography by Ann Cameron. (2005)]
Medlemmar
Recensioner
Kidnapped at the age of 11 from his home in Benin, Africa, Olaudah Equiano spent the next 11 years as a slave in England, the U.S., and the West Indies, until he was able to buy his freedom. His autobiography, published in 1789, was a bestseller in its own time. Cameron has modernized and shortened it while remaining true to the spirit of the original. It's a gripping story of adventure, betrayal, cruelty, and courage. In searing scenes, Equiano describes the savagery of his capture, the appalling conditions on the slave ship, the auction, and the forced labor. . . . Kids will read this young man's story on their own; it will also enrich curriculum units on history and on writing.
-Amazon description… (mer)
-Amazon description… (mer)
Olaudah Equiano (?-1707) was kidnapped from his home in Nigeria in 1745, brought to Virginia on a slave ship,
then sold to a British Naval Captain. They sailed to England where Olaudah went to school in London.
Captain then sold him to a Quaker and he bought his freedom.
During his life he was over and over betrayed by his former maste and other white menr as they traveled the ocean and back
He submitted his written Narrative to the Queen.
He worked hard to abolish slavery, describing to all who would listen in England
all that he had witnessed of the
"...tortures, murders, and every other imaginable barbarity..."
(Still not sure why he never learned to swim when he spent so much of his life at sea.)… (mer)
then sold to a British Naval Captain. They sailed to England where Olaudah went to school in London.
Captain then sold him to a Quaker and he bought his freedom.
During his life he was over and over betrayed by his former maste and other white menr as they traveled the ocean and back
He submitted his written Narrative to the Queen.
He worked hard to abolish slavery, describing to all who would listen in England
all that he had witnessed of the
"...tortures, murders, and every other imaginable barbarity..."
(Still not sure why he never learned to swim when he spent so much of his life at sea.)… (mer)
A moving slave narrative, a heartfelt confession of faith, a thought-provoking historical record, and a seafaring adventure story all in one. It gets a little slow at times due to the period language, but it's a thoroughly absorbing read.
Listor
Priser
Du skulle kanske också gilla
Associerade författare
Statistik
- Verk
- 15
- Även av
- 18
- Medlemmar
- 3,743
- Popularitet
- #6,772
- Betyg
- 3.7
- Recensioner
- 36
- ISBN
- 152
- Språk
- 5
- Favoritmärkt
- 1
- Proberstenar
- 46
There's also many fascinating glimpses into Georgian and Victorian society and, while varying degrees of racism are noted, many of the impressions of visitors to the island are positive about their reception and of the culture in which they find themselves.
A nuanced and balanced selection of historical testimonies which I thoroughly enjoyed reading, not least the short section on John Ocansey's day trip from Liverpool to my home town of Southport 🏖️… (mer)