It seems to be pretty clear that An Interesting Narrative was written with a certain audience in mind, and even clearer that I am not that audience. Like many mentioned in class today, reading the historical autobiography has proved to be challenging in multiple ways.
For one, the text constantly refers to people, places, and events that I am unfamiliar with. My edition has footnotes that often provides additional context on these subjects, but it can be exhausting to continually search for more information. I wonder if readers in the 1789 British world felt the same way. Was reading about the foreign customs and long-concealed slave practices overwhelming, or humbling as they realized how much they did not know?
Another obstacle in my understanding of An Interesting Narrative has been its exceedingly formal language. Sometimes, it felt like Equiano was so concerned with not offending the British lords that it masked any true anger he may have felt. And regardless of the tone, the style of almost never-ending sentences sometimes makes it difficult for me to get the point of what Equiano is saying. However, I think reading this style will become easier as I get used to it.
Finally, Equiano's narrative surprised me with its cheerfulness. I expected to be reading the words of a bitter, passionate man, yet his message is mostly positive and respectful. Constantly, Equiano looks on the bright side of his circumstances and relates his gratitude at the friends he makes and the elements of white culture that he adopts. To be honest, his style reminds me a bit of Voltaire's Candide (1759), and I'm not sure if that was intentional or not. Candide is a French satire that uses absurd optimism to critique social structures, and I wonder if Equiano is trying to do the same thing.
I am certainly being challenged and surprised by An Interesting Narrative, but I still look forward to reading more and seeing how Equiano's life and ideas evolve.
Hey Heather! I have the same problem mentally remembering and relating to particular places and names in Equiano's narrative. Just having to remember them, to a degree, and mentally picture what is going on can be challenging. I agree with your thoughts on the formallcy of Equiano's tone. Now that I think about it, I can't really remember a time when he actually expressed anger for something. He described being fearful and curious and happy, but he never really mentioned being angry. I wonder if not mentioning he was angry was a strategic route to keep from offending the audience. Anger and negative emotions usually incites a feeling of defense which could block his audience from actually listening to what he has to say.
ReplyDeleteHi Heather! I'm terrible at remembering names, so I understand where you're coming from. You bring up a point that I didn't really think of—what did readers think of this text during the time it was originally published? I haven't really thought about this: texts and books change over time, but so do the readers. I think that that's an interesting thing to think about—how do readers change throughout time? how did reader of different time periods react to this novel?
ReplyDeleteHey Heather! I also encountered some obstacles with reading this novel, especially due to the highly formal language. I think reading The Secret River helped prepare me for this novel because both tend to lack in dialogue and are more detail heavy. I like your connection to Voltaire. I haven't read him at all, but the connection you made seems very reasonable to me.
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