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The confessions of Nat Turner

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Publisher:
Varies, see individual formats and editions
Pub. Date:
Varies, see individual formats and editions
Language:
English
Accelerated Reader:
IL: UG - BL: 8.5 - AR Pts: 28
Lexile measure:
1450L
Description
Few modern American novelists have dared as much as William Styron in writing The Confessions of Nat Turner. A white man and a Tidewater Virginian by birth, Styron put himself inside the life and mind of Nat Turner, the black man who led a slave rebellion in Virginia in 1831. It is a true story told as a novel, though the author prefers to call it "a meditation on history" rather than a historical novel. Many black critics scorned it when it was published, refusing to accept Styron's bold conceit, though the novel won the 1967 Pulitzer Prize in fiction and was one of the most acclaimed American novels of its time.

The Confessions of Nat Turner speaks in the first-person voice of Nat Turner himself. Styron based the novel on details of Turner's life and a pamphlet with the same title that was presented as evidence in Turner's trial. It is a shattering story that renders the horror of slavery -- so easily viewed as a faceless historical tragedy -- into unique human terms. Turner had been promised freedom by his first master but it was never granted, a taste of liberty that is unbearable in its cruelty. As a man, he can find no solace in the life that is given to him. Turner is a powerful, compelling figure, and with visions tormenting him, he inspires a small band of slaves to rise up against their masters. The rebellion is violent, resulting in the deaths of white men and women, but it is put down surely and bloodily, with an even higher casualty of black people. The fate of the rebels is inevitable, and it is from this perspective that Nat Turner seeks to understand his life.

The concentrated but extravagant richness of Styron's writing, with its high rhetorical grace, is another bold choice he made in writing The Confessions of Nat Turner, at a time when writers were embracing the idea of less being more. As in his later novel Sophie's Choice, he does not tell a story that exists only in the past. Written in the mid-1960s, this novel addresses the horrible inequities that still existed then in the lives of African-Americans, and what those inequities do to the human equation. "He has begun the common history -- ours," the novelist James Baldwin wrote when The Confessions of Nat Turner was published. The New York Times called it "a triumph," and the Wall Street Journal wrote, "William Styron has written the true American tragedy ... There can be no doubt, now, that he is the foremost writer of his generation."

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ISBN:
9780679736639
9781936317097
9780795303128
9780375508035
Accelerated Reader:
UG
Level 8.5, 28 Points
Lexile measure:
1450L
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Grouping Information

Grouped Work ID4c0461e1-2294-6781-a951-fbbd22939acc
Grouping Titleconfessions of nat turner
Grouping Authorwilliam styron
Grouping Categorybook
Grouping LanguageEnglish (eng)
Last Grouping Update2024-03-28 02:11:39AM
Last Indexed2024-03-27 02:25:30AM

Solr Fields

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UG
accelerated_reader_point_value
28
accelerated_reader_reading_level
8.5
author
Styron, William, 1925-2006
author_display
Styron, William
available_at_catalog
Central
detailed_location_catalog
Central
Elk Grove
display_description
Few modern American novelists have dared as much as William Styron in writing The Confessions of Nat Turner. A white man and a Tidewater Virginian by birth, Styron put himself inside the life and mind of Nat Turner, the black man who led a slave rebellion in Virginia in 1831. It is a true story told as a novel, though the author prefers to call it "a meditation on history" rather than a historical novel. Many black critics scorned it when it was published, refusing to accept Styron's bold conceit, though the novel won the 1967 Pulitzer Prize in fiction and was one of the most acclaimed American novels of its time. The Confessions of Nat Turner speaks in the first-person voice of Nat Turner himself. Styron based the novel on details of Turner's life and a pamphlet with the same title that was presented as evidence in Turner's trial. It is a shattering story that renders the horror of slavery -- so easily viewed as a faceless historical tragedy -- into unique human terms. Turner had been promised freedom by his first master but it was never granted, a taste of liberty that is unbearable in its cruelty. As a man, he can find no solace in the life that is given to him. Turner is a powerful, compelling figure, and with visions tormenting him, he inspires a small band of slaves to rise up against their masters. The rebellion is violent, resulting in the deaths of white men and women, but it is put down surely and bloodily, with an even higher casualty of black people. The fate of the rebels is inevitable, and it is from this perspective that Nat Turner seeks to understand his life. The concentrated but extravagant richness of Styron's writing, with its high rhetorical grace, is another bold choice he made in writing The Confessions of Nat Turner, at a time when writers were embracing the idea of less being more. As in his later novel Sophie's Choice, he does not tell a story that exists only in the past. Written in the mid-1960s, this novel addresses the horrible inequities that still existed then in the lives of African-Americans, and what those inequities do to the human equation. "He has begun the common history -- ours," the novelist James Baldwin wrote when The Confessions of Nat Turner was published. The New York Times called it "a triumph," and the Wall Street Journal wrote, "William Styron has written the true American tragedy ... There can be no doubt, now, that he is the foremost writer of his generation."
format_catalog
Book
eBook
format_category_catalog
Books
eBook
id
4c0461e1-2294-6781-a951-fbbd22939acc
isbn
9780375508035
9780679736639
9780795303128
9781936317097
itype_catalog
Adult Fiction
last_indexed
2024-03-27T09:25:30.002Z
lexile_score
1450
literary_form
Fiction
literary_form_full
Fiction
local_callnumber_catalog
FICTION Styron, W.
owning_library_catalog
Sacramento Public Library
owning_location_catalog
Central
Elk Grove
primary_isbn
9780679736639
publishDate
1992
2002
2010
publisher
Open Road Media
Random House
RosettaBooks
Vintage Books
recordtype
grouped_work
subject_facet
African American men -- Fiction
African American men -- Virginia -- Fiction
African Americans -- Fiction
African Americans -- Virginia -- Fiction
Biographical fiction
Enslaved persons -- Fiction
Enslaved persons -- Virginia -- Fiction
Historical fiction
Nat Turner's Rebellion, Virginia, 1831 -- Fiction
Slave rebellions -- Fiction
Slave rebellions -- Virginia -- Fiction
Turner, Nat, -- 1800?-1831 -- Fiction
Virginia -- History -- 1775-1865 -- Fiction
title_display
The confessions of Nat Turner
title_full
The Confessions of Nat Turner
The confessions of Nat Turner / William Styron
The confessions of Nat Turner / by William Styron
title_short
The confessions of Nat Turner
topic_facet
African American men
African Americans
Enslaved persons
Fiction
History
Human Rights
Literature
Nat Turner's Rebellion, Virginia, 1831
Nonfiction
Slave rebellions
Turner, Nat

Solr Details Tables

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