A brand-new 19th century novelist hit The New York Times' Bestseller list this week. Hannah Crafts is being discovered by America. But the first one to find her was Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., who bought her hand-written manuscript, "The Bondwoman's Narrative", at a New York auction house.
He argues Hannah Crafts was a fugitive slave and that makes her bodice-busting, obviously derivative, somewhat clunky novel not just interesting but important. "To be able to study a manuscript written by a black woman or man," he writes, "unedited, unaffected, unglossed, unaided by even the most well-intentioned or unobtrusive editorial hand, will help a new generation of scholars." Black Pride and "The Bondwoman's Narrative", Art, Effort and America.
If you are in the Boston area, Professor Gates is discussing "The Bondwoman's Narrative" tonight, May 2, at 7:00 at the Harvard Coop in Harvard Square.
