Word: styron
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Although he feels that he has learned more about the Negro after having lived in the North, Styron recognizes that a profound and distinct characteristic of the South is that the Negro is always there; he is an integral part of the tradition, the atmosphere, the scenery. And the white Southerner cannot help but to respond to this presence of Negroes. In Styron's words several years...
...Styron believes that it is his moral duty and that of every white Southerner to break down the old law of apartheid and to come to know the Negro, however condescending or belated the effort may appear to be. It is partially for this reason that he has made the subject of Negro slavery his obsession for the last 20 years. His fascination grew when he researched the meager documents of the only slave revolt in American history, which occurred about 20 miles from his Virginia home...
...Styron uses the story of Nat Turner to describe what it was like for a man to live as a slave from day to day. He must relate the story through the eyes of the rebellious slave, thereby intruding on the consciousness of a black man. But the book does not purport to provide a deep analysis of the slave mind, nor does it intend to present a metaphor for Negro rioters in 1967. Styron is simply creating a work of art which portrays the psychological effects of slavery...
...would be almost pointless to draw parallels between Nat Turner's rebels and the black revolutionists of 1967 because, in Styron's words, the slaves existed in "hopelessly oppressed conditions" whereas blacks now have some political power and consciousness...
...Styron had only two significant sources about the insurrection--The Southampton Insurrection by William S. Drewry and Nat's Confessions, which were written by a lawyer named Thomas Gray while Nat Turner awaited his trial. Drewry, who was of pro-slavery leanings, reconstructed what Styron calls an accurate chronology of the insurrection. The 20-page Confessions describes the rebel deeds and a few of Nat's thoughts. Otherwise, there is nothing. Little is known of Nat's background and early years. Therefore Styron, the novelist, has the freedom to speculate on the intermingled miseries, hopes, frustrations, and inner rages which...