| The purpose of this study is to place the writings of fugitive slaves within the mainstream of American Literature, first, by analyzing these works in the light of the literary influences that shape them and, then, by charting the influence of the narrative upon later writers. This dissertation treats such elements as character development, plot movement, irony, humor, and dominating themes.;The critical approach is a simple chronological movement whereby standard literary works are discussed in terms of the traits they share with the slave narrative. Though the focus is Black Literature, this study regards the slave narrative as being a crucial influence on a number of postbellum literary works, including fiction written by white writers. Chapter I is devoted to information on general scholarship and the various schools of slave narrative criticism, and Chapter II discusses the slave narrative as literature. Chapter III then compares slave narrative to the local color works of Charles Waddell Chesnutt, the first black novelist to receive national attention. Chapter IV analyzes the portrayal of black characters in works by white authors who also adopted devices central to the slave narrative to define their protagonists and minor characters. And Chapter V reveals the sustaining influence of the slave narrative on contemporary fiction. The works of author and poet Sherley Ann Williams and highly acclaimed novelist Toni Morrison echo the slave narrative. Focusing on the concept of self as the character progresses from one state of existence to another, both writers depend upon vivid language and both abstract and concrete detail to paint portraits of the often ignored slave woman.;The slave narrators are Frederick Douglass, Solomon Northrup, Harriet Jacobs, and William Wells Brown, among others. |
