The Confessions Of Nat Turner by
William Styron
Superb. Left Me Breathless
Powerful, prize-winning 1967 novel depicts the odyssey of Nat Turner,
leader of first slave revolt in the US. Styrons novel was profoundly
controversial; some felt thats a white author had no right to the subject
matter. By the acclaimed author of SOPHIES CHOICE, SET THIS
HOUSE ON FIRE and LIE DOWN IN DARKNESS.
Personal Review: The Confessions Of Nat Turner by William
Styron
Upon it's publication, William Styron's "The Confessions of Nat Turner"
was hailed by The New York Times as "a triumph", and described as "the
most profound fictional treatment of slavery in our literature" by The New
Republic. Despite these and other glowing reviews, the book was also
denounced as racist garbage which perpetuates dangerous stereotypes

about African-Americans - particularly the stereotype of the sexual
aggressive black male.
I will talk more about this in a moment, but first I would like to say that I did
not find anything racist about this novel. I found it instead to be a raw,
brutal, yet strangely beautiful, work about the horror and injustice of
slavery. While there are several scenes of physical brutality and
deprivation between masters and slaves in this novel, Styron, through the
voice of Nat, focuses more on the grinding psychological and emotional toll
of slavery. Even in Virginia, the setting of the novel, where the condition of
the average slave was considered "not that bad" by the standards of the
time, the soul-crushing, mind-annihilating condition of being human chattel
was an overwhelming burden. Nat's description of this sort of "life", and
his fiery rage at the white characters of this novel are truly terrifying and
unforgettable.
Nat himself is portrayed as a complex and (usually) sympathetic character.
He is neither a zealot or a mad-man or a one-dimensional symbol. Styron
notably leaves out some of the known biographic details of Turner in his
narrative - Turner's wife and child, for example - perhaps in order to
develop (the fictional) Nat's inner-conflicts regarding love, hate, sexuality
and sanctity, all of which are central to the novel. To return to the above-
mentioned allegations of racism, it will not give too much away to reveal
that Nat at one point fantasizes about raping a white woman after she
reveals her own vulnerability to him and several other slaves. I saw this,
and similar scenes, not as a stereotypical portrayal of uncontrollable,
animal lust (a la "Gone with the Wind") but rather as a symptom of mental
and emotional confusion/frustration stemming from a cruel lifetime of
hatred, betrayal and deprivation. Other, perhaps less "self aware", black
characters I believe are similarly meant to be viewed as products of their
environments. This was my interpretation of the more controversial
aspects of the novel, and I hope that other readers will not have their views
towards an entire race of people diminished or altered by scenes which, I
believe, are meant to shock the reader into a deeper understanding of the
iniquities of human bondage.
This is a deeply haunting work of fiction (and I emphasize the word fiction,
as other reviewers before me have) and one that will be hard to forget.
Read this with an open mind (and a copy of the historical accounts of
Turner's revolt near at hand) and hopefully you were be brought to a
deeper understanding not only of slavery and early American history, but
also the strength and frailty of the human soul.
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