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Nat Turner's Tragic Search for Freedom: From Deprivation to Vengeance

by Catherine Hermary-Vieille; Translated by Robin Orr Bodkin

355 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #01-0379; ISBN 1-55212-977-2; US$28.00, C$32.95, EUR23.00, £16.00

In Nat Turner's Tragic Search For Freedom Catherine Hermary-Vieille revisits the story of Nat Turner and the events surrounding his slave revolt of 1831. While depicting this turning point in the history of American slavery as accurately as possible, the author invites the reader to reflect upon what happens when "freedom and justice for all" fails to serve as the cornerstone upon which a representative democracy must be built.

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about the book      about the author      excerpts      catalogue info

About the Book In early November 1831 a slave by the name of Nat Turner was tried, convicted, and executed for murder in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Approximately sixty white men, women, and children died as a result of the rebellion that he planned and led against the slaveholders of Jerusalem, a small farming hamlet in the southeast section of the state. Of the hundreds of uprisings that took place throughout the history of American slavery Nat Turner's rebellion was more successful than most in dispelling the myth of the "contented slave," an individual too passive to fight for basic human rights or self-determination. Nat Turner's Tragic Search for Freedom is a narrative of the events that led up to this rebellion as well as drove it to its bloody conclusion. If it were but a question of its known facts, which are few and far between, one might feel content with a quick determination of its import. After behavior beyond the pale, a protagonist, whether as an actual historical figure or as a fictionalized representation, receives his just due. That is, in the eyes of the law a slave rebels against his "masters" by taking their lives or encouraging others to do so. Subsequently, he is arrested, tried, and sentenced to a fate as equally horrifying as the one visited upon his victims. Catherine Hermary-Vieille, however, perceptively anchors the origin of this story elsewhere. From beginning to end she paints it with Africa in mind as well as the inescapable influence that a mother and her beliefs can bring to bear on her child. "As long as blood coursed through her [Nat's mother] veins, no one would ever convince her that a black person's desire to be free was wrong or unlawful. What she did know for sure, however, was the indisputable criminality of forcing another human being into the bonds of slavery. She could never break those bonds by herself, but Nat... would find a way to do it." Thus, Hermary-Vieille invites the reader to focus not so much on the Nat Turner dossier as on the larger meaning of his life and its message. In this light his story is both a literal and figurative search for freedom, a search that tragically consumes his life as it feeds his spirit. Reviews "An important historical novel... breathtaking."     Groupe de La Cité International Diffusion "The martyrdom of a freedom fighter... The bloody revolt led by [Nat] Turner marked a turning point in the history of American slavery. ... In the pages of L'Ange noir [Nat Turner's Tragic Search for Freedom] we rediscover the ghosts [of that embattled era] and the questions that they raised, unfortunately, questions with which humankind continues to struggle even to this day."     Eve de Castro, Le Figaro "In her epic narrative Catherine Hermary-Vieille gets to the truth [of Nat Turner] in what just may be her most stunning book to date. A talented biographer, Hermary-Vieille paints an impassioned Nat Turner on a canvas of the harsh realities of slavery... realities that virtually leap from the page."     Femme actuelle "If American historians have treated him [Nat Turner] as nothing more than a common murderer, the author of this book shows a man ready to sacrifice himself for the sake of his loved ones and his people."     Femina Hebdo "Catherine Hermary-Vieille sees him [Nat Turner] in a new light. She sees him as an intelligent, spiritual man, often deeply troubled, yet thoroughly courageous and thus more than willing to sacrifice his own life for something larger than himself."     Le Berry Républicain

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About the Author As Colette R. Oberlin of France-Amérique noted in 1998 after L'Ange noir (translated as Nat Turner's Tragic Search for Freedom) had received the Prix Littéraire du Quartier Latin, "we don't have to introduce Catherine Hermary-Vieille anymore. With all her success... her talent is unanimously recognized." It is indeed! With more than two decades of stirring prose behind her, some eighteen books to her credit, many already in translation, copies sold by the hundreds of thousands, sufficient critical attention and literary awards to arouse the interest of even the most successful writer, Catherine Hermary-Vieille is at the top of her game. Yet, far be it from her to rest on her laurels. While the notion of a fine wine over time comes to mind, it seems woefully inadequate as a characterization of this remarkably gifted, creative writer whose perspicacity and attention to detail have been the hallmark of a distinguished career. Right from the beginning with Le Grand Vizir de la Nuit (which captured the Prix Fémina in 1981) her writing assumed that most hallowed of French traditions-- le mot juste-- and did so in a rather unpretentious way. Whether they know her as a biographer (in La Marquise des Ombres, the saga of a famous murderess or the tragic destinies of Romy and Lola), a journalist (her numerous articles in such notable publications as Le Figaro, Paris Match, or Gala), a reporter (especially her insightful communiqués from Lebanon for Jours de France), or an editor (her deft contributions to the film productions of Gilles Carle and Alain Jessuah), her readers have steadily grown in number through the years. They have come to appreciate that distinctive clarity and penetrating insight that her writing brings to whatever subject captures her gaze. Bibliography Le Grand Vizir de la Nuit, Gallimard, 1981. Translated as The Grand Vizir of the Night by Charles Penwarden, Quartet, 1988. L'Epiphanie des Dieux, Gallimard, 1983. La Marquise des Ombres, Olivier Orban, 1983. L'Infidèle, Gallimard, 1985. Romy, Olivier Orban, 1986. Le Jardin des Henderson, Gallimard, 1988. Le Rivage des Adieux, Pygmalion, 1990. Un Amour Fou, Olivier Orban, 1990. La Piste des Turquoises, Flammarion, 1992. La Pointe aux Tortues, Flammarion, 1994. Lola, Plon, 1994. L'Initié, Plon, 1996. Le Salon de Conversation, Lattes, 1997. L'Ange noir, Plon, 1998. Les dames de Brières, Albin Michel, 1999. L'étang du diable, Albin Michel, 2000. La fille du feu, Le Grand livre du mois, 2000. La Bourbonnaise, Albin Michel, 2001.

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Excerpts

"The day that his mother died he knew for certain that all his years of prayer and reflection were finally coming to a head. They had prepared him for his one, true mission in life, which was not to preach love and reconciliation with white people but rather to force them to free his black brothers and sisters. After what he had seen in his short life, there was only one way to go about it. How many times had he stopped to consider the phrase "vengeance shall be mine" when he ran across it in his Bible? Thus, to make amends for all the meaningless, unnecessary suffering, he had decided to terrorize whites as they had terrorized him and his loved ones."

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"It had been a long, hard day. Yet, far from satisfied with the realization that the ordeal was behind him, the good judge felt a strange dissatisfaction with the things that he had heard and seen that day... In a very substantial way Nat Turner could prove to be a lighting rod for the problems of the society as a whole. If those problems were to be properly addressed, if there was in effect a sincere desire to distribute justice fairly and equitably, then a complex socio-economic structure and its attendant beliefs and prejudices would have to be put to the people. And it would have to be put to them in such a way that they could assess whether it was right or wrong for all concerned. Judge Cobb felt humbled at the thought of such a daunting task because it was far beyond anything that he knew how to adjudicate."

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"Miss Pope, as a foreigner, you know, being from England and all, I wouldn't expect you to understand our way of doing things around here. I personally don't make it a habit of passing judgment on the mores of you and your countrymen, and I'd appreciate it if you'd grant me the same courtesy. It sounds like the line of reasoning hidden in your comments is what often turns up in the minds of our servants as a simple form of Manicheism."

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"The fact of the matter is that without slaves the South would not survive. If they were to abolish slavery here and now, our farms would soon go to pot, and all these poor devils that you care so much about would die of hunger. For better or worse owners and slaves are bound to one another."

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"In the evening as the sun was setting and as he sat ensconced in his favorite chair on the front porch with a glass of brandy in hand, there was nothing better than gazing out over it all. He loved the gently rolling fields marked off every so often by their paddocks and adjacent barns. He took delight in following with his eye the line of quickset hedges surrounding the fruit trees bent low at that point with bountiful fruit."

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Catalogue Information

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