The Confessions of Nat Turner: A Novel by William Styron Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Confessions of Nat Turner: A Novel
Book Review: Not Great History but Great Book
Summary: 5 Stars
First, anyone coming to this book for the first time should not read it as an historical treatise, because it isn't. So far as is known, Nat Turner didn't display homosexual propensities, as he does in this book. The historical Turner was married; Styron's protagonist is not. Indeed, beyond his homosexual liaison with a fellow slave, he goes through life in Styron's historical novel as a celibate, lusting after nubile white girls when not plotting his apolcalyptic war against the white race. This was an issue that caused great controversy when the book first came out. It may still bother the historical purist. To others, this might be seen as a minor point. After all, Shakespeare wasn't above changing historical facts to make a more engrossing, dramatic play. There are those even today who assert the Bard unfairly maligned Richard the Third. For those wanting to read a Nat Turner biography, they should try Stephen Oates' "Fires of Jubilee." Having said all this, Styron's book remains one of the great American historical novels. Writers at their very best perform a sort of alchemy and Styron has always been adept at this, evoking a time and place long gone with a vivid wizardry and authenticity that is wonderful, even though he often writes about the most tragic of events (for example, his novel "Sophie's Choice" deals with the Holocaust). And, despite Styron's artistic license with certain aspects of the 1831 slave rebellion, this is a powerful story, populated with unforgettable characters, and a part of our American history that I think everyone should study and be aware of. To some, Nat Turner was a hero. To others, he was a demented murderer. Whatever your viewpoint, Styron is one of America's great writers and this is a book that should be read by anyone who is interested in where we have been as a country and apprehensive about where we are headed. Some of the issues inherent in Turner's story, and the story of those who followed him to their bitter doom, are as germane today as they were in 1831.