I've read a fair amount of historical fiction in my life. In fact, I have always enjoyed the genre, feeling that it gives me a deeper insight into the history I learned from textbooks. The most recent work of historical fiction that I've read is The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation by M.T. Anderson. Set in Boston during the period leading up to the Revolutionary War, Octavian Nothing documents the life of a rather unique slave boy. Raised with his princess mother by a group of philosophers, Octavian is given the best of classical educations. As a small child, the oddity of his life escapes his attention. Soon, however, the fact of his own slavery is brought to his attention. But Octavian is unlike any other slave. He is an African prince, and his education is a part of a larger agenda that he only gradually begins to understand. With greater awareness of his prescribed role comes greater awareness of his freedom, or lack thereof. With the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, Octavian must decide where his loyalties lie in a world that severely limits his choices.
Octavian Nothing is not like any other slave narrative I have ever read. Far from the plantation slavery of antebellum south, Octavian's slavery is radically different, yet simultaneously exactly the same. His life is, for legal purposes, not his own and yet he receives an unparalleled education and grows up with a semblance of freedom, so that he must come to realize that he is a slave. Once he does, Ocatian must confront exactly what it means to be free, espcially in a world where the color of his skin makes him a subordinate creature, incapable, or so he is told, of being truly free and equal with the white person. In the portrayal of Octavian's struggle, the novel also reveals that awareness of freedom, or lack thereof, is inextricably tied to resistance. From the moment Octavian becomes aware of his own slavery, he also begins to resist, first in small ways, the restrictions placed on his being. His own movement is reflected in the climate around him. Americans begin to rally against the British to prevent themselves from becoming slaves to the king. One of the great paradoxes of the Revolutionary War is that Americans fought for freedom from Britain while staunchly defending their right to own slaves. Black freedmen and slaves fought on the front lines but the freedom they fought for was not their own. However, this historical reality is often overlooked because it was not a primary concern of the white population. People often fail to consider the place of slaves in the American battle for freedom and the role they played in the fight for freedom that would not benefit themselves. It is a history forgotten because those on the underside of society are rarely remembered unless they command the attention of the powerful majority. Octavian Nothing gives us an insight into this often neglected world of a slave during the Revolution and raises questions about the nature of freedom and resistance that continue to be asked today. What constitutes freedom? How does one obtain it? As Octavian struggles to understand these questions, the reader's own notions are challenged and ultimately one begins to understand that freedom is more complex than one may have thought.
Some people complain that this book takes a while to pick up, and it does. The action does not begin until a few chapters into the novel. However, even in the opening sections the prose is beautiful and Octavian's insights enjoyable. What is not to like about a work that quotes Seneca and ends the opening chapter with, "How doth all that seeks to rise burn itself to nothing."? It is provoking. Plus, the action becomes more exciting farther into the novel, so I really encourage you to stick with it.
Octavian Nothing is not like any other slave narrative I have ever read. Far from the plantation slavery of antebellum south, Octavian's slavery is radically different, yet simultaneously exactly the same. His life is, for legal purposes, not his own and yet he receives an unparalleled education and grows up with a semblance of freedom, so that he must come to realize that he is a slave. Once he does, Ocatian must confront exactly what it means to be free, espcially in a world where the color of his skin makes him a subordinate creature, incapable, or so he is told, of being truly free and equal with the white person. In the portrayal of Octavian's struggle, the novel also reveals that awareness of freedom, or lack thereof, is inextricably tied to resistance. From the moment Octavian becomes aware of his own slavery, he also begins to resist, first in small ways, the restrictions placed on his being. His own movement is reflected in the climate around him. Americans begin to rally against the British to prevent themselves from becoming slaves to the king. One of the great paradoxes of the Revolutionary War is that Americans fought for freedom from Britain while staunchly defending their right to own slaves. Black freedmen and slaves fought on the front lines but the freedom they fought for was not their own. However, this historical reality is often overlooked because it was not a primary concern of the white population. People often fail to consider the place of slaves in the American battle for freedom and the role they played in the fight for freedom that would not benefit themselves. It is a history forgotten because those on the underside of society are rarely remembered unless they command the attention of the powerful majority. Octavian Nothing gives us an insight into this often neglected world of a slave during the Revolution and raises questions about the nature of freedom and resistance that continue to be asked today. What constitutes freedom? How does one obtain it? As Octavian struggles to understand these questions, the reader's own notions are challenged and ultimately one begins to understand that freedom is more complex than one may have thought.
Some people complain that this book takes a while to pick up, and it does. The action does not begin until a few chapters into the novel. However, even in the opening sections the prose is beautiful and Octavian's insights enjoyable. What is not to like about a work that quotes Seneca and ends the opening chapter with, "How doth all that seeks to rise burn itself to nothing."? It is provoking. Plus, the action becomes more exciting farther into the novel, so I really encourage you to stick with it.
You did an elegant job conveying the complexity and beauty of this book.
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