Hannah Bond, esclave et auteure de "The Bondwoman’s Narrative”?

On a toujours pensé que The Bondwoman's Narrative était un roman rédigé par une esclave, mais un professeur d'anglais croit maintenant avoir identifié l'auteure. Gregg Hecimovich nous renseigne également sur le contexte de la rédaction. Effectivement on peut se demander comment une esclave a été en mesure de rédiger un tel bouquin. Comment, coupée d'éducation et d'accès à la culture, l'auteure a-t-elle pu être influencée par Jane Eyre?

 "Professor Hecimovich, 44, said that he has verified the writer’s identity through wills, diaries, handwritten almanacs and public records. He intends to publish his full findings in a book, tentatively titled “The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts.”

 His work has been reviewed by several scholars who vouch for its authenticity, including Henry Louis Gates Jr., one of the nation’s pre-eminent scholars of African-American history. Professor Gates bought the obscure manuscript at auction in 2001.

“Words cannot express how meaningful this is to African-American literary studies,” he said in an interview. “It revolutionizes our understanding of the canon of black women’s literature.”%% Professor Gates said that Professor Hecimovich’s discovery answers one of the large and lingering questions that has vexed him for more than a decade about the author of the book."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/19/books/professor-says-he-has-solved-a-mystery-over-a-slaves-novel.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130919