Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745-1797)

A selective list of online articles on the eighteenth-century autobiographer Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, author of The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789). Our web site recommends online literary criticism and analysis from reputable academic authors and publishers, signed articles by recognized scholars, and articles published in peer-reviewed sources.


Main Page | 18th-Century Writers | African American Literature | About LiteraryHistory.com


Introduction & Biography

"Olaudah Equiano." A brief introduction to Equiano. Also "Classroom Issues and Strategies." A brief teachers' guide, ed. Angelo Costanzo. Covers themes, historical perspective, discussion questions. From the college textbook Heath Anthology of American Literature.

"Olaudah Equiano." Summary of The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. Also North American Slave Narratives. From Documenting the American South, Univ. of North Carolina.

"Olaudah Equiano." A biography of Equiano, information on the historical background, commentary by Prof. Catherine Ancholou, teachers' guide, and more. From PBS.

Brians, Paul, ed. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano." Excerpts address Equiano's experience of slavery. From Reading About the World Volume 2.

Carretta, Vincent. "Olaudah Equiano." A substantial introduction to Olaudah Equiano by an Equiano authority. Literary Encyclopedia 28 October 2000 [subscription service].


Literary Criticism

Teaching Equiano's Interesting Narrative: Adam Potkay, "History, Oratory, and God in Equiano's Interesting Narrative." Srinivas Aravamudan, "Equiano Lite." Roxann Wheeler, "Domesticating Equiano's Interesting Narrative." Three articles in Eighteenth-Century Studies 34, 4 (Summer, 2001) [at jstor and muse].

Anderson, Douglas. "Division below the Surface: Olaudah Equiano's Interesting Narrative." Studies in Romanticism 43, 3 (Fall 2004) pp 439-60 [free at jstor, click "Preview" or "Read Online"].

Boulukos, George E. "Olaudah Equiano and the Eighteenth-Century Debate on Africa." Eighteenth-Century Studies 40, 2 (Winter 2007) pp 241-55 [preview, muse].

Davidson, Cathy N. "Olaudah Equiano, Written by Himself." NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction 40, 1/2 (2006/2007) pp 18-51 [jstor preview or purchase].

Earley, Samantha Manchester. "Writing from the Center or the Margins? Olaudah Equiano's Writing Life Reassessed." African Studies Review 46, 3 (Dec. 2003) pp 1-16 [free at jstor, click "Preview" or "Read Online"].

Marren, Susan M. "Between Slavery and Freedom: The Transgressive Self in Olaudah Equiano's Autobiography." PMLA 108, 1 (Jan. 1993) pp 94-105 [free at jstor, click "Preview" or "Read Online"].

Murphy, Geraldine. "Olaudah Equiano, Accidental Tourist." Eighteenth-Century Studies 27, 4 (Summer 1994) pp 551-68 [free at jstor, click "Preview" or "Read Online"].

Ogude, S.E. "Facts into Fiction: Equiano's Narrative Reconsidered." Research in African Literatures 13, 1 (Spring 1982) pp 31-43 [free at jstor, click "Preview" or "Read Online"].

Potkay, Adam. "Olaudah Equiano and the Art of Spiritual Autobiography." Eighteenth-Century Studies 27, 4 (Summer 1994) pp 677-92 [free at jstor, click "Preview" or "Read Online"].


Main Page | 18th-Century Writers | African American Literature | About LiteraryHistory.com


1998-2013 by LiteraryHistory.com