The modern film The Birth of a Nation used the Nat Turner template as the basis of the film and gave a more principled take of Nat Turner. Styron's book did use the stereotypes that subsequently offended some people a few years after the book was released in 1967. To me when someone tackles the subject of Nat Turner I look at it as a Rorschach test. Was he a mad man? Was he a principled man? The documented "confessions" are not corroborated, so no one knows the truth about Turner's life and motivation. Basically the known facts are that Nat Turner and a band of slaves escaped and killed 55 white men, women and children in Southampton VA before being caught and hanged to death on November 11, 1831. Needless to say there are many gaps to fill and Styron created an imaginary story of a young slave who engaged in slave revolt in 1831. The written record of the real life Nat Turner is very scant because all there is is the "Confessions" recorded by his defense lawyer. Styron said that this book is not historical fiction, but rather a meditation on history. While I did not feel that Nat Turner was as good as Sophie's Choice I still highly recommend the novel. A few month's ago I read Sophie's Choice by the same author and was blown away, so I felt I had to read Nat turner as well.
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