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“It Is Essentially Her Own”: Authenticating Discourse, Institutional Authority, and Narrative Agency in The History of Mary Prince

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Representations of Internarrative Identity
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Abstract

The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave, Related by Herself, published in 1831, chronicles the life and experiences of Mary Prince, a Bermudian woman who was born into slavery. Thomas Pringle, a Scottish writer, poet, and abolitionist, edited the narrative and oversaw its publication; Susanna Strickland, a visitor staying with Pringle’s family, transcribed Prince’s oral history. In the narrative’s preface, Pringle asserts that the narrative was “first suggested” by Prince herself, and assures the audience that the Anti-Slavery Society to which Pringle belonged was not “in any degree responsible for the statements it contains” (Pringle 252).

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Lori Way

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© 2015 Paige M. Hermansen

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Hermansen, P.M. (2015). “It Is Essentially Her Own”: Authenticating Discourse, Institutional Authority, and Narrative Agency in The History of Mary Prince . In: Way, L. (eds) Representations of Internarrative Identity. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137462534_5

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