The Confessions of Nat Turner

Q: What is The Confessions of Nat Turner about?

The Confessions of Nat Turner is a fictional account written by novelist William Styron of the Virginia slave revolt of 1831 led by Nat Turner . It was awarded the 1968 Pulitzer Prize for fiction .

Q: What did William Styron base his novel on?

Author William Styron based his novel, The Confessions of Nat Turner , on a pamphlet of the same title published in Virginia shortly after the revolt.

Q: How is Nat Turner portrayed in Styron’s novel?

William Styron depicts the fictionalized Nat Turner is depicted as a man of moral depth and vision but also as bitter, self-denying, and sexually repressed.

Q: Why did Styron’s The Confessions of Nat Turner generate controversy?

The novel generated controversy because Black critics objected to a white author speaking in the voice of an enslaved Black man and accused Styron of misrepresenting historical facts.

novel by William Styron

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What is The Confessions of Nat Turner about?

What did William Styron base his novel on?

How is Nat Turner portrayed in Styron’s novel?

Why did Styron’s The Confessions of Nat Turner generate controversy?

The Confessions of Nat Turner, novel by William Styron, published in 1967 and awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1968.

The Confessions of Nat Turner is a fictional account of the rebellion of enslaved people led by Nat Turner in 1831. It is narrated by Turner. Styron based his novel on a pamphlet of the same title published in Virginia shortly after the revolt, but he took many liberties in developing Turner’s character. Styron’s Turner is a man of moral depth and farseeing vision who is nevertheless a bitter, self-denying, sexually repressed man who cannot attain either physical or spiritual freedom.

Styron’s The Confessions of Nat Turner generated controversy, primarily among Black critics who objected to the white author’s attempt to speak in the voice of an enslaved Black man. These critics also accused Styron of falsifying historical facts and misrepresenting Turner, and in 1968 a book of essays appeared called William Styron’s Nat Turner: Ten Black Writers Respond. Styron answered in his own defense and was supported by several eminent historians.