Passage Discussion

[rpcuhk]

What does the word "narrator" refer to in this passage?
In the first paragraph, it seems to refer to editor. in the last, it seems to refer to the slaves.
What did i get wrong here?

[maryadkins]

Your interpretation based on the last paragraph is the correct one. The narrator is the person whose story is being told (not the editor).

In the first paragraph, the written composition is "out of the hands of its narrator" because someone else--the editor--wrote it.

Let me know if this is still confusing!

[WaltGrace1983]

Thought i'd offer a full passage map of this one!

Paragraph 1: The Main Question - "are edited-autobiographies the same as subject-written autobiographies?"

Paragraph 2: Complications of Edited-Autobios

- Author's Opinion: "the so-called edited narrative of an ex-slave ought to be treated as a ghostwritten account insofar as literary analysis is concerned"
- Blassingame: competent analysis, but wrong focus
- Author's Opinion: "Readers of African American autobiographies then and now have too readily accepted the presumption...all without compromising the validity of the narrative."

Here we have a bunch of Author's Opinion, which is great! We are seeing that the author seems to believe that autobiographies edited by someone else are not nearly the same thing as autobiographies written by only the subject. She seems to think that autobiographies written by only the subject are much more valid.


Paragraph 3: Transcribed Narratives...still not authentic.

- Author's Opinion: "It would be naive to accord dictated oral narratives the same status..."
- An example of this - Works Progress Administration
- Author's Opinion: "Dictated narratives, therefore, are literary texts whose authenticity is difficult to determine."

Main Point: "Analysts should reserve close analytic readings for independency authored texts. Discussion of collaborative texts should take into account the conditions that governed their production" (final sentences).