Audiobook · read by volunteers
Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
Olaudah Equiano (1745–1797)
Read by Carl Manchester, roolynninms, J. M. Smallheer, Catherine Fitz, Ezwa, Cori Samuel, Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023), Måns Broo, Gary Gilberd, Lizzie Driver · 13 chapters · 8 h 05
About the book
By his own account, Olaudah Equiano was born free in West Africa and taken into slavery as a boy. His narrative, published in 1789, is a remarkable first-person account of what he saw and endured, from the Atlantic crossing to his years of service at sea. It describes how he educated himself, how he worked to buy his own freedom and how he became an independent man. Equiano writes with clarity, feeling and a sharp eye for the cruelty of the slave trade, and his book played a part in the campaign against it. Thirteen chapters and over eight hours, read by LibriVox volunteers, make this a vital record. Direct and humane, it speaks to the reader across more than two centuries and offers a vivid picture of the age.
Introduction
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African was written by Equiano himself and published in London in 1789. He lived from 1745 to 1797, and during those years he was enslaved, served at sea, bought his freedom and became involved in the movement to abolish the slave trade. His narrative was among the first widely read autobiographies by a formerly enslaved African, and it was reprinted many times.
The book combines several kinds of writing. It is a memoir of a life, a sea narrative, a spiritual autobiography and a political document. Equiano describes his early memories as he gives them, his capture and the Middle Passage, and he records his experiences of work, trade and religion. He is attentive to detail, and the voice that emerges is that of a thoughtful man who wants his readers to understand what slavery meant for human beings.
The recording has thirteen chapters, including an introductory section, and runs for about eight hours. It is read by volunteers of LibriVox. It is an essential text for anyone who wishes to understand the history of the slave trade, the abolitionist movement or the literature of the Atlantic world, and it is also a gripping story of survival and self-determination. It remains a powerful book more than two centuries after it was written. The narrative is as much about the search for dignity and education as about suffering, and Equiano's voice, careful and persuasive, is the main reason it has lasted. Readers of history, biography and the literature of the sea will each find something of value.
Public domain
Olaudah Equiano died in 1797: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text