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The Unvarnished Truth: Personal Narratives in Nineteenth-Century America (review)

The Unvarnished Truth: Personal Narratives in Nineteenth-Century America (review) Reviews 781 Ann Fabian. The Unvarnished Truth: Personal Narratives in Nineteenth- Century America. Berkeley: U of California P, 2000. 255 pp. ISBN 0- 520-21862-0, $39.95. In The Unvarnished Truth, Ann Fabian seeks to investigate what motivated people in marginalized groups to publish their personal stories, and the impact those stories had on society. As such, the book is in many respects a history of the tabloid press in the United States. Looking primarily at the publishing experiences of nineteenth-century beggars, convicts, slaves, and prisoners of war, Fabian asks: “How [did] poor people [go] about getting their stories into print[?] What did it mean to base a tale on experience? What rules governed the representation of experience? What happened when a storyteller was caught inventing the details of experiences described 782 Biography 23.4 (Fall 2000) as ‘true’?” (xii). Discussing three main types of narratives—captivity, con- fessional, and slave narratives—Fabian states that she has written what “might be called the social history of a cultural form” (4). Most impor- tantly, Fabian maintains that all of “these narratives provide us with an opportunity to explore conflicts over truth and authority, art and honesty, assertion and deference” (7). Turning first to the writings http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Biography University of Hawai'I Press

The Unvarnished Truth: Personal Narratives in Nineteenth-Century America (review)

Good, James A. (James Allan)
Biography , Volume 23 (4) – Sep 1, 2001
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Publisher
University of Hawai'I Press
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 Biographical Research Center.
ISSN
0162-4962
eISSN
1529-1456

Abstract

Reviews 781 Ann Fabian. The Unvarnished Truth: Personal Narratives in Nineteenth- Century America. Berkeley: U of California P, 2000. 255 pp. ISBN 0- 520-21862-0, $39.95. In The Unvarnished Truth, Ann Fabian seeks to investigate what motivated people in marginalized groups to publish their personal stories, and the impact those stories had on society. As such, the book is in many respects a history of the tabloid press in the United States. Looking primarily at the publishing experiences of nineteenth-century beggars, convicts, slaves, and prisoners of war, Fabian asks: “How [did] poor people [go] about getting their stories into print[?] What did it mean to base a tale on experience? What rules governed the representation of experience? What happened when a storyteller was caught inventing the details of experiences described 782 Biography 23.4 (Fall 2000) as ‘true’?” (xii). Discussing three main types of narratives—captivity, con- fessional, and slave narratives—Fabian states that she has written what “might be called the social history of a cultural form” (4). Most impor- tantly, Fabian maintains that all of “these narratives provide us with an opportunity to explore conflicts over truth and authority, art and honesty, assertion and deference” (7). Turning first to the writings

Journal

Biography – University of Hawai'I Press

Published: Sep 1, 2001

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