Attitude of the slave narrators to a written word an abstract

A subject of this article is the attitude of slave narrators to literacy. In the majority of the slave narratives autobiographical hero's discovery of spiritual and physical freedom is closely linked to mastering of the ability to understand the written word and to write. The unique genre of slave narrative, another step in the fugitive's path to intellectual freedom, stems from their authors' sacral attitude towards writing. This genre is at the beginnings of all African American literature (poetry, drama, autobiography, short story, narrative and novel).