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Oh gosh, never have I wanted to recommend bits of a book so much while simultaneously being so disappointed in that same book. This biography was a hot mess. It's full of awkward, uncomfortable language used about its subject in a thoughtless way; it is not very good at providing a clear throughline to its sections; the opening section is unfortunately one of the least effective, most problematic sections in an often ineffective and problematically structured narrative... and yet.
There just aren't going to be that many book length biographical options about this fascinating person, and there also aren't that many biographies about significant black figures from Europe in the 1700s. And I am a sucker for biographical and historical narratives of the 1700s that span multiple countries.
So, strengths: the bits tracing Gannibal's interactions with 1700s French intellectuals and the bits about Russian court politics feel deeply researched and intriguing. There's a gorgeous tiny bit about Gannibal writing protections for the serfs on one of his estates into a lease contract, and then actually taking the person he leased the estate to to court, and winning, when that person mistreated the serfs. There are some snarkily fantastic bits about Peter the Great.
Weaknesses: the opening bit about slavery in the Ottoman empire, and indeed all the references to the Ottoman empire, are stunningly orientalist in tone. The kindest thing I can suggest is that perhaps... the author read a bunch of very offensively orientalist things for research and then toned them down for reuse without actually stopping to analyze whether the toning down had in fact gone far enough to, y'know, stop being awfully orientalist (hint: it had not). Then there's the consistent narrative textual reference to Gannibal as "The Negro of Peter the Great" which.... no. no. please do not do this as narrative nomenclature outside of references. Maybe this comes across less awfully in the United Kingdom than in the United States.
Which, actually, is a nice segue to the biggest problems I had with this book: 1) it does not seem to be written with an intended audience that includes black people of any nationality (I mean, obviously I cannot definitively judge this given that I am a) white, and b) not the best reader of subtext, but... I would be very deeply surprised if it didn't grate on the nerves of black readers in many spots, which is extremely unfortunate given that it is a biography of an important historical black European), and 2) it does not seem to have been written with any eye to discussion of race, racism, or slavery in the broader context of its own time period, let alone contemporary perspectives. There are persistent and, to me, inexplicable references to Byron's poetry in the narrative, and an excruciating bit paralleling Gannibal with Shakespeare's Othello, but the only time that Aphra Behn's Oroonoko gets mentioned is in a caption to an illustration. There are no, none, zero references to other historical captivity narratives of the 1600s and 1700s, even though the captivity narrative was a thriving literary genre and widely published.
Basically: come for the bits of translated Russian politics and snark about French intellectuals, enjoy the fragments about Gannibal's life, and... sort of wade through the many pieces of unfortunate frosting holding these pieces of cake together?
So many not delicious things wrapped around so many delicious excellent things. I just... I dunno what to say overall here. Absolutely worth it if you're the kind of reader who is interested in this topic and good at sort of... forking aside the less appetizing bits of the presentation to the side of your plate?
On the plus side I found out while looking up title and author for this post that there is a different book also written about Gannibal by a children's author who made him the star of a chapter book series for kids, so at least I have some next things to read.
There just aren't going to be that many book length biographical options about this fascinating person, and there also aren't that many biographies about significant black figures from Europe in the 1700s. And I am a sucker for biographical and historical narratives of the 1700s that span multiple countries.
So, strengths: the bits tracing Gannibal's interactions with 1700s French intellectuals and the bits about Russian court politics feel deeply researched and intriguing. There's a gorgeous tiny bit about Gannibal writing protections for the serfs on one of his estates into a lease contract, and then actually taking the person he leased the estate to to court, and winning, when that person mistreated the serfs. There are some snarkily fantastic bits about Peter the Great.
Weaknesses: the opening bit about slavery in the Ottoman empire, and indeed all the references to the Ottoman empire, are stunningly orientalist in tone. The kindest thing I can suggest is that perhaps... the author read a bunch of very offensively orientalist things for research and then toned them down for reuse without actually stopping to analyze whether the toning down had in fact gone far enough to, y'know, stop being awfully orientalist (hint: it had not). Then there's the consistent narrative textual reference to Gannibal as "The Negro of Peter the Great" which.... no. no. please do not do this as narrative nomenclature outside of references. Maybe this comes across less awfully in the United Kingdom than in the United States.
Which, actually, is a nice segue to the biggest problems I had with this book: 1) it does not seem to be written with an intended audience that includes black people of any nationality (I mean, obviously I cannot definitively judge this given that I am a) white, and b) not the best reader of subtext, but... I would be very deeply surprised if it didn't grate on the nerves of black readers in many spots, which is extremely unfortunate given that it is a biography of an important historical black European), and 2) it does not seem to have been written with any eye to discussion of race, racism, or slavery in the broader context of its own time period, let alone contemporary perspectives. There are persistent and, to me, inexplicable references to Byron's poetry in the narrative, and an excruciating bit paralleling Gannibal with Shakespeare's Othello, but the only time that Aphra Behn's Oroonoko gets mentioned is in a caption to an illustration. There are no, none, zero references to other historical captivity narratives of the 1600s and 1700s, even though the captivity narrative was a thriving literary genre and widely published.
Basically: come for the bits of translated Russian politics and snark about French intellectuals, enjoy the fragments about Gannibal's life, and... sort of wade through the many pieces of unfortunate frosting holding these pieces of cake together?
So many not delicious things wrapped around so many delicious excellent things. I just... I dunno what to say overall here. Absolutely worth it if you're the kind of reader who is interested in this topic and good at sort of... forking aside the less appetizing bits of the presentation to the side of your plate?
On the plus side I found out while looking up title and author for this post that there is a different book also written about Gannibal by a children's author who made him the star of a chapter book series for kids, so at least I have some next things to read.
