1. According to Henry Louis Gates, almost 50% of the Afro-American literary tradition was created when "it's authors and their black readers were either slaves or former slaves". 2. Slave narratives were produced for many reasons. One was to inform others of the hardships that slaves...

The novel Barney's Version by Mordecai Richler is an exquisite illustration of an author's attention to detail in regard to the first person narrative. The story of Barney Panofsky, Mordecai Richler's mercurial comic creation, sets an astringent standard of political incorrectness in pres...