The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M.T. Anderson
Published Candlewick Press in 2008
351 Pages
Warning: This novel contains graphic details about scientific experiments conducted on humans and animals. The language is difficult to understand because of the eighteenth-century diction and grammar.
Genre: Historical Fiction, Friends and Society
To watch a video with M.T. Anderson discussing this series, click on the following link:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m3RWGBATMD5P5B
This novel follows the life of Octavian, a young black boy at the mercy of The College of Lucidity and their various experiments testing the capabilities of the boy. His mother is an African princess and he is given an excellent classical education, his musical abilities surpassing those around him, and he is fluent in Latin and Greek. The novel explores the issue of slavery leading up to the American Revolution, and we see the interactions between him and a soldier he has become friends with.
This novel is quite fascinating; I especially enjoyed the language and diction. While at times I found myself lost amidst the diction, there are passages I savor, such as the following:
"They bound me hand and foot; they placed me in a solitary darkness. They put a mask upon my face, with a metal bit between my lips to silence me. They gave me a tongue; and then stopped it up, so they would not have to hear it crying" (309).
"They told me of shape and essence; they told me of the motion of light, that it was the constant expenditure of particles flying off the surfaces of things; they told me of color, that it was an illusion of the eye, and even in the perceiver's mind, not in the object; they told me that color had no reality; indeed, they told me that color did not inhere in a physical body any more than pain was in a needle. And then they imprisoned me in darkness; and though there was no color there, I still was black, and they still were white; and for that, they bound and gagged me" (314).
"A day, and hour, or virtuous liberty is worth a whole eternity in bondage" (344).
The Gothic mood and language of this novel is dark and oppressing; regardless, I find something in the language and diction irresistible. For the first three-fourths of the novel, the language kept me from enjoying the book. But, the last quarter of the novel, I began to appreciate the language and the book really started to speak to me. I plan to read this novel a second time very soon. I think it is one of those books that a person does not wholly appreciate on a first read.
I thought about the teach-ability of this book; for a high school audience, I would not consider teaching it in a classroom simply because of the length and language. In a small literature circle or book club, this novel might work well for students who are highly motivated or highly interested. But, I do think this novel would be an excellent example to use in a creative writing class or a unit about diction and vocabulary. Anderson is a brilliant writer, and I think excerpts of his novel can be adapted and integrated in creative ways into classrooms without requiring the entire novel be read. Why not introduce parts of this novel into a Social Studies class or unit about slavery? It would be a great resource for teachers.
