Most critics of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845) impute the newness and power of its style of writing to the imitation of already existing literature of the time, such as Caleb Bingham’s The Columbian Orator (1797). This essay, however, argues that the explanation of the particularity of Douglass’s style is to be found in the hybridity of his identity as belonging to African and American cultures or to civilizations of orality and literacy. It shows that, born of an African mother and brought up in America, Douglass is well rooted in African culture and immersed in American literary traditions to such an extent that one can hear the voice of an African griot in his written Narrative. Examining Douglass’s Narrative from a narratological approach, this essay unveils the characteristics of African culture in it and reveals the voice of the griot.

Douglass, Griot, African Literature, Polyphony, Narratology