Early Indigenous Literatures

Marrant Title Page Annotation 2

In terms of authorship and publishing, the title page notes that the text is “taken down from [Marrant’s] own relation,” but “arranged, corrected, and published by the Rev. Mr. Aldridge.” Although the narrative was originally a first-hand account, it is unmistakable that Reverend Aldridge had an immense authority in the editing process, as the three active verbs arranged, corrected, and published each demonstrate Aldridge’s editorial opinions onto a piece that was not written by him. Reverend Aldridge’s influence within the paratexts stresses the white publishers “control and regulation of the traditional archive,”[1] since the text in the archive is specifically remembered with Aldridge’s dominating and regulatory alterations and edits.
 
[1] Simon Gikandi, “Rethinking the Archive of Enslavement,” (2015), 93.

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