Rutherford Calhoun on Writing: Historiographic Metafiction and Subjecthood in Middle Passage

Abstract: Charles Johnson’s novel Middle Passage reimagines the traditional slave narrative through a revisionist telling of the transatlantic journey. By way of historiographic metafiction, Johnson deploys protagonist Rutherford Calhoun to rewrite the slave ship Republic ’s palimpsestic logbook, and through this process not only revises its historical record but constructs an identity marked by universal features of humanismits. Although many scholars have focused on Johnson’s philosophical emphasis on Eastern principles, this essay argues that the identity formulated by Calhoun illustrates characteristics most associated with Western ideals of individuality and responsibility.