Title Impossible Witnesses : Truth, Abolitionism, and Slave Testimony

Published New York : NYU Press, 2002

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Description 1 online resource (223 pages) Contents Acknowledgments; 1 Introduction: Bearing Witness: Memory, Theatricality, the Body, and Slave Testimony; 2 Abolitionist Discourse: A Transatlantic Context; Abolitionist Discourse and Romanticism; Reflections on Abolitionist Discourse in England; African Humanity and the Possibility of Rage in Edgeworth, Cowper, and Opie; On Whiteness and Humanity: The Example of Blake's"The Little Black Boy"; Reflections on Abolitionist Discourse in the U.S.; Emerson and the Fugitive Slave Law: Toward a Theoryof Whiteness; Troping the Slave: Margaret Fuller's Review of Douglass'sNarrative The Body as Evidence: Garrison's Defense of DavidWalker's Appeal3 "I Know What a Slave Knows": Mary Prince as Witness, orthe Rhetorical Uses of Experience; 4 Appropriating the Word: Phillis Wheatley, ReligiousRhetoric, and the Poetics of Liberation; 5 Speaking as "the African": Olaudah Equiano's MoralArgument against Slavery; 6 Consider the Audience: Witnessing to the DiscursiveReader in Douglass's Narrative; Afterword; Notes; Bibliography; Index; About the Author Summary Even the most cursory review of black literary production during the nineteenth century indicates that its primary concerns were the issues of slavery, racial subjugation, abolitionist politics and liberation. How did the writers of these narratives "bear witness" to the experiences they describe? At a time when a hegemonic discourse on these subjects already existed, what did it mean to "tell the truth" about slavery?. Impossible Witnesses explores these questions through a study of fiction, poetry, essays, and slave narratives from the abolitionist era. Linking the racial Notes Print version record Subject American prose literature -- United States -- African American authors -- History and criticism -- 19th century African Americans in literature. Slavery in literature. Antislavery movements -- United States -- History -- 19th century American prose literature -- United States -- History and criticism -- 19th century Enslaved persons -- History and criticism -- Biography African Americans -- History and criticism -- Biography African Americans -- Intellectual life. Enslaved persons' writings, American -- History and criticism Enslaved persons -- Intellectual life Autobiography -- African American authors. SOCIAL SCIENCE / Ethnic Studies / African American Studies. African Americans African Americans in literature African Americans -- Intellectual life American prose literature American prose literature -- African American authors Antislavery movements Autobiography -- African American authors Slavery in literature Enslaved persons Enslaved persons' writings, American United States Genre/Form Biographies Criticism, interpretation, etc. History Form Electronic book ISBN 9780814759738 0814759734

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