Impossible Witnesses

Truth, Abolitionism, and Slave Testimony

By: Dwight McBride

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Hardcover | 3 March 2002

At a Glance

Hardcover
207 Pages

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22.86 x 15.24 x 1.4

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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 racialized discourses of slavery and Romanticism, it boldly calls for a reconfiguration of U.S. and British Romanticism that places slavery at its center.
Impossible Witnesses addresses some of the major literary figures and representations of slavery in light of discourses on natural rights and law, offers an account of Foucauldian discourse analysis as it applies to the problem of "bearing witness," and analyzes specific narratives such as "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," and "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano."
A work of great depth and originality, Impossible Witnesses renders traditional interpretations of Romanticism impossible and places Dwight A. McBride at the forefront of studies in race and literature.

Industry Reviews

"His rich volume takes up the complex and strategic discourses that circulated around the truth of slave testimony...actively engaging." - American Literature

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Society & Culture Social Groups Ethnic Studies Black & Asian Studies Sociology & Anthropology Anthropology Physical Anthropology History Specific Events & Topics in History Slavery & Abolition of Slavery Literature, Poetry & Plays

History & Criticism of Literature General Literary Studies

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Paperback

Published: 3rd March 2002

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Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction: Bearing Witness: Memory, Theatricality, the Body, and Slave Testimony	p. 1
Abolitionist Discourse: A Transatlantic Context	p. 16
Abolitionist Discourse and Romanticism	p. 21
Reflections on Abolitionist Discourse in England	p. 25
African Humanity and the Possibility of Rage in Edgeworth, Cowper, and Opie	p. 42
On Whiteness and Humanity: The Example of Blake's "The Little Black Boy"	p. 59
Reflections on Abolitionist Discourse in the U.S.	p. 62
Emerson and the Fugitive Slave Law: Toward a Theory of Whiteness	p. 67
Troping the Slave: Margaret Fuller's Review of Douglass's Narrative	p. 75
The Body as Evidence: Garrison's Defense of David Walker's Appeal	p. 78
"I Know What a Slave Knows": Mary Prince as Witness, or the Rhetorical Uses of Experience	p. 85
Appropriating the Word: Phillis Wheatley, Religious Rhetoric, and the Poetics of Liberation	p. 103
Speaking as "the African": Olaudah Equiano's Moral Argument against Slavery	p. 120
Consider the Audience: Witnessing to the Discursive Reader in Douglass's Narrative	p. 151
Afterword	p. 173
Notes	p. 177
Bibliography	p. 191
Index	p. 201
About the Author	p. 207
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

Impossible Witnesses

Truth, Abolitionism, and Slave Testimony

At a Glance

Hardcover

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

Other Editions and Formats

Paperback

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