Impossible Witnesses

Truth, Abolitionism, and Slave Testimony

By: Dwight McBride

Write A Review

Paperback | 3 March 2002

At a Glance

Paperback
207 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
22.86 x 15.24 x 1.3

Paperback

RRP $58.99

$58.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $14.69 with

Ships in 5 to 7 business days

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

Shipping

	Standard Shipping	Express Shipping
Metro postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Regional postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Rural postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95

Orders over $79.00 qualify for free shipping.

How to return your order

At Booktopia, we offer hassle-free returns in accordance with our returns policy. If you wish to return an item, please get in touch with Booktopia Customer Care.

Additional postage charges may be applicable.

Defective items

If there is a problem with any of the items received for your order then the Booktopia Customer Care team is ready to assist you.

For more info please visit our Help Centre.

You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction History Specific Events & Topics in History Slavery & Abolition of Slavery Biographies & True Stories Biographies Historical, Political and Military Biographies Society & Culture Social Groups Ethnic Studies Black & Asian Studies Sociology & Anthropology

Anthropology Physical Anthropology Literature, Poetry & Plays History & Criticism of Literature General Literary Studies

Other Editions and Formats

Hardcover

Published: 3rd March 2002

View Product

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

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

Other Editions and Formats

Hardcover

More in Specific Events & Topics in History

Looking from the North

Australian history from the top down

We Do Not Part

The Zorg

A Tale of Greed, Murder and the Abolition of Slavery

Don't Burn Anyone at the Stake Today

(and other lessons from history about living through an information crisis)

The Library That Made Me

200 years of the State Library of NSW

Luna Park

The extraordinary story of the showmen, shysters and schemers who built Sydney's famous fun park

The Dark Side of the Earth

How the Soviet Union Collapsed but Remained

Unfortunately, She Was A Nymphomaniac

A New History of Rome's Imperial Women

A Sicilian Man

Leonardo Sciascia, the Rise of the Mafia and the Struggle for Italy's Soul

Straya Day: from the bestselling author of RUM and GOLD, with 45 trivia quiz questions to test your history

The unofficial history of Australia's national day

A World Appears

A Journey Into Consciousness

The Land Trap

A New History of the World's Oldest Asset

The North Sea

Along the Edge of Britain

The Book of Secrets

A Personal History of Betrayal in Red China

Decolonizing Methodologies

3rd Edition - Research and Indigenous Peoples

Super Nintendo

How One Japanese Company Helped the World Have Fun

Introduction to Medieval Europe 300-1500

4th Edition

Abandoned Women : Scottish Convicts Exiled Beyond the Seas

Born in 1946? What else happened?

What else happened?

Key Features of Modern History 1 Year 11 Student book + obook assess

Key Features of Modern History

Dark Emu

Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture

Goliath's Curse

The History and Future of Societal Collapse

A History of the Muslim World

From Its Origins to the Dawn of Modernity

A Very Short History of the Israel-Palestine Conflict

This product is categorised by