ABSTRACT

First published in 1994. The Discourse of Slavery is an innovative collection of fascinating essays addressing the problematic of slavery within literary, cultural and political writings. For the first time, slavery is examined critically within both the British and the American context, and related to contemporary concerns around race and gender. Writers discussed include: Aphra Behn William Blake Mary Wollstonecraft Charlotte Bronte Elizabeth Gaskell Toni Morrison William Faulkner Harriet Jacobs Harriet Beecher Stowe Frederick Douglass The Discourse of Slavery will be an invaluable and intriguing volume for students of literature, gender, race and ethnicity.

chapter |17 pages

Looks that Kill

Violence and representation in Aphra Behn's Oroonoko

chapter |24 pages

“That Mild Beam”

Enlightenment and enslavement in William Blake's Visions of the Daughters of Albion

chapter |30 pages

“Silent Revolt”

Slavery and the politics of metaphor in Jane Eyre

chapter |24 pages

Anglo-American Connections

Elizabeth Gaskell, Harriet Beecher Stowe and the “Iron of slavery” 1

chapter |26 pages

“Painting By Numbers”

Figuring Frederick Douglass

chapter |25 pages

The Irony of Idealism

William Faulkner and the South's construction of the mulatto

chapter |26 pages

Prophesying Bodies

Calling for a politics of collectivity in Toni Morrison's Beloved