The Cambridge Companion to the African American Slave Narrative (Cambridge Companions to Literature)

279 Pages·2007·1.06 MB·English

by  Audrey Fisch

the cambridge companion to
the african american slave narrative
Theslavenarrativehasemergedasafundamentalgenrewithinliterarystudies.
ThisCompanionexaminestheslavenarrative’srelationtotransatlanticaboli-
tionism,BritishandAmericanliterarytraditionsincludingcaptivitynarratives,
autobiography,andsentimentalliterature,andthelargerAfricanAmericanlit-
erarytradition.Thevolumealsoexploresthehistoryofthegenre,includingits
rediscoveryandauthentication,itssubsequentcriticalreception,anditscontin-
uedimportancetomodernauthorssuchasToniMorrisonandEdwardP.Jones.
Attentionispaidbothtowell-knownslavenarratives,suchasthosebyOlau-
dah Equiano, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs, and to a wide range of
lesser-knownnarratives.Withitschronologyandguidetofurtherreading,the
Companionprovidesbothaneasyentrypointforstudentsnewtothesubject
andcomprehensivecoverageandoriginalinsightsforscholarsinthefield.
audrey fisch is Professor in the Departments of English and Elementary
andSecondaryEducationatNewJerseyCityUniversity.

THE CAMBRIDGE
COMPANION TO
THE AFRICAN
AMERICAN SLAVE
NARRATIVE
EDITED BY
AUDREY A. FISCH
NewJerseyCityUniversity
cambridge university press
Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,Singapore,Sa˜oPaulo
CambridgeUniversityPress
TheEdinburghBuilding,Cambridgecb28ru,UK
PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521615266
(cid:2)C CambridgeUniversityPress2007
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithout
thewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2007
PrintedintheUnitedKingdomattheUniversityPress,Cambridge
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
isbn 978-0-521-85019-3hardback
isbn 978-0-521-61526-6paperback
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externalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication,anddoesnot
guaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
ForMarkFlynnandMaxFlysch

CONTENTS
Listofcontributors page ix
Acknowledgments xii
Chronology xiii
1
Introduction
audrey a. fisch
part i: the slave narrative and transnational abolitionism
1 Therise,development,andcirculationoftheslavenarrative 11
philip gould
2 Politicsandpoliticalphilosophyintheslavenarrative 28
dickson d. bruce, jr.
3 OlaudahEquiano:AfricanBritishabolitionistandfounderofthe
44
AfricanAmericanslavenarrative
vincent carretta
4 Theslavenarrativeandtheliteratureofabolition 61
kerry sinanan
part ii: the slave narrative and anglo-american
literary traditions
5 Redeemingbondage:thecaptivitynarrativeandthespiritual
83
autobiographyintheAfricanAmericanslavenarrativetradition
yolanda pierce
vii
contents
6 TheslavenarrativeandtherevolutionarytraditionofAmerican
99
autobiography
robert s. levine
7 Theslavenarrativeandsentimentalliterature 115
cindy weinstein
part iii: the slave narrative and the african american
literary tradition
8 TheslavenarrativeandearlyBlackAmericanliterature 137
robert f. reid-pharr
9 Tellingslaveryin“freedom’s”time:post-Reconstructionandthe
150
HarlemRenaissance
deborah e. mcdowell
10 Neo-slavenarratives 168
valerie smith
part iv: the slave narrative and the politics of knowledge
11 HarrietJacobs:acasehistoryofauthentication 189
stephanie a. smith
12 FrederickDouglass’sself-fashioningandthemakingofa
201
RepresentativeAmericanman
john stauffer
13 BeyondDouglassandJacobs 218
john ernest
14 BlackwomanhoodinNorthAmericanwomen’sslavenarratives 232
xiomara santamarina
246
Guidetofurtherreading
259
Index
viii
CONTRIBUTORS
dickson d. bruce, jr., isProfessorofHistoryattheUniversityofCalifornia,
Irvine.HisbooksincludeBlackAmericanWritingfromtheNadir:TheEvolution
ofaLiteraryTradition,1877–1915(1989)andTheOriginsofAfricanAmerican
Literature, 1680–1865 (2001). His most recent book, The Kentucky Tragedy: A
StoryofConflictandChangeinAntebellumAmerica,waspublishedin2006.
vincent carretta is Professor of English at the University of Maryland. His
publications include the following editions: Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting
NarrativeandOtherWritings(1995;rev.edn.2003);LettersoftheLateIgnatius
Sancho,AnAfrican(1998);QuobnaOttobahCugoano,ThoughtsandSentiments
on the Evil of Slavery and Other Writings (1999); Phillis Wheatley, Complete
Writings (2001); and Unchained Voices: An Anthology of Black Authors in the
English-SpeakingWorldoftheEighteenthCentury(1996;rev.edn.2004).With
PhilipGould,Carrettahasco-editedandcontributedtoGeniusinBondage:Litera-
tureoftheEarlyBlackAtlantic(2001).HismostrecentbookisOlaudahEquiano,
theAfrican:BiographyofaSelf-MadeMan(2005).
john ernest istheEberlyFamilyDistinguishedProfessorofAmericanLiterature
at West Virginia University. He is the author of Resistance and Reformation in
Nineteenth-CenturyAfrican-AmericanLiterature:Brown,Wilson,Jacobs,Delany,
Douglass, and Harper (1995) and Liberation Historiography: African American
WritersandtheChallengeofHistory,1794–1861(2004).Hiseditionsoftextsby
nineteenth-centuryAfricanAmericanwritersincludeWilliamWellsBrown’sThe
Escape;or,ALeapforFreedom(2001)andWilliamCraft’sRunningaThousand
MilesforFreedom;Or,TheEscapeofWilliamandEllenCraftfromSlavery(2000).
audrey a. fisch isProfessorintheDepartmentsofEnglishandElementaryand
Secondary Education at New Jersey City University. She is the co-editor of The
Other Mary Shelley: Beyond Frankenstein (1993) and the author of American
SlavesinVictorianEngland:AbolitionistPoliticsinPopularLiteratureandCulture
(Cambridge,2000).
ix