Search all library resources

The Cambridge companion to slavery in American literature

"Slavery is of course an indisputably central topic in American history. Yet to date, students, teachers and scholars have had no collection of essays aimed at an overview of its place in American literature. The seeds of this book were sown a few years ago when I set out to design a survey course on race and slavery in American writing. To broaden my preparation beyond the eighteenth- and early-nineteenth century focus of my previous research on the subject, I returned to a long-admired group of essays: Deborah McDowell and Arnold Rampersad's Slavery and the Literary Imagination (1989), a brilliant and enduring collection, but a set of English Institute papers that made no attempt at comprehensive treatment"--The Cambridge Companion to Slavery in American Literature brings together leading scholars to examine the significance of slavery in American literature from the eighteenth century to the present day. In addition to stressing how central slavery has been to the study of American culture, this Companion provides students with a broad introduction to an impressive range of authors including Olaudah Equiano, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Toni Morrison. Accessible to students and academics alike, this Companion surveys the critical landscape of a major field and lays the foundations for future studies.

Online Cambridge Core

Empire and slavery in American literature, 1820-1865

Cambridge companion to global literature and slavery