Genius in Bondage: Literature of the Early Black Atlantic

by Vincent Carretta, Philip Gould

Overview

Until fairly recently, critical studies and anthologies of African American literature generally began with the 1830s and 1840s. Yet there was an active and lively transatlantic black literary tradition as early as the 1760s. Genius in Bondage situates this literature in its own historical terms, rather than treating it as a sort of prologue to later African American writings. The contributors address the shifting meanings of race and gender during this period, explore how black identity was cultivated within a capitalist economy, discuss the impact of Christian religion and the Enlightenment on definitions of freedom and liberty, and identify ways in which black literature both engaged with and rebelled against Anglo-American culture.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813122038
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	11/09/2001
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.50(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Vincent Carretta, professor of English at the University of Maryland, is the author of several books on eighteenth-century literature and, most recently, the editor of Olaudah Equiano's The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings.

Editorial Reviews

This is an excellent, indeed a monumental collection of essays, one that will set the standard for scholarship in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Black Atlantic studies for years to come.

Adam Potkay

A reminder that literature is a complex language because, regardless of condition, circumstance, class, or colour, people are endowed with genuine feelings and complicated thoughts that make up the human experience.

Dalhousie Review

Moves us back in time and significantly beyond the constraints of analysis rooted in the search for the origins of a unique African American literary tradition. Students will ignore eighteenth-century black autobiography at their peril.

Journal of American History

By introducing new texts and offering new perspectives on early Black writers, Genius in Bondage confirms the vigor of early Black Atlantic studies and the genius of the literature it represents.

Early American Literature

This superb collection on the range of early black literary activity constitutes cutting-edge scholarship.... A work of enormous significance.

Kathryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodala

"This is an excellent, indeed a monumental collection of essays, one that will set the standard for scholarship in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Black Atlantic studies for years to come." — Adam Potkay

"A reminder that literature is a complex language because, regardless of condition, circumstance, class, or colour, people are endowed with genuine feelings and complicated thoughts that make up the human experience." — Dalhousie Review

"By introducing new texts and offering new perspectives on early Black writers, Genius in Bondage confirms the vigor of early Black Atlantic studies and the genius of the literature it represents." — Early American Literature

"Moves us back in time and significantly beyond the constraints of analysis rooted in the search for the origins of a unique African American literary tradition. Students will ignore eighteenth-century black autobiography at their peril." — Journal of American History

"This superb collection on the range of early black literary activity constitutes cutting-edge scholarship.... A work of enormous significance." — Kathryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodala

From the Publisher