We Wear the Mask: African Americans Write American Literature, 1760-1870 / Edition 1

by Rafia Zafar

Overview

Uncovers the strategies early African American writers used both to create an African American identity and to make their visions and stories accessible to white readers. Alongside these pioneers of black American literature Zafar juxtaposes some familiar European American Writers. Beginning with Phillis Wheatley's implicit engagements with other colonial era poets, and ending with the ultimately tragic success story of Elizabeth Keckley, ex-slave, seamstress, and confidante to a First Lady, black authors employed virtually every dominant literary genre while cannily manipulating the nature of their presence.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231080958
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	11/06/1997
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	5.97(w) x 9.04(h) x 0.57(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Rafia Zafar is professor of English and African and African American Studies,Washington Univerisity in St. Louis.

Editorial Reviews

Reviewing We Wear the Mask seven years after it was first published, one is inevitably struck both by how well its argument and individual readings have held up.

Eighteenth Century Book Reviews Online - Vince Carreta

Reviewing We Wear the Mask seven years after it was first published, one is inevitably struck both by how well its argument and individual readings have held up.

— Vince Carreta, University of Maryland

Eighteenth-Century Book Reviews Online

Reviewing We Wear the Mask seven years after it was first published, one is inevitably struck both by how well its argument and individual readings have held up.

— Vince Carreta, University of Maryland

Eighteenth Century Book Reviews Online

We Wear the Mask is a sophisticated and pragmatic contribution to the study of ante-bellum African American texts, and should be considered essential reading for those of us working in the field of early American literature.

Susan Castillo

Not to be missed: From Phillis Wheatley to the works of other forerunners of modern black authors, this book traces an unusual history of pioneering black literary achievers.

MidWest Book Review

Not to be missed: From Phillis Wheatley to the works of other forerunners of modern black authors, this book traces an unusual history of pioneering black literary achievers.

The MidWest Book Review