Fire on the Water: Sailors, Slaves, and Insurrection in Early American Literature, 1789-1886 (Transits: Literature, Thought & Culture 1650-1850)

Synopsis

Lenora Warren tells a new story about the troubled history of abolition and slave violence by examining representations of shipboard mutiny and insurrection in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Anglo-American and American literature. Fire on the Water centers on five black sailors, whose experiences of slavery and insurrection either inspired or found resonance within fiction: Olaudah Equiano, Denmark Vesey, Joseph Cinqué, Madison Washington, and Washington Goode. These stories of sailors, both real and fictional, reveal how the history of mutiny and insurrection is both shaped by, and resistant to, the prevailing abolitionist rhetoric surrounding the efficacy of armed rebellion as a response to slavery. Pairing well-known texts with lesser-known figures (Billy Budd and Washington Goode) and well-known figures with lesser-known texts (Denmark Vesey and the work of John Howison), this book reveals the richness of literary engagement with the politics of slave violence. Published by Bucknell University Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.

Copyright:

2019

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

ISBN-13:

9781684480197

Related ISBNs:

9781684480180, 9781684480173

Publisher:

Bucknell University Press

Date of Addition:

10/19/19

Copyrighted By:

Lenora Warren

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

History, Nonfiction, Literature and Fiction, Social Studies, Language Arts

Grade Levels:

Eleventh grade

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.