Impossible Witnesses: Truth, Abolitionism, and Slave Testimony

Even the most cursory review of black literary production during the nineteenth century indicates that its primary concerns were the issues of slavery, racial subjugation, abolitionist politics and liberation. How did the writers of these narratives bear witness to the experiences they describe? At a time when a hegemonic discourse on these subjects already existed, what did it mean to tell the truth about slavery?
Impossible Witnesses explores these questions through a study of fiction, poetry, essays, and slave narratives from the abolitionist era. Linking the racialized discourses of slavery and Romanticism, it boldly calls for a reconfiguration of U.S. and British Romanticism that places slavery at its center.
Impossible Witnesses addresses some of the major literary figures and representations of slavery in light of discourses on natural rights and law, offers an account of Foucauldian discourse analysis as it applies to the problem of bearing witness, and analyzes specific narratives such as Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, and The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano.
A work of great depth and originality, Impossible Witnesses renders traditional interpretations of Romanticism impossible and places Dwight A. McBride at the forefront of studies in race and literature.

Author: Dwight McBride
Publisher: New York University Press
Published: 02/01/2002
Pages: 207
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.68lbs
Size: 8.98h x 5.94w x 0.56d
ISBN: 9780814756058
Award: Hurston/Wright LEGACY Award - Nominee

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 02/01/2002 pg. 219

About the Author
McBride, Dwight: - Dwight A. McBride is Daniel Hale Williams Professor of African American Studies, English, & Performance Studies at Northwestern University where he also serves as Dean of The Graduate School and Associate Provost for Graduate Education. He is the author of several groundbreaking works in African American Studies, including Impossible Witnesses and Why I Hate Abercrombie and Fitch.