British Abolitionism and the Rhetoric of Sensibility: Writing, Sentiment and Slavery, 1760-1807

British Abolitionism and the Rhetoric of Sensibility argues that participants in the late eighteenth-century slavery debate developed a distinct sentimental rhetoric, using the language of the heart to powerful effect in the most important political and humanitarian battle of the time. Examining both familiar and unfamiliar texts, including poetry, novels, journalism, and political writing, Carey shows that salve-owners and abolitionists alike made strategic use of the rhetoric of sensibility in the hope of influencing a reading public thoroughly immersed in the 'cult of feeling'.

Author: B. Carey
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Published: 08/31/2005
Pages: 240
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.22lbs
Size: 8.62h x 5.60w x 0.74d
ISBN: 9781403946263

Review Citation(s):
Choice 06/01/2006 pg. 1824

About the Author
BRYCCHAN CAREY is Senior Lecturer in English at Kingston University in London. He has co-edited Discourses of Slavery and Abolition and Abolition: Britain and its Colonies, 1760-1838, and has published widely in the academic press, including articles on William Wilberforce, Ignatius Sancho, John Wesley, The Spectator, and the politics of Harry Potter.