American Encounters: Exploring Themes of Slavery and Internationalism in 19th-Century Literature

Posted on Aug 26, 2024 in Latin

TEMA 12: Writing on Slavery

The country was divided. The abolition of Slavery in the British Empire (1830), the anti-slavery climate in northern states, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, and Abraham Lincoln’s election as President of the US in 1860 all contributed to this division.

Abolitionist Movement

The American Anti-Slavery Society, founded by William Lloyd Garrison, played a crucial role in the fight against slavery. They:

Used the rhetoric of religion to present slavery as a moral sin.
Utilized printed means to disseminate their message.
Supported the Underground Railroad.

Slave Narratives

A locus classicus of African American literature, slave narratives:

Originated in platform speeches delivered by former slaves at abolitionist gatherings.
Often took the form of autobiographical accounts of life in captivity.
Provided an opposition to the pro-slavery arguments.
Demonstrated African Americans’ mastery of language and the ability to write their own history.

Some important titles:

The Narrative of William Wells Brown (1843)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself (1845)
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself (1861) by Harriet Jacobs (pseudonym: Linda Brent)

Characteristics of Slave Narratives

Use of the first-person narrator: The “I” is both an expression of self and a vehicle for exposing social injustice.
Prefatory Material: The narrative often begins with an introduction written by a white person, attesting to the veracity of the slave’s account.
Journey to Freedom: Typically centers on the narrator’s journey from slavery in the South to freedom in the North.
Hybrid Literary Form: According to Henry Louis Gates Jr., slave narratives are a “counter-genre,” a “hybrid” literary form.
Influences: Share elements with Puritan sermons (e.g., the trope of the soul/black in bondage, the intention to preach, the use of biblical oratorical techniques), confession narratives (e.g., the evolution of an identity from object to subject, from bondage to freedom), the picaresque novel (e.g., the picaro and the slave as orphans and outsiders living in the margins of society, the point of view reflecting on social and moral issues, the description of sordid facts), and the sentimental or domestic novel (e.g., melodramatic rhetoric, the family unit under threat, violation of womanhood).

Popularity of Slave Narratives and Anti-Slavery Novels

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass sold 5,000 copies in four months.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin sold 300,000 copies in its first year.

Frederick Douglass

Born in Maryland to a black slave and a white man, Frederick Douglass took his mother’s surname. He believed that “learning to read was the first and most important step from slavery to freedom.” Invited by abolitionists to speak about his experiences, he became a public advocate for the American Anti-Slavery Society. He wrote his autobiography to refute accusations that he was not a former slave. Douglass later published two more versions of his autobiography: My Bondage and My Freedom (1855) and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1892).

Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Written under the pseudonym Linda Brent, Harriet Jacobs’s narrative exposes the inherent contradictions of official images of womanhood and their inapplicability to life in slavery. While death was often seen as the inevitable consequence of a woman’s loss of purity, in Incidents, the fruits of Linda’s “sin” (her children) become her links to life and the motivating force for her pursuit of freedom.

Themes in Slave Narratives

The evil and immorality of slavery
Christian theology as fundamentally incompatible with slavery

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin amalgamates a range of rhetorical styles familiar to American readers. The narrator speaks with the voice of a prophet, denouncing slavery, accusing slaveholders, and encouraging goodness. The theme of sin and redemption, with slavery as a metaphor for all that is evil in the world, runs throughout the novel.

Reactions to Uncle Tom’s Cabin

The novel was met with polarized reactions. While it garnered immense popularity in the North, Southern novelist William Gilmore Simms declared it “utterly false and malicious.” Stowe herself was forced to leave her home due to threats, and booksellers faced danger for selling the novel.

Criticism of Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Modern black writers and scholars have criticized the book for what they perceive as condescending and racist descriptions of its black characters.

TEMA 13: Henry James

Henry James became a major literary figure in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He spent the last 53 years of his life in England, becoming a British subject in 1915. James’s cosmopolitan heritage is key to understanding his fiction.

Key Works

The Passionate Pilgrim and Other Tales (1875): Anticipates the international theme.
The American (1877)
Daisy Miller (1878)
The Europeans (1878)
The Portrait of a Lady (1881)
The Ambassadors (1903)
The Golden Bowl (1904)

Themes in Henry James’s Works

The International Theme: The clash between American and European cultures, highlighting the emotional and moral problems of Americans in Europe and Europeans in America. Europeans in James’s novels are often portrayed as more sophisticated, more concerned with art, and more aware of social subtleties. Americans, on the other hand, typically possess an independence, morality, and idealism that Europeans lack. James seemed to value both the sophistication of Europe and the idealism of America.
America vs. Europe: In James’s works, America often represents equality and innocence, while Europe stands for culture and experience. However, both continents have a two-fold meaning: America can also signify provincialism and cultural impoverishment, while Europe can represent prejudices, rigidity, and categorical thinking.
The American Girl: One of James’s most celebrated creations, the American girl is typically lovable, brave, spontaneous, and fragile.
Wealth and Love: A recurring theme in James’s novels.
The Quest for Knowledge and Truth: Explores the complexities and ambiguities of life, demanding intense self-awareness from his characters.

Stages in James’s Career

The International Theme: Focus on the interactions between Americans and Europeans, marked by the creation of the “American Girl.”
Social and Political Issues: Novels and stories dealing with social and political issues, often featuring children as protagonists.
Return to the International Theme: Characterized by intricate depictions of character and feelings, and the use of a complex, sophisticated style.

Aesthetics of Henry James

: Innovatory use of the narrative voice. Rejection of the omniscient narrator in favor of spectator- narrators. Situations and characters are presented through the eyes of his characters (centers of consciousness). His work anticipates the modern psychological novel, grounded on subjectivity. His realism focuses on the inside, on a mind dealing with life. His center is the roll of women. Increasingly, james experimented with the point of view and the narrative voice. In his work we find unreliable narrators that negate definite interpretations: The turn of the Screw.
On the Turn of the Screw: Hallucination theory, Do the ghost really exists? Are a producte of the imagination?
Criticism: Van Wyck Brooks expressed hostility towards James’s long expatriation and eventual naturalization as a British citizen// E.M. Forster complained about what he saw as James’s squeamishness in the treatment of sex and dismissed his style as difficult, relying heavily on extremely long sentences and latinate language// Today Henry James is considered one of the most important and influential writers // … and because of the emphasis he placed on psychology and human consciousness, he is regarded as the forerunner of the 20th century “stream of consciousness” novels and the founder of psychological realism