ERIC Number: ED084538
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1972
Pages: 260
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
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The Intricate Knot: Black Figures in American Literature, 1776-1863.
Yellin, Jean Fagan
Beginning with Thomas Jefferson's view of the black man as a victim in his "Notes on Virginia," this book studies the characterization of the Negro in pre-Civil War fiction (1776-1863). Traced are the stereotypes of the black in plantation fiction by George Tucker, James Paulding, John Kennedy, and Gilmore Simms--all of whom used the image of Negro inferiority in support of slavery. Analyzed next are the abolitionist novels of Richard Hildreth, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and William Wells Brown which place the Negro at the center of the novel. Also examined are the ironic narratives of fugitive slaves such as Josiah Henson, Lewis and Milton Clarke, and Frederick Douglass. After a discussion of the black insurrection, based on "The Confessions of Nat Turner," the book concludes with a study of Herman Melville's "Benito Cereno," demonstrating that the stock images of the Negro in fiction presented by Melville are without foundation. (HOD)
Descriptors: Black History, Black Influences, Black Literature, Black Stereotypes, Eighteenth Century Literature, Fiction, Literary History, Nineteenth Century Literature, Slavery, United States History
New York University Press, Washington Sq., New York, New York 10003 ($10.00 cloth, $3.50 paper)
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Education Level: N/A
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Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
