Race, Slavery, and Liberalism in Nineteenth-Century American Literature

Download or read book Race, Slavery, and Liberalism in Nineteenth-Century American Literature written by Arthur Riss and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2006-08-17 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Moving boldly between literary analysis and political theory, contemporary and antebellum US culture, Arthur Riss invites readers to rethink prevailing accounts of the relationship between slavery, liberalism, and literary representation. Situating Nathaniel Hawthorne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Frederick Douglass at the center of antebellum debates over the person-hood of the slave, this 2006 book examines how a nation dedicated to the proposition that 'all men are created equal' formulates arguments both for and against race-based slavery. This revisionary argument promises to be unsettling for literary critics, political philosophers, historians of US slavery, as well as those interested in the link between literature and human rights.