Blind Memory: Visual Representations of Slavery in England and America 1780-1865 - Softcover

Wood, Marcus

Softcover

ISBN 10: 041592698X ISBN 13: 9780415926980

Publisher: Routledge, 2000

Synopsis

Throughout this important volume, the author underscores two vital themes: one, that visual presentation of slavery in England and America has been utterly dishonest to its subject, and the other a meditation on whether the ruptures of the slave experience - middle passage, bondage, and torture -- can be adequately represented and remembered.

About this title

About the Author:

Marcus Wood is Senior Lecturer in the Department of English and American Studies at the University of Sussex. His previous works include Radical Satire and Print Culture 1790-1820.

From Library Journal:

This is an erudite yet remarkably engaging examination of the visual representation of slavery in Europe and North America in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Wood (English, Sussex Univ., UK) includes a variety of materials, ranging from sophisticated oil paintings to crude woodcuts, based on their influence, popularity, and longevity. Many of the illustrations will be familiar, but Wood does not assume that they speak for themselves and examines them in a new light. He addresses the semiotic codes used to represent slavery and explains how they came to symbolize cultural memory. This study focuses on four areas: the middle passage, the iconography of slave escape, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and the torture and punishment of slaves. It does not include images of slave rebellion, day-to-day slave life, the slave trade itself, or emancipation. The images are both compelling and repulsive in their exploration of how memory is organized and visually depicted. An excellent bibliography further enhances this groundbreaking work. Very highly recommended for academic collections.DDaniel Liestman, Kansas State Univ. Lib., Manhattan
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 041592698X
• ISBN 13: 9780415926980
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 341