Uncle Tom and Ewythr Robert: Anti-Slavery and Ethnic Reconstruction in Victorian Wales
2012; Frank Cass & Co.; Volume: 33; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/0144039x.2012.669904
ISSN1743-9523
Autores Tópico(s)Scottish History and National Identity
ResumoAbstract This article explores the relationship between anti-slavery and the ethnic reconstruction of Welshness which took place in the nineteenth century. Their alleged anti-slavery credentials allowed the Welsh to define themselves as more ethical and Christian than the other British nations, and the author claims that anti-slavery, along with disestablishment and temperance, was a key plank in the establishment of a hegemonic Nonconformist definition of ‘Welshness’ in the nineteenth century. This argument is developed by turning to the reception in Wales of Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), particularly the creative adaptation of Stowe's novel by Gwilym Hiraethog, Aelwyd F'Ewythr Robert (Uncle Robert's Hearth) (1953). Hiraethog's Aelwyd, an ambitious experiment in which the original American novel is placed in a charged relationship to the experiences and stories of a group of Welsh peasants, offers an interesting example of transnational and translinguistic literary influence made possible by the internationalist character of the anti-slavery movement. Notes ‘Gwrth-Gaethwasiaeth – Cyfarfod Mawr Gwrexham’, Yr Amserau, 22 October 1846, 2. Translated from the original Welsh by the author. All further translations from Welsh are also the author's own. John Davies, Cardiff (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2002), 51. Emrys Jones, ‘The Welsh Language in England, c.1800–1914’, in Language and Community in the Nineteenth Century, ed. Geraint H. Jenkins (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1998), 252–257. Kenneth O. Morgan, Rebirth of a Nation: Wales 1880–1980 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981), 6. ‘Cyfarfod Liverpool ar Gaethwasanaeth Americanaidd’, Yr Amserau, 22 October 1846, 2. See Alan J. Rice and Martin Crawford, ‘Frederick Douglass in Britain, 1845–1847’, in Liberating Sojourn: Frederick Douglass and Transatlantic Abolitionism, ed. Alan J. Rice and Martin Crawford (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1999), 1–12. See also Audrey Fisch, American Slaves in Victorian England: Abolitionist Politics in Popular Literature and Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000). On Douglass and the Welsh in the United States, see Jerry Hunter, Sons of Arthur, Children of Lincoln: Welsh Writing from the American Civil War (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2007), 49–91. Supplement to the Carnarvon and Denbigh Herald, 17 October 1846, 2. Ibid. Quoted in Melinda Gray, ‘Uncle Tom's Welsh Dress: Ethnicity, Authority and Translation’, in Beyond the Difference: Welsh Literature in Comparative Contexts, ed. Alyce von Rothkirch and Daniel Williams (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2004), 178. Frederick Douglass' Paper, 3 November 1854. ‘Literary Notices’, Frederick Douglass' Paper, 12 October 1855. Quoted in Gareth Elwyn Jones, ‘Llyfrau Gleision 1847’, in Brad y Llyfrau Gleision, ed. Prys Morgan (Llandysul: Gomer Press, 1991), 26. This historical overview is a synthesis of many sources. Of particular relevance are: John Davies, A History of Wales (1990; London: Penguin, 1993), chap. 8; Ieuan Gwynedd Jones, Communities (Llandysul: Gomer Press, 1987); Hywel Teifi Edwards, Gŵyl Gwalia: Yr Eisteddfod yn Oes Victoria (Llandysul: Gomer Press, 1980) and Codi'r Hen Wlad yn ei Hôl (Llandysul: Gomer Press, 1990). Quoted in Robert Owen Jones, Hir Oes i'r Iaith: Agweddau ar Hanes y Gymraeg a'r Gymdeithas (Llandysul: Gomer Press, 1997), 270. See, especially, the works by Hywel Teifi Edwards above and Gwyneth Tyson Roberts, The Language of the Blue Books: The Perfect Instrument of Empire (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1998). Dale E. Patterson, Up from Bondage: The Literatures of Russian and African American Soul (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2000), 36–37. Ibid., 37. Gwyn A. Williams, When Was Wales? A History of the Welsh (London: Black Raven Press, 1985), 206. On the Irish in Wales, see Paul O'Leary, Immigration and Integration: The Irish in Wales, 1798–1922 (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2000). On Catholicism and slavery, see Richard Hardack, ‘The Slavery of Romanism: The Casting Out of the Irish in the Work of Frederick Douglass’, in Rice and Crawford, Liberating Sojourn, 126–127. E. G. Millward, Cenedl o Bobl Ddewrion: Agweddau ar Lenyddiaeth Oes Victoria (Llandysul: Gwasg Gomer, 1991), 123. Ioan Williams, ‘Gwilym Hiraethog (William Rees, 1802–83)’, in A Guide to Welsh Literature 1800–1900, ed. Hywel Teifi Edwards (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2000), 62–63. See also Ioan Williams, Capel a Chomin: Astudiaeth o Ffugchwedlau Pedwar Llenor Fictoraidd (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1989). Francis Mulhern, ‘Conrad's Disavowals’, New Left Review, 2nd ser., no. 38 (2006): 60. The irony in this respect is that the success of Hiraethog's version of Uncle Tom's Cabin relied on a literate peasantry. The Welsh, as Jerry Hunter has noted, were more ‘logo-centric’ than the Irish peasantry during the same period. This was partly due to the different emphasis that Roman Catholics and Nonconformists placed on local vernaculars. The divisions between oral and print cultures are therefore more complex than Hiraethog's hearthside scene suggests, for writing and print had co-existed with oral transmission for some time in Welsh culture. For the historical and theoretical implications of this for Welsh literary studies, see Jerry Hunter and Richard Wyn Jones, ‘O'r Chwith: Pa Mor Feirniadol yw Beirniadaeth Ôl-Fodern?’, Taliesin 92 (1995): 19. Quoted in Jane Aaron, Pur fel y Dur: Y Gymraes yn Llên Menywod y Bedwaredd Ganrif ar Bymtheg (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1998), 100. Wilson J. Moses, Afrotopia: The Roots of African American Popular History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 122. Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852; London: Everyman's Library, 1995), 328. Ibid., 321. William Rees (Gwilym Hiraethog), Aelwyd F'Ewythr Robert: Neu Hanes Caban F'Ewythr Tomos (Denbigh: Gee, 1853), 476. In the language of literary theory, the reader ‘interpellated’ in Stowe's text is made flesh and blood in Hiraethog's rewriting of it. On ‘interpellation’, see Louis Althusser, ‘Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses: Notes toward an Investigation’, in Mapping Ideology, ed. Slavoj Žižek (London: Verso, 1994), 100–140. Yuval Taylor, ed., I Was Born a Slave: An Anthology of Classic Slave Narratives (Edinburgh: Payback Press, 1999), 720–722. Ibid., xx. Ibid., xvi. Josiah Henson, Uncle Tom's Story of His Life: An Autobiography of the Rev. Josiah Henson, from 1789 to 1877, ed. John Lobb (London: Christian Age Office, 1877), 70–71. Quoted in Edwards, Codi'r Hen Wlad, 4. Quoted in Edwards, Guide to Welsh Literature, 45; Edwards, Gŵyl Gwalia, 55. Josiah Henson, Hanes Bywyd ‘Uncle Tom’ o 1789 hyd 1877 Ganddo Ef Ei Hun sef Bywgraffiad Y Parch. Josiah Henson. Translated by the Rev. D. Griffith (Dolgellau: Swyddfa y Dysgedydd, 1877), 232; Henson, Uncle Tom's Story, 224. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., ‘The Trope of a New Negro and the Reconstruction of the Image of the Black’, Representations 24 (1988): 129–155. Kevin K. Gaines, Uplifting the Race: Black Leadership, Politics, and Culture in the Twentieth Century (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996), 76. Hywel Teifi Edwards, ‘Victorian Wales Seeks Reinstatement’, Planet 52 (1985): 13. Welsh translations had appeared of Ukawsaw Gronniosaw [James Albert], A Narrative of the Most Remarkable Particulars in the Life of James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, an African Prince, as Related by Himself (1772) and John Marrant, A Narrative of the Lord's Wonderful Dealings with John Marrant (1785). Gronniosaw was translated by Wales' leading hymn writer, Williams Williams Pantycelyn (1717–1791). No translator is mentioned in the case of Marrant. See E. Wyn James, ‘Morgan John Rhys a Chaethwasiaeth Americanaidd’, in Canu Caeth: Y Cymry a'r Affro-Americaniaid, ed. Daniel G. Williams (Llandysul: Gomer Press, 2010), 2–25. See also E. Wyn James, ‘Welsh Ballads and American Slavery’, Welsh Journal of Religious History 2 (2007): 59–86. The narrative of Moses Roper was also translated into Welsh. Moses Roper, Hanes Bywyd a Ffoedigaeth Moses Roper o Gaethiwed Americanaidd (Llanelli: Rees a Thomas, 1841). An identical edition was published in Aberystwyth by J. Cox in 1842. Henson, Uncle Tom's Story, 215. This account appears at the end of the book in a ‘Summary of Uncle Tom's Public Services’. It does not appear in the Welsh version. Additional informationNotes on contributorsDaniel G. WilliamsDaniel G. Williams is Senior Lecturer, Swansea University, Keir Hardie Building, Room 212, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK.
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