Uncle Tom and Archy Moore: The Antislavery Novel as Ideological Symbol
1974; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 26; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/2712233
ISSN1080-6490
Autores Tópico(s)Race, History, and American Society
ResumoTHE IMPRESSION IS STILL SO DEEP THAT AFTER A LAPSE OF NEARLY FORTY years since I saw the book, I have no misgivings in speaking of it as a powerful piece of realism. It treated passionately, intensely, though with a superficial coldness, wrongs now so remote from us since the abolition of slavery that it is useless to hope it will ever be generally read hereafter, but it can be safely praised to anyone who wished to study that bygone condition, and the literature which grew out of it.'' The book which generated so forceful and lasting an image for William Dean Howells was Richard Hildreth's The Slave or Memoirs of A rchy Moore. First published in 1836, Archy Moore has long ceased being read, or even recognized, by most literary scholars, let alone modern readers of fiction. Yet, as Howells suggests, for those interested in the fictional portrayal of slavery by 19th century American writers, an exhumation and examination of Hildreth's work is in order. Hildreth's book is of historical and literary interest on two levels. Since it was the first antislavery fiction, Archy Moore merits careful analysis in and of itself. In addition, for the literary historian the importance of Archy Moore stems from its being the precursor to (and perhaps a model for) Uncle Tom's Cabin. By comparing the several themes and characters of these two books, and by contrasting the reaction to them by abolitionists and other contemporary readers, one may gain some insights into 19th century American attitudes both on literature and on slavery. Richard Hildreth (1807-65) is usually remembered as the author of six
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