British Abolitionism and the Rhetoric of Sensibility: Writing, Sentiment and Slavery, 1760-1807

by B. Carey

Overview

British Abolitionism and the Rhetoric of Sensibility argues that participants in the late eighteenth-century slavery debate developed a distinct sentimental rhetoric, using the language of the heart to powerful effect in the most important political and humanitarian battle of the time. Examining both familiar and unfamiliar texts, including poetry, novels, journalism, and political writing, Carey shows that salve-owners and abolitionists alike made strategic use of the rhetoric of sensibility in the hope of influencing a reading public thoroughly immersed in the 'cult of feeling'.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781403946263
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	08/31/2005
Series:	Palgrave Studies in the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Cultures of Print
Edition description:	2005
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.03(d)

About the Author

BRYCCHAN CAREY is Senior Lecturer in English at Kingston University in London. He has co-edited Discourses of Slavery and Abolition and Abolition: Britain and its Colonies, 1760-1838, and has published widely in the academic press, including articles on William Wilberforce, Ignatius Sancho, John Wesley, The Spectator, and the politics of Harry Potter.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction The Rhetoric of Sensibility Arguing in Prose: Abolitionist Letters, and Novels Arguing in Verse: Abolitionist Poetry "Read this and blush": The Pamphlet War of the 1780s Feeling Out Loud: Sentimental Rhetoric in Parliament, the Pulpit, and the Court of Law Conclusion: Romanticism, Revolution, and William Wilberforce's Unregarded Tears Notes Bibliography Index

Editorial Reviews

' British Abolitionism and the Rhetoric of Sensibility is a timely intervention in the scholarly study of the abolitionist movement. It consider, and suggests answers to, the criticisms some feminist and postcolonial scholars have levelled against eighteenth-century abolitionist writings...it offers a largely convincing reading of an important, little-understood area of eighteenth-century discourse.' - Anthony John Harding, Romanticism

From the Publisher