Imoinda's shade : marriage and the African woman in eighteenth-century British literature, 1759-1808 / Lyndon J. Dominique.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dominique, Lyndon Janson, 1972-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English literature--18th century--History and criticism.

English literature.

Race in literature.

Women, Black, in literature.

Marriage in literature.

Physical Description:

xii, 289 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Columbus : Ohio State University Press, [2012]

Summary:

Imoinda is the name of a fictional character who appears as an African woman in a novella by Aphra Behn and as a white woman in Thomas Southerne's dramatic production Oroonoko, both produced in 1707. Dominique (English Lehigh University) examines how this character influenced later depictions of African women in novels and plays written by British writers 1759-1808, and looks in general at how fictional black African heroines were used by progressive British writers to advance political agendas of antislavery, abolition, and interracial marriage. The book contains b&w historical illustrations. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Contents:

Altering Oroonoko and Imoinda in mid-eighteenth century British drama

Amelioration, African women, and the soft, strategic voice of paternal tyranny in The grateful negro

"Between the saints and the rebels": Imoinda and the resurrection of the black African heroine

Creoles, closure, and Cubba's comedy of pain: abolition and the politics of homecoming in eighteenth-century British farce

"'What' cried the delighted mulatto, 'are we going to prosecu massa?'": Adeline Mowbray's distinguished complexion of abolition

"An unportioned girl of my complexion can...be a dangerous object." Abolition and the mulatto heiress in England.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-280) and index.

ISBN:

9780814211854

0814211852

9780814292860

0814292860

OCLC:

767565929