Empowering words : outsiders and authorship in early America / Karen A. Weyler.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Weyler, Karen A.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American literature--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775--History and criticism.

American literature.

American literature--Revolutionary period, 1775-1783--History and criticism.

Outsiders in literature.

Authorship--Social aspects--United States.

Literacy--Social aspects--United States.

Literacy--Social aspects.

Authorship--Social aspects.

Authorship.

United States.

Physical Description:

xiii, 311 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Athens : The University of Georgia Press, 2013.

Summary:

Standing outside elite or even middling circles, people who were marginalized by limitations on their freedom and their need to labor for a living had a unique grasp on the profoundly social nature of print and its power to influence public opinion in early America. In Empowering Words, Karen A. Weyler explores how outsiders ranging from the canonical Phillis Wheatley to now-obscure artisans used ephemeral formats such as broadsides, pamphlets, and newspapers to publish poetry, captivity narratives, formal addresses, and other genres with wide appeal. To gain access to print, outsiders collaborated with amanuenses and editors, inserted their stories into popular genres and cheap media, tapped into existing social and religious networks, and sought sponsors and patrons. They wrote individually, collaboratively, and even corporately, but writing for them was almost always an act of connection. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction: Outsider authorship in early America

Mourning New England: Phillis Wheatley and The broadside elegy

An "Englishman under English colours": Briton Hammon, John Marrant, and the fungibility of Christian faith

"Common, plain, every day talk" from "an uncommon quarter": Samson Occom and the language of the execution sermon

Becoming "the American heroine": Deborah Sampson, collaboration, and performance

"To proceed with spirit": Clementina Rind and the Virginia Gazette

When barbers wrote books: mechanic societies and authorship

Conclusion: Uncovering other outsider authors.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780820343235

0820343234

9780820343242

0820343242

OCLC:

819717583