Book contents
- Whiteness and American Literature
- Cambridge Themes in American Literature and Culture
- Whiteness and American Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Whiteness and National Identity
- Part II Whiteness in the American Literary Imagination
- Chapter 8 Whiteness in Nineteenth-Century Speculative Writing
- Chapter 9 Whiteness and the Slave Narrative
- Chapter 10 Passing in Modernist Literature
- Chapter 11 Whiteness in African American Writers’ Nonfictional Works
- Chapter 12 The Historical Novel of Whiteness
- Chapter 13 The Unbearable Whiteness of Contemporary US Climate Fiction
- Chapter 14 The Twenty-First-Century White Life Novel
- Part III Approaches to Whiteness
- Further Reading
- Index
Chapter 9 - Whiteness and the Slave Narrative
from Part II - Whiteness in the American Literary Imagination
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 June 2025
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Book contents
- Whiteness and American Literature
- Cambridge Themes in American Literature and Culture
- Whiteness and American Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Whiteness and National Identity
- Part II Whiteness in the American Literary Imagination
- Chapter 8 Whiteness in Nineteenth-Century Speculative Writing
- Chapter 9 Whiteness and the Slave Narrative
- Chapter 10 Passing in Modernist Literature
- Chapter 11 Whiteness in African American Writers’ Nonfictional Works
- Chapter 12 The Historical Novel of Whiteness
- Chapter 13 The Unbearable Whiteness of Contemporary US Climate Fiction
- Chapter 14 The Twenty-First-Century White Life Novel
- Part III Approaches to Whiteness
- Further Reading
- Index
Summary
This essay addresses the role of whiteness in slave narratives, a body of writing that featured the voices and experiences of African Americans, arguing that white American culture is fundamental to these narratives. This foundational presence is clear in the narratives’ representation of white slave owners, in the prefaces or other material added to slave narratives by white writers, and in the fact that some narratives were wholly written by white writers, representing the experience of formerly enslaved African Americans. But it is important to understand that white American culture made the slave narratives necessary and that these narratives work to persuade white Americans of moral imperatives for which African Americans needed no persuasion.
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- Whiteness and American Literature , pp. 135 - 147Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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