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CMP#119   "The Negro is Our Fellow Creature"

8/15/2022

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Thanks to Debatenstein of Twitter for my new logo, "Side-eye Jane Austen"!

​This blog explores social attitudes in Jane Austen's time, discusses her novels, reviews forgotten 18th century novels, and throws some occasional shade at the modern academy. ​The introductory post is here.

CMP#119   Representations of Black Georgians: Laugh When You Can
     In my last two posts, I reviewed a forgotten 1812 novel about a Black man living in Georgian England.
​      British novelists, poets, and playwrights played an important role in the long struggle to end slavery. No-one living in the United Kingdom in the late 18th century could pretend not to notice the poems, novels, plays and essays which portrayed the cruelty and horror of the slave trade. Dramatic poems like “The Dying Negro” were intended to awaken the consciences and appeal to the emotions of British readers. A poem for children, written in the cadences of the Old Testament, associated the consolations of religion with the fight against slavery:
"Negro woman, who sittest pining in captivity,
and weepest over thy sick child;
though no one seeth thee, God seeth thee;
though no one pitieth thee, God pitieth thee: raise thy voice, forlorn and abandoned one;
​call upon him from amidst thy bonds, for assuredly he will hear thee." ​
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    Naturally enough—since these poems were intended to raise empathy and spur people to action—these representations of enslaved persons emphasized their suffering and vulnerability. In the famous Wedgewood portrait “Am I Not a Man and a Brother?” the enslaved man is pictured kneeling, raising up his shackled arms, pleading for help.
  However, Georgian playwright Frederick Reynolds took a different approach—he used the vehicle of comedy, not tragedy, to stress the humanity of people of colour...

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CMP#118  Yamboo: Slave, Servant, Squire

8/9/2022

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Clutching My Pearls is my ongoing blog series about my take on Jane Austen’s beliefs and ideas, as based on her novels. I’ve also been blogging about now-obscure female authors of the long 18th century. For more, click "Authoresses" on the menu at right. Click here for the first in the series.  ​

CMP#118  Yamboo, or, the North American Slave, conclusion
PictureBlack Georgians
   In my previous post, I introduced a now-forgotten 1812 novel entitled Yamboo, or, the North American Slave which is far more explicit than anything you'll find in Austen, the go-to girl for literary discussions about slavery in the long 18th century.
  As explained in my previous post, Yamboo is released from slavery and becomes a loyal and affectionate servant to the Beresford family in New Brunswick. He is introduced to Christianity. He begs to be allowed to accompany Colonel Beresford on a military campaign to India.
  Okay, to resume our story....   
  Colonel Beresford goes missing in battle at Seringapatam. While searching for him, Yamboo discovers a captain left for dead and brings rescuers to carry him off the battlefield. Colonel Beresford remains missing, but Captain Longford survives. Yamboo feels strongly drawn to serve and protect the captain, even though he has a reputation for being a quarrelsome and difficult man. “Is it,” he would sometimes mentally exclaim, “that Yamboo must love everybody who speak kind to him, or why him love Captain Longford so much? Him no like him good colonel, for he swear, scold, almost frighten every one; yet Yamboo feel he must love him, pray for him.”
     Captain Longord, likewise, is surprised at the degree of gratitude and affection he feels for Yamboo. And yes, there is a reason for his affinity for the artless servant! When Yamboo tells his life story to the convalescing captain, Longford realizes that Yamboo is…  is… 


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CMP#117  Yamboo, or, the North American Slave

8/8/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Clutching My Pearls is my ongoing blog series about my take on Jane Austen’s beliefs and ideas, as based on her novels. I’ve also been blogging about now-obscure female authors of the long 18th century. For more, click "Authoresses" on the menu at right. Click here for the first in the series.  ​

CMP#117  “Soon everybody forget poor black boy:” Hey, what about Yamboo?
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    Chawton House, the center for early women's writing and former home of Jane Austen's wealthy brother, has made a number of obscure novels available for study on their website. You would think that scholars would fall on a novel entitled ​Yamboo, or, the North American Slave, like a duck on a June bug. But no, they are too busy poring over Mansfield Park. Too bad there are no actual enslaved persons in Mansfield Park and slavery is never discussed, let alone condemned.
  
 How about looking at an 1812 novel which actually has an enslaved person as the titular character? Yamboo's anti-slavery message is far more explicit than Mansfield Park and serves as yet another refutation of the notion that authors, particularly women authors, couldn't talk about slavery back then. 
     Leaving aside the literary merits of the book and focusing on its message, we can say this in favour of Yamboo:
  • The novel strongly asserts the titular character’s humanity.
  • It confronts the issues of racial as well as class prejudice.
  • Yamboo is portrayed as having agency; that is, he acts and is not merely acted upon...


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    About the author:

    More about me here. My earlier posts (prior to June 2017) are about my time as a teacher of ESL in China,(just click on "China" in the menu below.) more recent posts focus on my writing, as well as Jane Austen and the long 18th century. Welcome!


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