1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910461804103321

Autore

Armstrong Tim <1956->

Titolo

The logic of slavery : debt, technology, and pain in American literature / / Tim Armstrong, Royal Holloway, University of London [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2012

ISBN

1-107-23207-4

1-139-50836-9

1-283-52179-2

1-139-51804-6

9786613834249

1-139-17725-7

1-139-51897-6

1-139-51454-7

1-139-51546-2

1-139-51711-2

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (x, 252 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Collana

Cambridge studies in American literature and culture

Disciplina

810.9/355

Soggetti

Slavery in literature

American literature - 19th century - History and criticism

American literature - 20th century - History and criticism

American literature - African American authors - History and criticism

Slavery in art

Slavery - United States - History

Slavery - Psychological aspects

Slavery - Economic aspects

Commodification

Reification

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Machine generated contents note: Illustrations; Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1. Slavery, insurance, and sacrifice: the embodiment of



capital; 2. Debt, self-redemption, and foreclosure; 3. Machines inside the machine: slavery and technology; 4. The hands of others: sculpture and pain; 5. The sonic veil; 6. Slavery in the mind: trauma and the weather; Notes; Index.

Sommario/riassunto

In American history and throughout the Western world, the subjugation perpetuated by slavery has created a unique 'culture of slavery'. That culture exists as a metaphorical, artistic and literary tradition attached to the enslaved - human beings whose lives are 'owed' to another, who are used as instruments by another and who must endure suffering in silence. Tim Armstrong explores the metaphorical legacy of slavery in American culture by investigating debt, technology and pain in African-American literature and a range of other writings and artworks. Armstrong's careful analysis reveals how notions of the slave as a debtor lie hidden in our accounts of the commodified self and how writers like Nathaniel Hawthorne, Rebecca Harding Davis, Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, Ralph Ellison and Toni Morrison grapple with the pervasive view that slaves are akin to machines.