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Article: The Origins of African American Literature, 1680-1865.(Book Review)
- Article from:
- The Journal of Southern History
- Article date:
- August 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Southern Historical Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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By Dickson D. Bruce Jr. (Charlottesville and London: University Press of Virginia, 2001. Pp. [xviii], 374. Paper, $19.50, ISBN 0-8139-2067-1; cloth, $55.00, ISBN 0-8139-2066-3.)
The writings of Wheatley, Equiano, Walker, Douglass, and other major authors figure prominently in Dickson D. Bruce Jr.'s The Origins of African American Literature, 1680-1865, but Bruce offers far more than a mere cataloging and explication of canonical texts. Well informed by both primary and secondary sources, this insightful analysis places black literature in historical context and explores the construction of a "distinctive African American literary persona" (p. x) that established ...