African-British Writings in the Eighteenth Century: The Politics of Race and Reason

The 18th century was a time of great cultural change in Britain. It was a period of exploration, in which adventurers journeyed to the New World, Africa and the Orient, and these voyages were reflected in contemporary travel literature. It was also a period in which 17th-century empiricism and the scientific method became dominant, and in which society became increasingly secular. Fundamental to the 18th-century world view was the prominence of the Great Chain of Being, in which all creatures and their Creator stood in a hierarchical relationship to one another. With voyages to Africa becoming more common, blacks were brought to Britain as slaves. These Africans living in Britain sometimes wrote about their place in society, and Whites debated the place of the black slaves within the hierarchy of the universe. This book examines representations of blacks in British literature to illuminate how society viewed blacks during the 18th century. Included are discussions of major canonical writers such as Pope, Swift and Sterne, along with discussions of works by African-British writers such as James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, Quobna Ottobah Cugoano and Olaudah Equiano.