Empowering Words: Outsiders and Authorship in Early America PDF
Preview Empowering Words: Outsiders and Authorship in Early America
Empowering Words This page intentionally left blank Empowering Words Outsiders and Authorship in Early America X karen a. weyler the university of georgia press Athens and London © 2013 by the University of Georgia Press Athens, Georgia 30602 www .ugapress. org All rights reserved Set in Adobe Caslon Pro and Adobe Jensen Pro by Graphic Composition, Inc. Manufactured by Th omson-S hore Th e paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. Printed in the United States of America 13 14 15 16 17 p 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-i n-Publication Data Weyler, Karen Ann. Empowering words : outsiders and authorship in early America / Karen A. Weyler. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn-13: 978-0-8203-4323-5 (hardcover : alk. paper) isbn-10: 0-8203-4323-4 (hardcover : alk. paper) isbn-13: 978-0-8203-4324-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) isbn-10: 0-8203-4324-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. American literature—Colonial period, ca. 1600–1775— History and criticism. 2. American literature—Revolutionary period, 1775–1783—History and criticism. 3. Outsiders in literature. 4. Authorship—Social aspects—United States. 5. Literacy— Social aspects—United States. I. Title. ps185.w46 2013 810.9'001—dc23 2013005553 British Library Cataloging- in-Publication Data available ISBNfordigitaledition:978-0-8203-4325-9 To Ronald and Shirley Weyler, who took me to the library every week of my childhood This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi introduction Outsider Authorship in Early America 1 one Mourning New England: Phillis Wheatley and the Broadside Elegy 25 two An “Englishman under English Colours”: Briton Hammon, John Marrant, and the Fungibility of Christian Faith 76 three “Common, Plain, Every Day Talk” from “An Uncommon Quarter”: Samson Occom and the Language of the Execution Sermon 114 four Becoming “Th e American Heroine”: Deborah Sampson, Collaboration, and Performance 145 five “To Proceed with Spirit”: Clementina Rind and the Virginia Gazette 165 six When Barbers Wrote Books: Mechanic Societies and Authorship 204 conclusion Uncovering Other Outsider Authors 231 Notes 235 Works Cited 281 Index 301 This page intentionally left blank Illustrations Pages from the 1790 Journal and Poems of Margaret Lowther Page 14–17 1771 broadside edition of Wheatley’s To Mrs. Leonard 34 1770 broadside edition of Wheatley’s An Elegiac Poem 48 Title page to pamphlet A Poem, by Phillis 49 Broadside edition of Phillis’s Poem on the Death of Mr. Whitefi eld 54 Cover illustration of Wheatley from Bickerstaff ’s Boston Almanack 64 1816 broadside Dreadful Riot on Negro Hill! 70 1824 broadside Hard Scrabble 73 Title page of A Narrative of . . . Briton Hammon 80 Mezzotint of Th e Reverend Mr. Samson Occom 115 Title page from a 1773 edition of Samson Occom’s A Sermon 138 Frontispiece of the Dedham edition of Th e Female Review 155 Excerpt from Th e Manual Exercise 161 Masthead of the 21 April 1774 Virginia Gazette 190 Masthead of the 8 September 1774 Virginia Gazette 191 This page intentionally left blank
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