Fictionalizatios of Slavery

Typ: Seminar
SWS: 2
Credit Points: k.A.

Kursbeschreibung / -kommentar

In this course, we will take a look at the fictionalizations of slavery in the U.S., particularly from a female perspective. We will read two historical texts that have been written by a white abolitionist, Harriet Beecher Stowe, as well as by a former slave, Harriet Jacobs, in order to get a sense of what women at the time of slavery thought about this "peculiar institution."
These texts will be complemented by three contemporary novels about slavery, namely Toni Morrison's novel Beloved, which deals with a post-Civil War black woman's past, Phyllis Alesia Perry, who connects a contemporary student to the slave past of her ancestors, and Valerie Martin, who describes the institution of slavery from the perspective of a white slave owner's wife.

Literature:
Harriet Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly (1851-52)
Harriet Jacobs: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861)
Toni Morrison: Beloved (1987)
Valerie Martin: Property (2004)
Phyllis Alesia Perry: Stigmata (1998)