Susanna Rowson’s Slaves in Algiers or, the Struggle for Freedom: A Gender and Orientalist Study
Abstract
This research explores the feminist dimensions of Susana Rowson's play, Slaves in Algiers or, a struggle for freedom (1794), from historicist and dialogical perspectives. More particularly, it looks at the play within the context of the politics of the early American republic to uncover how Rowson deploys the captivity of American sailors in Algiers (1785-1796) as a pretext to deconstrust the established gender power relations without hurting the sensibilities of her audience in its reference to the issue of black slavery. The research also unveils the many intertextual relationships that the play holds with the prevalent captivity culture of the day, sentimental literature, and more specifically with Cervantes’s Don Quixote.
Keywords: Rowson, gender power relations, early independence America.
References
Baepler, P.(1999). White slaves, African masters: an anthology of American Barbary captivity narratives. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.
Bakhtin, M. (1984). Problems of Dostoevsky’s poetics. (C. Emerson, Trans.). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Cervantes, M. S. (2000). The ingenious hidalgo Don Quixote de La Mancha. (J. Rutherford, Trans.). London: Penguin.
Norton, M. B., Katzman, D.M., Escott, P. D., Chudacoff, H. P., Paterson, T.G., Tuttle Jr. W. M.¬¬, Brophy, J. W. (1991). A people and a nation. Dallas, TX: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Peskin, L. (2009). Captives and countrymen: Barbary slavery and the American public 1785-1816. Baltimore, MA: John Hopkins University.
Richardson, S. (1980). Pamela; or, virtue rewarded. London: Penguin.
Rowson, S. (1794). Slaves in Algiers, or a struggle for freedom. Philadelphia, PA: Wrigley and Berriman.
Wollstonecraft, M. (2008). A vindication of the rights of woman and A Vindication of the rights of men. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Declaration/Copyright transfer:
1. In consideration of the undertaking set out in paragraph 2, and upon acceptance by ANGLISTICUM for publication of the manuscript in the Journal, I/We hereby assign and transfer publication rights to ANGLISTICUM, whereas I/We retain the copyright for the manuscript. This assignment provides ANGLISTICUM the sole right and responsibility to publish the manuscript in its printed and online version, and/or in other media formats.
2. In consideration of this assignment, ANGLISTICUM hereby undertakes to prepare and publish the manuscript in the Journal, subject only to its right to refuse publication if there is a breach of the Author’s warranty in paragraph 4 or if there are other reasonable grounds.
3. Editors and the editorial board of ANGLISTICUM are empowered to make such editorial changes as may be necessary to make the Manuscript suitable for publication.
4. I/We hereby acknowledge that: (a) The manuscript submitted is an original work and that I/We participated in the work substantively and thus I/We hereby are prepared to take public responsibility for the work; (b) I/We hereby have seen and approved the manuscript as submitted and that the manuscript has not either been published, submitted or considered for publication elsewhere; (c) The text, illustration, and any other materials included in the manuscript do not infringe upon any existing copyright or other rights of anyone.
5. I/We hereby indemnify ANGLISTICUM and the respective Editors of the Journal as mentioned in paragraph 3, and hold them harmless from any loss, expense or damage occasioned by a claim or suit by a third party for copyright infringement, or any suit arising out of any breach of the foregoing warranties as a result of publication of the manuscript.
