Book Review: The Abolitionist Imagination

Abstract

Abolitionist Imagination. By Andrew Delbanco. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2012. ISBN 978-0-674-6444-7. Pp. xi +205. $24.95. Andrew Delbanco's brief volume Abolitionist Imagination offers civil discourse on the topic of abolitionism as applied, not only to the anti-slavery movement of the nineteenth century, but also to his theory that such movements reflect recurrent American phenomenon (3). Turning to literature as his example, Delbanco explores antebellum American examples from Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville to illustrate that abolitionists, contrary to postwar reactions, were seen largely as radical fringe group by many American writers who chose not to champion the cause in their writings. discourse on this topic takes the form of commentaries written by scholars John Stauffer, Manisha Sinha, Darryl Pinckney, and Wilfred M. McClay. Each critical essay offers reaction to Delbanco's thesis from different perspective. Ultimately, as Daniel Carpenter notes in the foreword, The volume becomes reference work on American abolitionism and its meaning (x). Defining abolitionism as a determined minority set out, in the face of long odds, to rid the world of what it regards as patent and entrenched evil, Delbanco argues that it is a persistent impulse in American life, (3) and that, as part of human nature, have not seen the last of it, and probably never will (23). Noting that authors such as Hawthorne did not side with or against the abolitionist movement, posits that antebellum American literature came to be valued for the case it made for compromise and moderation--for the middle ground that vanished as the nation descended into fratricidal war (39). Citing comments by scholars such as Kenneth Lynn, who in the 1960s identified as the gravest moral problem in the nation's history, Delbanco argues that the American literature canon eventually changed because of the successful campaign of the anti-slavery movement. study of literature of the African American experience, believes, grows from the need to face all aspects of this historical period and to do so by looking at the words of the participants of and its aftermath. He cautions against criticizing authors like Hawthorne for their lack of engagement, however, suggesting that we consider our own level of reaction to the oppression in countries that produce many of the United States' consumer items. What moral stand are we taking? asks. John Stauffer's contribution, Fighting the Devil with His Own Fire, delves more deeply into the outlooks of Hawthorne, Henry James, and Lionel Trilling to demonstrate his disagreement with Delbanco's assertion that the writers, like others, viewed the abolitionists as radical element of society and the issue of in their works. Stating that for Hawthorne slavery was comparatively benign institution (63), Stauffer offers numerous examples of the author's unsympathetic views toward blacks and slavery. Of James, writes: Silence was James' preferred mode for improving race relations. Regarding Trilling, one of the most important cultural critics of the twentieth century, Stauffer argues he remained largely silent about the plight of blacks in America (65). Stauffer offers these impressions to counter Delbanco's idea that American writers sought centrist approach to the question of slavery. Additionally Stauffer explores successes of early abolitionists (1780s-1820s), demonstrating that many abolitionists hoped for gradual dissolution of rather than an immediate end to the institution. Arguing again that Delbanco's portrayal of the group as radical and fringe is inaccurate, points out that America's founders---Jefferson, Washington, Hamilton, Madison, Franklin--sought gradual end to the evil without uprooting the social order or their wealth and domestic comforts (68). Ultimately, Stauffer offers Herman Melville as the nineteenth-century American writer who foresaw the problems created by violent disruption of slavery, provocatively stating that if every American had been required to read Moby Dick when it was published in 1851, the Civil War may have been avoided (79). …