'So you're the little woman who wrote the book that
started this great war!' These words, said to have been
uttered by Abraham Lincoln, signal the celebrity of
Uncle Tom's Cabin. The first American novel to become an
international best-seller, Stowe's novel charts the
progress from slavery to freedom of fugitives who escape
the chains of American chattel slavery, and of a martyr
who transcends all earthly ties. At the middle of the
nineteenth-century, the names of its characters - Little
Eva, Topsy, Uncle Tom - were renowned. A hundred years
later, 'Uncle Tom' still had meaning, but, to Blacks
everywhere it had become a curse. This edition firmly
locates Uncle Tom's Cabin within the context of
African-American writing, the issues of race and the
role of women. Its appendices include the most important
contemporary African-American literary responses to the
glorification of Uncle Tom's Christian resignation as
well as excerpts from popular slave narratives, quoted
by Stowe in her justification of the dramatization of
slavery, Key to Uncles Tom's Cabin.ABOUT THE SERIES: For
over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made
available the widest range of literature from around the
globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's
commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate
text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including
expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful
notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for
further study, and much more. |
|