Description
Book SynopsisThis edition includes all of the known surviving writings of the poet Phillis Wheatley Peters (1753-1784), several of which have been discovered since the last attempt at a complete edition in 2001. The poems and the extant prose writings are accompanied by an Introduction to her life and times, and textual and explanatory notes.
Trade ReviewVincent Carretta's edition will be essential reading for anyone seriously interested in Wheatley Peters's life and work... The vanishing point of [Wheatley Peters's] work stands at the far side of the history of enslavement. Given that the poems do exist, the critical imperative is to think carefully about how, and under what conditions, they came to be. Carretta makes a crucial contribution to this project. * Andrea Haslanger, Eighteenth - Century Fiction *
This text leaves no stone unturned to provide a clear path for teaching the Wheatley corpus with the added benefit of drawing new and contemporary allusions to the study of "racism, sexism, and slavery", as "issues" that the early Black American poet "subtly and indirectly confronts"... Clearly, Writings is soon to become a standard for early American literature courses and one of the most practical, convenient, and useful classroom tools. * April Langley, University of Missouri-Columbia, Early American Literature *
This edition, prepared by the outstanding scholar in the field, supersedes previous collections from Julian D. Mason (1966; 1989), John C. Shields (1988) and Carretta himself (Penguin, 2001). It is the fullest in scope, with abundant bibliographical detail, and it takes advantage of the steady growth in secondary literature... the most generally informative and revealing edition that has ever appeared. * Pat Rogers, Author of The Poet and the Publisher: The Case of Alexander Pope, Esq., of Twickenham versus Edmund Curll, Bookseller in Grub Street, Times Literary Supplement *
Table of ContentsPreface Introduction Editorial Note Note on Money The Writings of Phillis Wheatley Textual and Explanatory Notes Index of First Lines of Titles of Phillis Wheatley's Poems Index of First Lines of Phillis Wheatley's Poems General Index