Frederick Douglass and Herman Melville

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) and Herman Melville (1819–1891) addressed in their writings a range of issues that continue to resonate in American culture: the reach and limits of democracy; the nature of freedom; the roles of race gender and sexuality; and the place of the United States in the world. Yet they are rarely discussed together perhaps because of their differences in race and social position. Douglass escaped from slavery and tied his well-received nonfiction writing to political activism becoming a figure of international prominence. Melville was the grandson of Revolutionary War heroes and addressed urgent issues through fiction and poetry laboring in increasing obscurity.<br/><br/>In eighteen original essays the contributors to this collection explore the convergences and divergences of these two extraordinary literary lives. Developing new perspectives on literature biography race gender and politics this volume ultimately raises questions that help rewrite the color line in nineteenth-century studies.<br/><br/>Contributors:<br/>Elizabeth Barnes College of William and Mary<br/>Hester Blum The Pennsylvania State University<br/>Russ Castronovo University of Wisconsin–Madison<br/>John Ernest West Virginia University<br/>William Gleason Princeton University<br/>Gregory Jay University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee<br/>Carolyn L. Karcher Washington D.C.<br/>Rodrigo Lazo University of California Irvine<br/>Maurice S. Lee Boston University<br/>Robert S. Levine University of Maryland College Park<br/>Steven Mailloux University of California Irvine<br/>Dana D. Nelson Vanderbilt University<br/>Samuel Otter University of California Berkeley<br/>John Stauffer Harvard University<br/>Sterling Stuckey University of California Riverside<br/>Eric J. Sundquist University of California Los Angeles<br/>Elisa Tamarkin University of California Irvine<br/>Susan M. Ryan University of Louisville<br/>David Van Leer University of California Davis<br/>Maurice Wallace Duke University<br/>Robert K. Wallace Northern Kentucky University<br/>Kenneth W. Warren University of Chicago