Impossible Witnesses

Even the most cursory review of black literary production during the nineteenth century indicates that its primary concerns were the issues of slavery, racial subjugation, abolitionist politics and liberation. How did the writers of these narratives "bear witness" to the experiences they describe? At a time when a hegemonic discourse on these subjects already existed, what did it mean to "tell the truth" about slavery? Impossible Witnesses explores these questions through a study of fiction, poetry, essays, and slave narratives from the abolitionist era. Linking the racialized discourses of slavery and Romanticism, it boldly calls for a reconfiguration of U.S. and British Romanticism that places slavery at its center. Impossible Witnesses addresses some of the major literary figures and representations of slavery in light of discourses on natural rights and law, offers an account of Foucauldian discourse analysis as it applies to the problem of "bearing witness," and analyzes specific narratives such as "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," and "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano." A work of great depth and originality, Impossible Witnesses renders traditional interpretations of Romanticism impossible and places Dwight A. McBride at the forefront of studies in race and literature.

Witness is an anthology comprising 40 critical essays from an international cast of researchers who engage with a complex set of questions concerning notions of witnessing and attestation in 20th- and 21st-century Western culture. The contributors provide insightful perspectives on the subject of witnessing and suggest how this vital yet relatively unexplored concept lends itself to a wide range of media and subject areas. The essays critically reconsider existing scholarly tendencies which focus on historical evidence and the witness' vocalization of true remembrance. They do this by establishing important links with canonical texts, images, and voices within a theoretical and interpretive framework where questions of mediation, memorization, and representation are addressed.

For the first time a book documents the judicial system’s new dependence on social science testimony, especially that rendered by sociologists and criminologists. In Expert Witnesses contributors show that unlike traditional forensics testimony, the intrusion of social science data into judicial decision-making has relatively recent origins. It details the uses and abuses of social science experts, and the ethical and pragmatic concerns raised by their testimony. This timely collection will appeal to a diverse audience, including attorneys, judges, and students of judicial proceedings. Included in this volume are historical examinations of the expert witnessing phenomenon, the legal, social, and ethical debates regarding the appropriate role of such witnesses, and anecdotal descriptions by eminent social science experts. The authors address such pragmatic issues as an attorney’s perspective on finding the most appropriate expert or formulating the “best” questions to ask in court, and an expert’s perspective on getting aid or terminating a nonworking attorney-expert relationship.

The contents of this volume are divided into five sections, as follows: 1. Seventeen letters written from August 27, 1932, through July 15, 1935. These letters were published in the periodical Collection of Newsletters in November 1933 through July 1935 and are included in this volume under the same title. 2. Three articles written from July through September 1934. These articles were published in the periodical The Glad Tidings and are included in this volume under the title The Glad Tidings, 1934. 3. Thirty-two articles and reports published in the periodical The Christian from 1934 through 1940. These articles are included in this volume under the same title. 4. A message given in an unknown location in 1936. This message is included in this volume under the title Concerning the Human Living of the Believers. 5. Twelve letters written from December 9, 1937, through June 5, 1939. These letters were published in the periodical The Open Door in January 1938 through June 5, 1939, and are included in this volume under the same title.

Reproduction of the original: Witnesses To Truth by Edward Hoare

In December 2001, the centennial of the first Nobel Prize was celebrated in Stockholm. To mark the occasion, the Swedish Academy organized a symposium on the theme of “Witness Literature”. Talks were given by speakers from Asia, Africa and Europe, including three Nobel laureates in literature: Nadine Gordimer, Kenzaburo Oe and Gao Xingjian.The main objective of the symposium was to examine the concept of witness literature and its relevance to contemporary literature. This concept is relatively new and has not yet been defined clearly by literary criticism and scholarship. The discussion primarily alternated between two aspects of the topic: the particular claim to truth that witness literature puts forward, and the process that leads from catastrophe to creativity and that turns the victim into a writing witness with the power to suspend forgetfulness and denial.This volume, edited by Horace Engdahl, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, brings together all the talks given at the symposium.