Henry Smeathman, the Flycatcher - Natural History, Slavery, and Empire in the Late Eighteenth Century

This book enriches our understanding of Romanticism and colonialism by telling the story of Henry Smeathman (1742-86), natural historian and sentimental traveller whose extraordinary life in West Africa and the West Indies provides us with vivid, eye-witness accounts of Atlantic slavery, the Middle Passage, and the difficulties of collecting in the tropics.

About the author

Deirdre Coleman is the Robert Wallace Chair of English at the University of Melbourne. She is the author of 'Romantic Colonization and British Anti-Slavery' (Cambridge University Press, 2005) and has recently published essays in the 'Oxford History of the Novel' (2015), the 'Cambridge Companion to Eighteenth-Century British Women Writers' (2015), and 'Archives of Natural History' (2017). Her research interests lie in literature, colonialism, slavery and natural history.

Summary

This book enriches our understanding of Romanticism and colonialism by telling the story of Henry Smeathman (1742-86), natural historian and sentimental traveller whose extraordinary life in West Africa and the West Indies provides us with vivid, eye-witness accounts of Atlantic slavery, the Middle Passage, and the difficulties of collecting in the tropics.

Product details

• Authors: Deirdre Coleman
• Publisher: Liverpool University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.06.2018
• EAN: 9781786940537
• ISBN: 978-1-78694-053-7
• No. of pages: 336
• Series: Romantic Reconfigurations: Studies in Literature and Culture 1780-1850; Romantic Reconfigurations Stud; Romantic Reconfigurations: Studies in Literature and Culture 1780-1850; Romantic Reconfigurations Stud
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Modern era up to 1918; Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Natural sciences (general); Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous