Anti-Slavery Movement and Literature of Concord in Antebellum America

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The purpose of this project was to investigate the anti-slavery movement in mid-19^<th> century America and to see its influence upon the literary activities in Concord, Massachusetts. By placing once again the literary texts of Ralph W.Emerson and Henry D.Thoreau in the political context of antebellum America, I attempted to illustrate the close linkage between their works and the discourse of emancipation.In 2003,I mainly investigated the anti-slavery activities in 19^<th> century Concord. I made a research trip to Pennsylvania State University where I stayed for three weeks and concentrated myself on studying the abolitionist movement and other anti-slavery activities, including the Underground Railroad. The outcome of the research was shaped into the article "Anti-Slavery Movement and Walden-A Study of ‘Higher Laws" (Studies in English Language and Literature, No.55,2005).In 2004,I attempted to see how the discourse of emancipation was historically related to the rise of romantic literature in America, including transcendentalists' writings. My publications in this area includes "Thoreau's Poetics of Body" (Dawn in Me : Essays on the 150^<th> Anniversary of Walden, 2004), Dialogue between Nature and Literature : Urban, Pastoral, and Wild(Co-editor, 2004), "Literature on the Edge : A Study of Walden"(forthcoming).