Allegory as historical method, or the similarities between Amsterdam and Albania: Reading Simon Gikandi’s Slavery and the Culture of Taste

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Abstract

This essay critically reads Simon Gikandi’s Slavery and the Culture of Taste
(2011) and poses questions about Gikandi’s method of reading allegorically. By closely analyzing his discussion of the painting Two Africans by Rembrandt van Rijn in particular, and scrutinizing how Gikandi sometimes relies on historical and art-historical contextualization and at other moments does not, I argue that his interpretations of the past are up for debate.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)329-342
Number of pages14
JournalEarly American Literature
Volume54
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019

Keywords

  • Allegory
  • Rembrandt
  • representation of black people
  • Simon Gikandi
  • metonymy

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