Encyclopédie noire
The Making of Moreau de Saint-Méry's Intellectual World
By Sara E. Johnson

Approx. 400 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 34 color plates, 37 halftones, 1 table, notes, bibl., index
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Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4696-7691-3
Published: November 2023
Published by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture and the University of North Carolina Press
Hardcover Available November 2023, but pre-order your copy today!
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Published by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture and the University of North Carolina Press
Sara Johnson's arresting investigation of race and knowledge in the revolutionary Atlantic surrounds Moreau with the African-descended people he worked so hard to erase, immersing him in a vibrant community of language innovators, forgers of kinship networks, and world travelers who strove to create their own social and political lives. Built from archival fragments, creative speculation, and audacious intellectual courage, Encyclopédie noire is a communal biography of the women and men who made Moreau’s world.
About the Author
Sara E. Johnson is professor of literature of the Americas at University of California, San Diego.
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Reviews
"Encyclopédie noire is an utterly original examination of the work and impact of Moreau—and so much more. Through gorgeous prose and meticulous close readings across a vast array of sources and languages, Johnson marginalizes Moreau to create a 'communal biography' that centers the lived experiences of the women and men he enslaved. Moving across disciplines and methodological boundaries to breathtaking effect, Johnson illuminates how the European Enlightenment and Black Atlantic were inextricable from each other. This book will forever change the way we think about the fields of both literary studies and history. This is the book we have been waiting for."—Jennifer L. Morgan, New York University