{"title":"Poe, Sympathetic Ink, and Chemical Landscapes in Nineteenth-Century America","authors":"Daniel Couch","doi":"10.1353/arq.2019.0015","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Known today as “invisible ink,” nineteenth-century writers called the chemical concoction that concealed writing by another name—“sympathetic ink.” Readers encountered descriptions of sympathetic ink throughout American magazines, newspapers, and books. Capitalizing on the widespread interest in sympathetic ink, Edgar Allan Poe incorporated the device into his popular 1843 story, “The Gold-Bug,” but not for sociable ends. Poe instead uses invisible ink to puncture fantasies of democratic conviviality by emphasizing the way secrecy (vis-à-vis invisible ink) allows for the formation of control over black bodies. Evoking the longue durée of American political history, “The Gold-Bug” presents a seventeenth-century treasure map written in invisible ink that brings together murder, transatlantic slavery, and white antebellum control over black labor. In Poe’s hands, the fire that makes invisible ink visible simultaneously brings forth recurring temporalities of violence.","PeriodicalId":42394,"journal":{"name":"Arizona Quarterly","volume":"75 1","pages":"1 - 26"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1000,"publicationDate":"2019-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1353/arq.2019.0015","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Arizona Quarterly","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1353/arq.2019.0015","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LITERATURE, AMERICAN","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract:Known today as “invisible ink,” nineteenth-century writers called the chemical concoction that concealed writing by another name—“sympathetic ink.” Readers encountered descriptions of sympathetic ink throughout American magazines, newspapers, and books. Capitalizing on the widespread interest in sympathetic ink, Edgar Allan Poe incorporated the device into his popular 1843 story, “The Gold-Bug,” but not for sociable ends. Poe instead uses invisible ink to puncture fantasies of democratic conviviality by emphasizing the way secrecy (vis-à-vis invisible ink) allows for the formation of control over black bodies. Evoking the longue durée of American political history, “The Gold-Bug” presents a seventeenth-century treasure map written in invisible ink that brings together murder, transatlantic slavery, and white antebellum control over black labor. In Poe’s hands, the fire that makes invisible ink visible simultaneously brings forth recurring temporalities of violence.
摘要:今天被称为“隐形墨水”,19世纪的作家用另一个名字称这种隐藏文字的化学混合物为“同情墨水”。读者在美国杂志、报纸和书籍中都会遇到同情墨水的描述。埃德加·艾伦·坡(Edgar Allan Poe)利用人们对同情墨水的广泛兴趣,将这种装置融入了他1843年的热门故事《金虫》(the Gold Bug)中,但不是为了社交目的。相反,坡使用隐形墨水来刺破民主欢乐的幻想,强调秘密(相对于隐形墨水)允许对黑人身体形成控制的方式。《金虫》唤起了美国政治史的漫长历程,呈现了一幅用隐形墨水书写的17世纪藏宝图,将谋杀、跨大西洋奴隶制和内战前白人对黑人劳动力的控制结合在一起。在爱伦·坡的手中,让看不见的墨水可见的火焰同时带来了反复出现的暴力的时间性。
期刊介绍:
Arizona Quarterly publishes scholarly essays on American literature, culture, and theory. It is our mission to subject these categories to debate, argument, interpretation, and contestation via critical readings of primary texts. We accept essays that are grounded in textual, formal, cultural, and theoretical examination of texts and situated with respect to current academic conversations whilst extending the boundaries thereof.