Abyssinia's Samuel Johnson: Ethiopian Thought in the Making of an English Author

As a young man, Samuel Johnson, one of the most celebrated English authors of the eighteenth century, translated A Voyage to Abyssinia by Jeronimo Lobo, a tome by a Portuguese missionary about the country now known as Ethiopia. Far from being a potboiler, this translation left an indelible imprint on Johnson. Demonstrating its importance through a range of research and attentive close readings, Abyssinia’s Samuel Johnson highlights the lasting influence of an African people on Johnson’s oeuvre.

Wendy Laura Belcher uncovers traces of African discourse in Johnson’s only work conceived for the stage, Irene; several of his short stories; and, of course, his most famous fiction, The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia. Throughout, Belcher provides a much needed perspective on the power of the discourse of the other to infuse European texts. Most pointedly, she illuminates how the Western literary canon is globally produced, developing the powerful metaphor of spirit possession to suggest that some texts in the European canon are best understood as energumens—texts that are spoken through. Her model of discursive possession offers a new way of theorizing transcultural intertextuality, in particular how Europe’s others have co-constituted European representations. Drawing on sources in English, French, Portuguese, and Gəʿəz, this study challenges the conventional wisdom on Johnson’s work, from the inspiration for the name Rasselas and the nature of Johnson’s religious beliefs to what makes Rasselas so strange.

A rich monograph that fuses eighteenth-century studies, comparative literature, and postcolonial theory, Abyssinia’s Samuel Johnson adds a fresh perspective on and a wealth of insights into the great, enigmatic man of letters.

“This is truly a book for the twenty-first century. We have hitherto resisted seeing African cultural influences on Europeans. Wendy Belcher’s concept of ‘discursive possession’ offers important new gambits in comparative studies. She also introduces us to a Doctor Johnson we never knew before, an African Johnson haunted—and inspired—by spiritual voyages to Abyssinia.”—Margaret Anne Doody, author of Frances Burney: The Life in the Works

“Abyssinia’s Samuel Johnson radically revises our understanding of the relationship between English literature and African thought, while unsettling our faith in the agency of England’s most monumental author. With remarkable originality and erudition, Belcher challenges received ideas of literary influence and colonial encounter. The English canon will never look the same.”—Helen Deutsch, author of Loving Dr. Johnson

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Wendy Laura Belcher is Assistant Professor of African literature in the Department of Comparative Literature and the Center for African American Studies at Princeton University. She is the author of Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks and Honey from the Lion: An African Journey. She has been a winner of the Washington State Governor's Writers Award and a finalist for the PEN prize for first book of nonfiction.