Encyclopédie Noire - (Published by the Omohundro Institute of Early American Histo) by Sara E Johnson (Hardcover)

About the Book

"If you peer closely into the bookstores, salons, and diplomatic circles of the eighteenth-century Atlantic world, sooner or later Mâedâeric Louis âElie Moreau de Saint-Mâery is bound to appear. As a lawyer, philosophe, and Enlightenment polymath, Moreau created and compiled an immense archive that remains a vital window into the fragile social, political, and intellectual fault lines of the Age of Revolutions. But the gilded spines and elegant designs that decorate his archive obscure the truth: Moreau's achievements were, at every turn, predicated upon the work of enslaved and free people of color. Their labor amassed the wealth that afforded him the leisure to research, think, and write. Their rich intellectual and linguistic cultures filled the pages of his most applauded works. They set the type, dried the paper, and folded the pages that created his legacy. Every beautiful book Moreau designed contains an embedded story of hidden violence. 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, Encyclopâedie noire is a communal biography of the women and men who made Moreau's world"--

Book Synopsis

If you peer closely into the bookstores, salons, and diplomatic circles of the eighteenth-century Atlantic world, Médéric Louis Élie Moreau de Saint-Méry is bound to appear. As a lawyer, philosophe, and Enlightenment polymath, Moreau created and compiled an immense archive that remains a vital window into the social, political, and intellectual fault lines of the Age of Revolutions. But the gilded spines and elegant designs that decorate his archive obscure the truth: Moreau's achievements were predicated upon the work of enslaved people and free people of color. Their labor afforded him the leisure to research, think, and write. Their rich intellectual and linguistic cultures filled the pages of his most applauded works. Every beautiful book Moreau produced contains an embedded story of hidden violence.

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.

Review Quotes

"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

"Bold and valuable . . . Encyclopédie noire is an important book because it exposes us to the full context of [Médéric Louis Élie Moreau de Saint-Méry]'s career and life, not just the achievements he promoted. . . . It should be read by every scholar who relies on Moreau's publications, on accounts published by French colonists, or on manuscript sources preserved in the Overseas Section of the French National Archives."--H-Early-America

"In this beautifully written, brilliantly framed, painstakingly researched communal biography, Johnson makes critical interventions to Black studies, Atlantic history, and comparative literature. . . . It is the greatest book that I have read in a long time."--Hispanic American Historical Review

"In this fascinating and important book, Sara Johnson transforms our understanding of one of the most influential figures in the eighteenth-century Atlantic world. With deep research and innovative analysis, Johnson reveals that every aspect of Moreau's career relied upon the stolen labor and--crucially--the stolen knowledge of enslaved and free people of color. Encyclopédie noire transcends biography to offer a profound meditation on the relationship between knowledge and power." -- Brett Rushforth, University of Oregon

"Johnson upends our understanding of traditional Western archival sources by uncovering the formative intellectual labor of enslaved people behind their production. Writing about the life of the pro-slavery encyclopedist, lawyer, and deputy to the French National Assembly Moreau de Saint-Méry, Johnson exposes the esteemed Frenchman's reliance on enslaved workers from whom he extracted labor, content, and expertise to fill his own archives and books . . . . the counter-biography of a man who made a business of knowledge production. "--Public Books

"One of the most original books published about race, slavery, and the production of knowledge in recent years. . . . A wonderfully innovative and beautifully crafted volume, Encyclopédie noire will be useful to anyone interested in Caribbean slavery, biography, history, intellectual history, visual culture, book history, and translation studies in the Enlightenment era and Age of Revolutions."--American Literary History

"With her spectacular new book Encyclopédie noire: The Making of Moreau de Saint-Méry's Intellectual World, Sara E. Johnson steps out as one of the most important voices in this field. Her book is groundbreaking in many regards . . . . a remarkable book, a must-read for anyone interested in the eighteenth century, in slavery, in biography, in intellectual history, in archives - or in history-writing in general. For a book that is so profoundly researched and theorized, it is also an outstanding read."--Age of Revolutions