Download or read book New Essays on Phillis Wheatley written by John C. Shields and published by Univ. of Tennessee Press. This book was released on 2011-05-30 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first African American to publish a book on any subject, poet Phillis Wheatley (1753?-1784) has long been denigrated by literary critics who refused to believe that a black woman could produce such dense, intellectual work. In recent decades, however, Wheatley's work has come under new scrutiny as the literature of the eighteenth century and the impact of African American literature have been reconceived. Fourteen prominent Wheatley scholars consider her work from a variety of angles, affirming her rise into the first rank of American writers. --from publisher description.