Deaf American Prose 1830-1930

Introduction: Literary Impressions of Deaf Lives

1 Introduction Literary Impressions of Deaf Lives The concept of “impressions” ties together all of the pieces here in this second volume of the Gallaudet Deaf Literature Series (1830–1930). James Denison, the only signing deaf delegate at the infamous Milan Convention of 1880, recorded his “Impressions of the Milan Convention” (italics ours and included in this volume), and we have borrowed his sense of “impressions” to convey this anthology’s focus upon quick, often evocative, always revealing, snapshots and observations of deaf American life as it was happening in this pivotal time period.* In a revealing reflection of the urgency of recording deaf lives and capabilities in English prose in the roughly one hundred years covered here, deaf writers in this collection seized on print as a way of recording—and asserting—their particular experiences and perspectives. Literary scholar Christopher Krentz and historian Octavian Robinson explain, in their respective foreword and afterword, some of the significant events influencing deaf Americans writing between 1830 and 1930. It is the intersection of personal and political reflection and observation, along with use of a range of literary techniques, that interests us here in this book, the second volume of the Gallaudet Deaf Literature Series. In this collection, we are focused primarily upon works that embed individual impressions within historically important narratives of deaf lives and experiences. To add to the historical and literary record, this anthology also largely picks up where Christopher Krentz’s anthology A Mighty Change leaves off. For our purposes, impressions are conveyed on the page in this anthology through literary, artistic, and experiential musings on deaf and hard of hearing lives in the form of autobiographies, travel narratives, romances, fiction and nonfiction short stories, editorials, descriptive pieces, and various other prose forms. Many of the pieces included here directly or indirectly address the deaf writer’s milieu and so have sociopolitical implications for their readers to consider. In a sense, *We use lowercase deaf rather than uppercase Deaf because the concept of uppercase Deaf did not exist at this time—Eds. 2 Introduction the earlier works included here can be seen as a form of autobiography of the history of nineteenth-century deaf lives. In contrast to our first edited collection of prose writing by Deaf Americans in the years between 1980 and 2010, deaf and hard of hearing Americans writing between 1830 and 1930 or thereabouts more commonly wrote nonfiction pieces addressing deafness, community, education, and sign language. Earlier writers may have felt the need to describe themselves in the context of “true stories” or narratives because deaf education was still in its formative stages, having only recently started with the American Asylum for the Deaf in Hartford, CT, in 1817. Later, more creative writing in the form of fiction came into play with greater focus on the varieties of deaf lives; in between and as a connecting thread to recent times, we start to see more creative fiction in addition to true stories. Regardless of its primary orientation in fact or fiction, or something in between, the pieces included here often incorporate literary elements such as metaphor, visual and descriptive language, and poetic turns of phrase; others use strong rhetorical and stylistic devices to convey their message. Out of this historical and literary interplay emerged a unique presence in written English, using accessible language and education much as growing plants use soil in a nourishing environment, sometimes in spite of highly restrictive and oppressive conditions . African-American deaf writer Thomas Flowers writes, in “Life After Graduation ,” that the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf was a rich garden for him; he says that he felt like a plant in “soil under favorable conditions, and when it is matured, it is a choice specimen. So I feel proud to regard my life in like manner.” However, in a reflection of the repressive policies in effect during that time, Thomas Flowers was unable to study at Gallaudet College in Washington, DC. He then entered and graduated from Howard University; he is believed to be their first deaf graduate. The image of deaf people as plants growing and thriving—along with and in spite of oppressive circumstances—in a rich bilingual environment provided by access to both sign language and to print publications like the Deaf-Mutes’ Journal and The Silent Worker is a powerful metaphor for how language, education, access, and literacy have all been intricately tied up together in American deaf and hard of hearing lives, and it...