KevinHutchings.ca

New book in press April 25th, 2011

Did you know that in 1827 50,000 tourists gathered at Niagara Falls to watch a schooner full of animals–including a “sagacious” black bear–plunge over the Falls and into the boiling waters below?  This is just one of many topics examined in a book I’m currently co-editing with my friend Julia Wright of Dalhousie University.  Entitled Transatlantic Literary Exchanges 1790-1870, the book is now in press at the British publishing house Ashgate.  From Daniel Hannah’s chapter on Hermann Melville and the “queer Atlantic” to Sarah Ficke’s discussions of Atlantic and Caribbean piracy and Tim Fulford’s lively account of the mysteries of Arctic shamanism, the book shines a light on a transatlantic world shaped by encounters between diverse peoples and cultures.  It will be published in July.