In an 1847 lecture before the Female Anti-Slavery Society of Salem, William Wells Brown stated: “Were I about to tell you the evils of Slavery, to represent to you the Slave in his lowest degradation, I should wish to take you, one at a time, and whisper it to you. Slavery has never been represented; Slavery never can be represented.” In these oft-cited lines, Wells Brown makes a strong claim for the absolute impossibility of representing slavery. But I wish to pause and stay with his earlier suggestion that it might just be possible to tell about slavery in a whisper. Breaking through the fastidiousness of the audience, a whisper can bring the condition of slavery close.

中文翻译：

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除了奴隶制的旁白：爱德华·杨的《复仇》的回响

在 1847 年塞勒姆女性反奴隶制协会的一次演讲中，威廉·威尔斯·布朗说：“如果我要告诉你奴隶制的邪恶，向你展示处于最低堕落状态的奴隶，我希望带你一个一次，然后悄悄告诉你。从未出现过奴隶制；奴隶制永远无法代表。” 在这些经常被引用的台词中，威尔斯布朗强烈主张绝对不可能代表奴隶制。但我想暂停一下，继续他早先的建议，即有可能在耳语中讲述奴隶制。突破观众的挑剔，耳语可以拉近奴役的状态。