Files
Abstract
Martin Delany’s novel Blake depicts international resistance to the slave trade and colonial power, as well as the pursuit of liberation for black people in the US. It is also characterized by ambivalence and ambiguity, which are also present in the author’s life and historical context. Through postcolonial critique and historical insights into the authors life and milieu, I read the novel through its ambivalence—as advancing both anti-colonial ideas and colonial ideas—and its ambiguity, which results in a text that is highly open to interpretation, anticipation, and speculation.