Читать книгу American Quaker Romances. Building the Myth of the White Christian Nation онлайн

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Admittedly, as will be seen, heroines of Quaker romances, like those of Christian romances more generally speaking, often devote substantial amounts of time to spiritual considerations, advocate the sanctity of marriage and promote traditional family values, but it is also true that their concern with social justice repeatedly leads them to engage in subversive behavior and to question the status quo in terms of class, gender issues, and, to some extent, race relations. To name but a few examples, these romances feature heroines that are active on the Underground Railroad, dare to challenge the hero on account of his contribution to slavery, demand the right to speak in public meetings or even enjoy a mixed-race romantic affair, if only temporarily. Close reading of these novels complicates an all too easy conclusion that Christian romances simply endorse the Christian Right agenda: they are a product of present-day America’s conflicted relationship with its history of abusive race and gender politics, and the result of the country’s tension between resisting and advocating social change. It should nevertheless be noted that gender roles and race relations are often treated differently in these religious romances. Authors tend to embrace many of the issues on the liberal feminist agenda, but their treatment of race relations is more ambiguous and even questionable.