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

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The authors’ backgrounds, too, show some diversity that is worth taking into account. Considering both the publishing house and the author’s backgrounds, it becomes possible to distinguish three groups of Quaker romances: first, Quaker romances properly speaking in so far as they have been written by Quaker authors (a total of six novels are found in this category); second, Evangelical romances with Quaker protagonists (there are twenty-three romances in this group); third, secular romances with Quaker protagonists (of which there are ten romances). Though this distinction will not be sustained in the structure of this book’s chapters, mostly based on thematic issues (history, gender, race and the twentieth-century world wars), it is one that is nonetheless worth bearing in mind, as it determines fundamental aspects of the novels under analysis, such as characterization, accuracy in the depiction of Quakerism, plot development or degree of deviation from the features of Christian romances generally agreed upon by romance scholars.