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

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Though these three authors are Quakers, they belong to different Quaker traditions: Janet Whitney was raised in the British one, while Susan McCracken and Edith Maxwell are American Friends. They, too, in turn are Quakers of various persuasions, as the former is closer to Evangelicalism, while the latter is a member of a more liberal Meeting. These distinctions make their being grouped together somehow incoherent, as, in truth, their portrayal of Quakerism differs a great deal. Nonetheless, their unique vision and knowledge of the Society of Friends as insiders, unlike the rest of the authors, all of whom are outsiders, recommends that their specificity be considered. As will be seen, their depiction of the heroine’s plain dress, to give an example, in not drawn by the desire to exoticize the female protagonist, nor is their portrayal of the rituals, beliefs and customs of eighteenthand nineteenth-century Quakers so conspicuously marred by anachronisms or misrepresentations as is the case of other non-Quaker writers. Still, Susan McCracken’s novels are characterized by a strong didactic goal—one could even call it an evangelical zeal—that is more informative in the case of Maxwell’s novel, and nearly anecdotal in that of Whitney’s. Consequently, generalizations should be out of the question because each of these Quaker authors has their own objectives when it comes to imagining Quaker brides in a historical context.