Imaginary friends : representing Quakers in American culture, 1650-1950 / James Emmett Ryan.

By:

Ryan, James Emmett

Series: Studies in American thought and culturePublication details: Madison, Wis. : University of Wisconsin Press, γ̐ư2009. Publication details: Madison, Wis. : University of Wisconsin Press, ©2009.Description: 1 online resource (xii, 285 pages)Content type:

text

Media type:

computer

Carrier type:

online resource

ISBN:

9780299231736
0299231739

Subject(s):

Genre/Form:

Additional physical formats: Print version:: Imaginary friends.DDC classification:

289.6/73 22

LOC classification:

BX7635 .R93 2009

Online resources:

Contents:

Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: National identity, representation, and genre -- 1: Quaker religion in colonial New England -- 2: Political theory and Quaker community in the early republic -- 3: Chronicles of friendship: Quaker historiography in the early republic -- 4: Quaker biography in transatlantic context -- 5: Representing Quakers in American fiction -- 6: Staging Quakerism: theater and cinema -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Works cited -- Index.

Action note:

digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve

Summary: From the Publisher: When Americans today think of the Religious Society of Friends, better known as Quakers, they may picture the smiling figure on boxes of oatmeal. But since their arrival in the American colonies in the 1650s, Quakers' spiritual values and social habits have set them apart from other Americans. And their example-whether real or imagined-has served as a religious conscience for an expanding nation. Portrayals of Quakers-from dangerous and anarchic figures in seventeenth-century theological debates to moral exemplars in twentieth-century theater and film (Grace Kelly in High Noon, for example)-reflected attempts by writers, speechmakers, and dramatists to grapple with the troubling social issues of the day. As foils to more widely held religious, political, and moral values, members of the Society of Friends became touchstones in national discussions about pacifism, abolition, gender equality, consumer culture, and modernity. Spanning four centuries, Imaginary Friends takes readers through the shifting representations of Quaker life in a wide range of literary and visual genres, from theological debates, missionary work records, political theory, and biography to fiction, poetry, theater, and film. It illustrates the ways that, during the long history of Quakerism in the United States, these "imaginary" Friends have offered a radical model of morality, piety, and anti-modernity against which the evolving culture has measured itself.

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Includes bibliographical references (pages 255-271) and index.

From the Publisher: When Americans today think of the Religious Society of Friends, better known as Quakers, they may picture the smiling figure on boxes of oatmeal. But since their arrival in the American colonies in the 1650s, Quakers' spiritual values and social habits have set them apart from other Americans. And their example-whether real or imagined-has served as a religious conscience for an expanding nation. Portrayals of Quakers-from dangerous and anarchic figures in seventeenth-century theological debates to moral exemplars in twentieth-century theater and film (Grace Kelly in High Noon, for example)-reflected attempts by writers, speechmakers, and dramatists to grapple with the troubling social issues of the day. As foils to more widely held religious, political, and moral values, members of the Society of Friends became touchstones in national discussions about pacifism, abolition, gender equality, consumer culture, and modernity. Spanning four centuries, Imaginary Friends takes readers through the shifting representations of Quaker life in a wide range of literary and visual genres, from theological debates, missionary work records, political theory, and biography to fiction, poetry, theater, and film. It illustrates the ways that, during the long history of Quakerism in the United States, these "imaginary" Friends have offered a radical model of morality, piety, and anti-modernity against which the evolving culture has measured itself.

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Electronic reproduction. [S.l.] : HathiTrust Digital Library, 2010. MiAaHDL

Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. MiAaHDL