Class Recaps 11/9 and 11/16

On November 9, class began with Jen Kruger's useful presentation about the captivity narrative as a genre and Mary Rowlandson's text in particular, covering its publication and reception.  From there, we moved to a brief discussion of the Tennenhouse and Armstrong article about the influence of Rowlandson's experiences on the development of the English novel and Richardson in particular.

After the break, Christy McDowell introduced postcolonial theory as a way of approaching American literature and captivity narratives.  This led to a general discussion of the captivity narratives found in Puritans Among the Indians; the class ended with each participant focusing on a particular item of interest from the texts.

On November 16, Lucy Hutchinson's autobiographical fragment was discussed first, with particular attention paid to the origins of narrative autobiography as a genre.  Following the discussion of Hutchinson, Nick Brott presented background information on witchcraft and British and American anxieties concerning its appearance, focusing especially on the Salem/Essex County incident of 1692.  After Nick's presentation, Sheridan Steelman directed the class's attention to the historical context, with particular attention to the medieval period, of beliefs about witchcraft.

After the presentations, a general discussion of Cotton Mather's Wonders of the Invisible World ensued.  The book's structure, its cobbling of various genres, and concern with spectral evidences were all examined; class ended with a look at the book's modernity or, as one participant phrased it, its "timelessness."

One issue we did not, unfortunately, have time to take up is the volatile mix of race, gender, age, and class boundaries in the Essex County witchcraft incident and Mather's rendering of it in Wonders.  The secondary reading for 11/16 highlighted the key role the northern New England Indian wars played in the 1692 witchcraft crisis, and Tituba is of special interest because her race remains a compelling mystery.  Probably she was a Native American, but popular tradition has morphed her into a slave of African descent.  Other scholarship, meanwhile, has spotlighted gender as a key component (The vast majority of the accused were women; according to one web site, 141 women and 44 men were accused, 52 women and 7 men were tried, and 14 women and 5 men were hanged.  Giles Corey was pressed to death for refusing to plead guilty or not guilty.)  Women over 40 made up most of the accused, and women over 60 were particularly vulnerable.  Accusations eventually targeted noteworthy persons such as John Alden (son of John and Priscilla) and Governor Phips's wife, and accusations against the latter contributed to ending the trials.  This stew of race, class, gender, and age seems also a particularly modern preoccupation.