American Puritanism and the Defense of Mourning

Download or read book American Puritanism and the Defense of Mourning written by Mitchell Robert Breitwieser and published by Univ of Wisconsin Press. This book was released on 1990 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mary White Rowlandwon, a New England Congregationalist minister's wife, was held captive by the Algonquin Indians during King Philip's War in 1676. Several years after she was ransomed and living among the British again she wrote a narrative of the captivity chronicling her experience in grief, love, resentment, and ethnic trauma. Breitwieser argues that this narrative undercuts the Puritan values Rowlandson attempted to uphold. He reveals where and how Rowlandson breaks with Puritan conventions. He points out that in American Puritan religious practice, real experiences were seen as siogns or emblems of moral abstractions. American Puritanism and the Defense of Mourning will be essential reading for all who study early American literature and culture.