Footsteps of Ann Hutchinson: The Context of the Scarlet Letter

Colacurcio, Michael J.

doi:10.2307/2872195

Cited by 28 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Michael Colacurcio has described Anne Hutchinson, the American Antinomian who was turned out of Puritan New England, as perhaps the ancestress of Hawthorne's Hester Prynne. 111 I might place Julian in their company, not because she shared their beliefs but because of the ways in which she explores the boundaries of traditional modes of thought. Her independence of thought, her breadth of vision suggest what are her strategies of reinterpretation.…”

Section: Sovereignty and Selfhoodmentioning

confidence: 97%

The Penitential Psalms: Conversion and the Limits of Lordship

Staley¹

2007

Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies

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The lomes þat y labore with and lyflode deserue Is paternoster and my primer, placebo and dirige, And my sauter som tyme and my seuene p [s]almes. - Piers PlowmanThe account of Paul's conversion in Acts 9, as well as the use of that experience in Acts 22 and 26, established both a model for and the terms of Christian conversion as a moment in a human life when God manifested himself and produced a radical change in a believer. The many accounts of conversion that can be found in medieval texts, especially in early hagiography and in later accounts of men and women who chose to leave the world for a vowed life, replicate that Pauline model, which presents conversion as catalyzed by a divine intervention, that, in turn, prompts a movement from one type of life and set of assumptions to another. But what about less extraordinary conversions? Were there ways of thinking about conversion as something other than leaving the world? What was the language of conversion for a lay person within a Christian community? To "convert" (convertere) is to turn around; both the word and the concept suffuse seven Penitential Psalms that David supposedly composed to express his contrition for his double sins of adultery and murder. In the above quotation from Piers Plowman, Will designates these seven Penitential Psalms as "tools" that he uses in the labor of intercessory prayer, "saying" them for both the living and the dead. These seven psalms (in the Vulgate, Psalms 6,31,37,50,101, 129, 142) had been isolated as a unit by Cassiodorus and by the time of Innocent III's papacy (1198 -1216) were specifically recommended for Lenten recitation. They could be recited to lessen time in purgatory for the dead and to help the living avoid sin. First used to augment monastic private devotion,

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Section: Sovereignty and Selfhoodmentioning

confidence: 97%

The Penitential Psalms: Conversion and the Limits of Lordship

Staley¹

2007

Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies

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Revisions, Rememories and Exorcisms: Toni Morrison and the Slave Narrative

Hamilton

1996

J. Am. Stud.

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Beloved is a self-conscious examination of the possibilities and limitations of the story-making process, both for the individual and for the community. Because slavery is a highly emotive subject and because historical narratives of slavery are so controversial, the exercise is a particularly potent one. The basic problem of the novel concerns the need to transform facts of unspeakable horror into a life-giving story, for the individual, for the black community, and for the nation. It is a problem which encourages compulsive repetition and avoidance; hence the stories of slavery proliferate. On the individual level the stories are shaped by the points of view of a variety of characters; on a wider level, by the demands of different types of utterance and by the structuring power of different kinds of historical perspectives and linguistic formulations, including, most significantly, generic forms. This profusion of storytelling makes the statement at the end of the novel, that “this is not a story to pass on” exceedingly problematic, for there is no single referent for the pronoun “this”, and the article “ a ” seems singularly inappropriate in view of this profusion.

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Hester and the Second Coming: a note on the conclusion toThe Scarlet Letter

Swann

1987

J. Am. Stud.

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Footsteps of Ann Hutchinson: The Context of the Scarlet Letter

Cited by 28 publications

References 0 publications

The Penitential Psalms: Conversion and the Limits of Lordship

The Penitential Psalms: Conversion and the Limits of Lordship

Revisions, Rememories and Exorcisms: Toni Morrison and the Slave Narrative

Hester and the Second Coming: a note on the conclusion toThe Scarlet Letter

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