Sinking “Like a Corpse” or Living the “Soul’s Full Desire
Shaker Women in Fiction and History
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6011651 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Richard M Marshall (0000-0002-5645-3135, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2010 |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 57-90 |
| Publication date | 2010-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Utopian Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1045-991X • E-ISSN: 2154-9648 |
| Publisher | The Pennsylvania State University Press (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.5325/utopianstudies.21.1.0057 |
| OpenAlex | W4231499696 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 3 |
This article examines the disparity between fictional and historical accounts of Shaker women. Th e fiction, influenced by pervading social beliefs like the cult of true womanhood, usually portrays a woman who becomes dissatisfied with her Shaker life, concluding that it is a sort of living death that isolates her from love, marriage, and motherhood. Historical records reveal independent and fulfilled women who became Shakers for religious reasons but also for secular opportunities unknown in the outside world, including companionship, refuge from sexual predation, and a chance for professional or governmental fulfillment
Aesthetics · Art · Cult · Developmental psychology · Epistemology · Girl · Human sexuality · Interpersonal relationship · Literature · Sexual relationship · Shaker · Sociology · Soul · American Sports and Literature · Gender Studies · History · Mormonism, Religion, and History · Philosophy · Psychology · Race, History, and American Society · Social Psychology
| Highly cited | No |
|---|