Women in the Quaker community : a literary study of seventeenth-century political identities
This thesis looks at the creation of political identities within the Quaker community in seventeenth-century England. Focussing particularly on collectively written texts, those dual authored or multiply authored texts which evidence collaboration, this thesis establishes that Quakerism acted to encode the voices of the many. Taking a generic and chronological approach, this study divides Quaker writing into two distinct areas: 1650s Quakerism and post-Restoration Quakerism. Within the examination of the 1650s, three aspects of Quaker writing are considered: the prophecy, the prison narrative, and the petition. Emphasis is placed on the areas where matters of identity are made manifest, and the thesis focuses both on individualised and collective notions of selfhood. Where post-Restoration Quakerism is examined, the textual sources are largely the collectively authored deathbed testimonies that commemorated Quaker worthies. Taken together, the consideration of Quaker women's identities in the sectarian community in this thesis suggests diversity; heterogeneity is evidenced in multivocal texts that, through encoding both individualised and collective voices, offered a variety of different feminine subject positions
Gill, Catie
Studies in the Creative Arts and Writing not elsewhere classified ; Quakerism ; Religion ; Multiple authorship ; Prophecy ; Prison narratives ; Petitions ; Tithes ; Biography ; Collectivity
Women in the Quaker community : a literary study of seventeenth-century political identities. This thesis looks at the creation of political identities within the Quaker community in seventeenth-century England. Focussing particularly on collectively written texts, those dual authored or multiply authored texts which evidence collaboration, this thesis establishes that Quakerism acted to encode the voices of the many. Taking a generic and chronological approach, this study divides Quaker writing into two distinct areas: 1650s Quakerism and post-Restoration Quakerism. Within the examination of the 1650s, three aspects of Quaker writing are considered: the prophecy, the prison narrative, and the petition. Emphasis is placed on the areas where matters of identity are made manifest, and the thesis focuses both on individualised and collective notions of selfhood. Where post-Restoration Quakerism is examined, the textual sources are largely the collectively authored deathbed testimonies that commemorated Quaker worthies. Taken together, the consideration of Quaker women's identities in the sectarian community in this thesis suggests diversity; heterogeneity is evidenced in multivocal texts that, through encoding both individualised and collective voices, offered a variety of different feminine subject positions
women quaker_community literary study seventeenth_century political_identity look creation political_identity within quaker_community seventeenth_century_england focussing particularly collectively write_text dual author multiply authored texts evidence collaboration establish quakerism act encode voice many taking generic chronological study_divide quaker write two_distinct area quakerism post restoration quakerism within aspect quaker write consider prophecy prison narrative petition emphasis_place area matter identity make manifest focus collective notion selfhood post restoration quakerism examine textual_source largely collectively authored testimony commemorate quaker worthy taken together consideration quaker woman identity sectarian community suggest diversity heterogeneity evidence text encode collective voice offer variety_different feminine subject_position