History Remembered: Religion, Violence, and “the War Against Slavery”
0
조회
0
다운로드
0
인용
0
참고문헌
키워드
초록
This article analyzes the notion of historical truth in two contemporary American novels, Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead (2004) and Russell Banks’s Cloudsplitter (1998). Both novels re-tell the American past,focusing on the time period leading up to the American Civil War. They each include characters modeled after historical figures who are involved in the abolitionist movement, men belonging to John Brown’s inner circle who believe that slavery needs to be abolished by means of violence and blood sacrifice, and who consider this feat to be God’s divine calling for them, which they mean to fulfill at all cost. These men are resurrected in the stories their descendants choose to tell years later, providing a unique and personal narrative window into abolitionist history. Robinson and Banks create narrators who are extremely biased in their portrayal of the past. Unable, and perhaps also unwilling, to emotionally detach themselves from the accounts of their ancestors they seek to communicate,they tell obviously subjective stories despite their claims of objectivity. Thus, in their own ways, Gilead and Cloudsplitter question the existence of what we may call true history, History with a capital H. Moreover, through this process of undermining the concept of historical truth, they also raise the same questions regarding the justification of violence to achieve a greater good, and the sacrifice of family for the sake of the larger community.
Abstract
This article analyzes the notion of historical truth in two contemporary American novels, Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead (2004) and Russell Banks’s Cloudsplitter (1998). Both novels re-tell the American past,focusing on the time period leading up to the American Civil War. They each include characters modeled after historical figures who are involved in the abolitionist movement, men belonging to John Brown’s inner circle who believe that slavery needs to be abolished by means of violence and blood sacrifice, and who consider this feat to be God’s divine calling for them, which they mean to fulfill at all cost. These men are resurrected in the stories their descendants choose to tell years later, providing a unique and personal narrative window into abolitionist history. Robinson and Banks create narrators who are extremely biased in their portrayal of the past. Unable, and perhaps also unwilling, to emotionally detach themselves from the accounts of their ancestors they seek to communicate,they tell obviously subjective stories despite their claims of objectivity. Thus, in their own ways, Gilead and Cloudsplitter question the existence of what we may call true history, History with a capital H. Moreover, through this process of undermining the concept of historical truth, they also raise the same questions regarding the justification of violence to achieve a greater good, and the sacrifice of family for the sake of the larger community.
참고문헌 (19)
- Appleby, Joyce, "Telling the Truth about History" (1994), Norton
- Banks, Russel, "Cloudsplitter" (1998), Vintage Canada
- "Time" (1998)[URL]
- Bailey, Lisa, "Fraught with Fire: Race and Theology in Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead", Christianity and Literature, 59(2), pp.265~280 (2010)
- Bendis, Debra, "A Pastoral Voice", The Christian Century, 123(7), pp.32~36 (2006)
- Gillespie, Michael Allen, "The Theological Origins of Modernity" (2009), U of Chicago P
- Herman, David, "Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory" (2005), Routledge
- Hutchison, Anthony, "Representative Man: John Brown and the Politics of Redemption in Russell Banks’s Cloudsplitter", Journal of American Studies, 41, pp.67~82 (2007)
- "Owen Brown’s Escape from Harper’s Ferry" (1874)[URL]
- Lewis, C.S, "The Screwtape Letters" (2001), HarperCollins
- McGlone, Robert E, "John Brown’s War against Slavery" (2009), Cambridge UP
- "Seeing the Holy: Author Marilynne Robinson Explores the Sacredness of the Everyday World" (2006)[URL]
- David S. John Brown, "New International Version (NIV) Bible. Grand Rapids: Zondervan" (1984), The Man Who Killed Slavery
- "Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights" (2006), Vintage
- Robinson, Marilynne, "The Death of Adam" (1998), Picador
- Robinson, Marilynne, "Gilead" (2004), Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- "Marilynne Robinson" (2008)[URL]
- Villard, Oswald Garrison, "1800-1859: A Biography Fifty Years After" (1910), Constable
- Weele, Michael Vander, "Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead and the Difficult Gift of Human Exchange", Christianity and Literature, 59(2), pp.217~239 (2010)