Cotton Mather's Wonders of the Invisible World (1692) has traditionally been dismissed
as a failed missive attempting to defend the controversial Salem Witch Trials. What is
missing from this characterization is an analysis of the degree to which the text, written
at a moment of crisis in Puritan culture, actually looks forward to the emergence of a
democratic polity. By tracing the topical disarray and the instability of audience that
Wonders presents, the beginnings of this shift--which culminate in the American
Revolution eighty years later--becomes apparent. Wonders demonstrates the quiet
emerging of a distinct American mindset amidst social and political upheaval in the
Massachusetts Bay Colony. Although Cotton Mather's book did fail to unite his
community in 1692, the flexible metaphors he borrowed, shaped, and refined in
Wonders helped to define the nation of America. / Graduation date: 2012
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/29601 |
| Date | 09 May 2012 |
| Creators | Evans, Laura A. (Laura Ann) |
| Contributors | Betjemann, Peter J. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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