Sentimental Confessions is a groundbreaking study of evangelicalism, sentimentalism, and nationalism in early African American holy women's autobiography. At its core are analyses of the life writings of six women -- Maria Stewart, Jarena Lee, Zilpha Elaw, Nancy Prince, Mattie J. Jackson, and Julia Foote -- all of which appeared in the mid-nineteenth century.Joycelyn Moody shows how these authors appropriated white-sanctioned literary conventions to assert their voices and to protest the racism, patriarchy, and other forces that created and sustained their poverty and enslavement. In doing so, Moody also gives us a glimpse at the wealth of insights to be gained from these kinds of writings if we were to acknowledge the spiritual convictions of their authors -- if we read them because (not although) they are holy texts. The deeply held, passionately expressed beliefs of these women, says Moody, should not be brushed aside by scholars as naive or as indicative of the racial, class, and gender oppressions these women suffered. Similarly, Moody argues for new ways of looking at dictated narratives that do not relegate them to a status below self-authored texts. Helping to recover a neglected chapter of American literary history, Sentimental Confessions is filled with insights into the state of the nation in the nineteenth century.
"Scholars who previously had to settle for occasional and hard-to-find critical studies of early African American women's prose writings will be delighted to see this monograph."
"Jocelyn Moody makes an extremely important contribution to the study of spiritual narratives by offering a new theoretical framework that focuses much more self-consciously on theological dimensions. . . . By carefully detailing the formal, ideological, and theological complexities of spiritual narratives, Moody provides a richly historicized analysis of the difficulties that confronted women during slavery and its aftermath."--"American Literature"
"Moody has brought together pre- and post-emancipation narratives that offer readers an opportunity to reexamine the lives of several women--free and enslaved--whose spiritual and secular writings are, in the main, concerned with the humanity of their subjects as well as with Moody's desire to give these women spiritual significance in black women's literary history."--Lucille P. Fultz, "Biography"
"[A] rewarding and captivating body of work. Moody forced me to grieve for my colonial Victorian ancestors and applaud them as they transcended racism and patriarchal restrictions. Her writing brought alive the overwhelming hardships and passions of these women."--"Black Issues Book Review"
"Moody clearly articulates her objective and thesis in both her introduction and her conclusion. She asserts that the evangelical narratives of 19th-century black holy women have been sorely neglected by scholars interested in African American women's literary tradition, and argues for an appreciation of these narratives because they are what they claim to be--holy texts."--"Choice"
"Scholars who previously had to settle for occasional and hard-to-find critical studies of early African American women's prose writings will be delighted to see this monograph. . . . Moody is more interested in how these women reclaim their voices, asserting textual authority to narrative individual experience."--"Christianity and Literature"
Jocelyn Moody makes an extremely important contribution to the study of spiritual narratives by offering a new theoretical framework that focuses much more self-consciously on theological dimensions. . . . By carefully detailing the formal, ideological, and theological complexities of spiritual narratives, Moody provides a richly historicized analysis of the difficulties that confronted women during slavery and its aftermath.--"American Literature"
[A] rewarding and captivating body of work. Moody forced me to grieve for my colonial Victorian ancestors and applaud them as they transcended racism and patriarchal restrictions. Her writing brought alive the overwhelming hardships and passions of these women.--"Black Issues Book Review"
Moody has brought together pre- and post-emancipation narratives that offer readers an opportunity to reexamine the lives of several women--free and enslaved--whose spiritual and secular writings are, in the main, concerned with the humanity of their subjects as well as with Moody's desire to give these women spiritual significance in black women's literary history.--Lucille P. Fultz ""Biography" "
Moody clearly articulates her objective and thesis in both her introduction and her conclusion. She asserts that the evangelical narratives of 19th-century black holy women have been sorely neglected by scholars interested in African American women's literary tradition, and argues for an appreciation of these narratives because they are what they claim to be--holy texts.--"Choice"
