Persistent Widows: Religious Scripts in the Illness Narratives of Anne Halkett, Ann Fanshawe, and Alice Thornton

I am happy to report that t. successfully passed her M.A. thesis defense in history at the University of Saskatchewan this morning. I am biased, of course, but when a potentially three hour long defense is over in an hour, when the examiners describe the thesis as "brilliant," "wonderfully well done," "very important," and "a treat," and when the only substantive suggestions for improving the thesis concern its future publication, it is fair to conclude that the defense went tolerably okay.

I've included the thesis abstract, which summarizes t.'s argument, and the dedication below the jump break . . .

Abstract

In the history of medicine “from below,” religious language has been sidelined as a convention that interfered with the expression of people’s genuine experiences and feelings. This thesis uses the autobiographical writings of three well-known seventeenth-century women, Lady Anne Halkett, Lady Ann Fanshawe, and Alice Thornton, to explore how religious language actually facilitated the expression and preservation of their illness experiences. Having suffered considerable loss during the Civil War and Interregnum, these women relied on familiar religious scripts to present their life stories, including many illness experiences, as persuasive apologies for their difficult situations as widows after the Restoration. Considering their individual expressions of thanksgiving, the good death, and balance within a broader literary context reveals the extent to which each woman not only employed but also adapted convention to suit her particular purpose for writing. The women’s illness narratives must therefore be read with due attention to their religious language, and both need to be interpreted in light of how the women’s particular social situations and writing habits related to the cultural conventions of their time.

Dedication

In memory of Shantelle Almeida

November 12, 1975 – October 12, 2006

“And much more it is to bee marvelled that to a Woman hee should first say…I am the Resurrection”

Lady Anne Halkett, “Meditation on St. John 11.25”