The Cultural Work of Form in Elisabeth Elliot's Writing

This study combines theoretical approaches of cognitive anthropology, cultural narratology, and cultural formalism to disclose the powerful impact of narrative forms on cultural processes of meaning-making. As an illustration of how forms shape and alter cultural worldviews in the contact zone, the work of American missionary and writer Elisabeth Elliot (1926-2015) serves as a case study. Despite her wide influence on American Protestant communities as a popular speaker and author of over thirty books, Elliot’s role as a key figure in shaping narratives of redemption in America remains largely unacknowledged in literary and cultural scholarship. Focusing on fourteen of Elliot’s published works from her early bestsellerThrough Gates of Splendor(1957) to her modern essay collectionSecure in the Everlasting Arms(2002), this study investigates the texts’ negotiations of redemptive modes and models, witnessing an increasing turn away from whole forms. Thereby, the analysis uncovers the role of formal explorations as a means to grapple with and interpret discomforting experiences of the contact zone that call into question redemptive plots. Demonstrating the specific affordances and constraints in Elliot’s work of hagiographic, ethnographic, fictive, biographic, geopious, and essayistic forms to write life in a redemptive way, this monograph promises a deeper understanding of narrative repertoires of redemption and their cultural work through form.


CONTENTS


PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................... ix

LIST OF SHORT TITLES ......................................................................................... xii

I. INTRODUCTION: ELISABETH ELLIOT AND THE STUDY OF CULTURE .................1
1. Relevancy of Elisabeth Elliot’s Writing for the Study of Culture:
Current State of Research and Historical Contextualization .........................2
2. Concepts of the Contact Zone: Cultural Models and Narrative Modes ...... 10
3. Life Writing: Genre or Practice? ................................................................. 12
4. Premises, Methodology, and Structure........................................................ 16

II. THE CULTURAL WORK OF NARRATIVE FORM IN LIFE WRITING .................... 20
1. The Cognitive Impact on Cultural Formation ............................................. 20
1.1 Cognitive Models of Culture: Conceptualization
and Developments in Anthropology ................................................... 20
1.2 Connectionism: Centrifugal and Centripetal Tendencies
of Cultural Properties .......................................................................... 24
1.3 Cognitive Processes of Meaning-Making: Intramental Translation,
Mediating Structures, and Compartmentalization .............................. 27
2. Cultural Meaning-Making in American Life Narratives ............................. 35
2.1 Cultural Ways of Worldmaking and Narrative Communities ............. 35
2.2 The Redemptive Self: Prominent American Narrative Modes
and Cultural Models of Life Writing .................................................. 41
3. The Cultural Work of Form in Life Writing ................................................ 44
3.1 Cultural Formalist Approaches to Textual Forms of Life Writing ...... 44
3.2 From Hagiographic to Essayistic Forms: Investigating
Affordances and Constraints of Narrative Forms
for their Cultural Work in Life Writing .............................................. 47

III. HAGIOGRAPHIC DESIGN: REDEMPTIVE SELVES
INTHROUGH GATES OF SPLENDOR(1957) ..................................................... 49
1. From Martyr Passion to Legend: Affordances and Constraints
of Hagiographic Forms ............................................................................... 50
2. Saints and Savages: Binary Character Constellations
inThrough Gates of Splendor..................................................................... 55
3.Through Gates of Splendor’s Teleological Plot of Redemption .................. 62
4. Pious Widows and the Inversion of Voice inThrough Gates of Splendor.... 71

IV. ETHNOGRAPHIC EXPERIMENTS: SELF-REFLECTION
INTHE SAVAGE MY KINSMAN(1961) .............................................................. 75
1. From the Native’s Point of View to the Fieldwork Account:
Affordances and Constraints of Ethnography ............................................. 76
2.The Savage My Kinsman’s Redemptive Frame ........................................... 79
3. Generation of Cultural Knowledge inThe Savage My Kinsman................ 87
4. Cultural Translation and Self-Reflection inThe Savage My Kinsman........ 90

V. FICTIONAL EXPLORATIONS: IMAGINARY SCENARIOS
INNO GRAVEN IMAGE(1966) ...................................................................... 100
1. The Autobiographical Space: Affordances and Constraints of the Novel .... 101
2. From Romanticism to Realism:No Graven Image’s Literary Modes....... 106
3. Integrations of Breaches inNo Graven Image.......................................... 111
4. Scenarios of Collision inNo Graven Image............................................. 116

VI. BIOGRAPHIC DEPICTIONS: CHALLENGING WHOLES INWHO SHALL ASCEND:
THE LIFE OF R. KENNETH STRACHAN OF COSTA RICA(1968) ........................ 126
1. Subject and Self: Affordances and Constraints of Biography ................... 127
2. Interpreting a Life: Paratextual Framing ................................................... 130
3. Redemption inShadow of the Almighty.................................................... 133
4. Paradoxes of Suffering inWho Shall Ascend............................................ 137

VII. PILGRIMAGE NARRATIVE: GEOPIETY INFURNACE OF THE LORD:
REFLECTIONS ON THE REDEMPTION OF THE HOLY CITY(1969) ..................... 149
1. Sacred Places: Affordances and Constraints of the Pilgrimage Narrative ... 150
2. The Journey Motif inFurnace of the Lord............................................... 154
3. Geopiety and Diverging Voices inFurnace of the Lord........................... 160
4. Reconciling Prophecy and History inFurnace of the Lord...................... 170

VIII. WRITING COLLECTIONS: THE ESSAYISTIC FORMAT
OF WRITING LIFE (1968–2002) .................................................................. 175
1. Essay, Sketch, Cautionary Tale? Affordances and Constraints
of Essayistic Forms ................................................................................... 177
2. Exploring Cultural Models:The Liberty of Obedience(1968)
andTwelve Baskets of Crumbs(1976) ...................................................... 185
3. Bringing Life to Full Circle through Subjective Forms:
Twelve Baskets of Crumbs(1976),Love Has a Price Tag(1979),
On Asking God Why(1989), andSecure in the Everlasting Arms(2002) .... 191
4. Devotional Forms inA Lamp for My Feet(1985),
On Asking God Why(1989),A Path Through Suffering(1990),
andThe Music of His Promises(2000) ..................................................... 198

IX. CONCLUSION: CONTRIBUTIONS, LIMITATIONS, AND TOPICS
FOR FUTURE RESEARCH .............................................................................. 203

WORKS CITED .................................................................................................... 212