THROUGH THE NARROW GATE: CONDUCT, CONVERSION, AND COMMUNITY IN NINETEENTH- AND TWENTIETH-CENTURY WOMEN'S NOVELS

Abstract

Conversion scenes and the theme of conversion are key in conduct fiction, a genre that developed from the medieval and early modern tradition of nonfiction conduct manuals. Conversion is a character’s entrance into the community being developed in and through each novel. The conversion scene gives clues to each author’s purpose, reveal’s the religious basis for each book’s instruction, and puts focus on inner piety, or pious thoughts and feelings rather than merely pious actions. Conversion provides a vehicle for authors to critique and/or intervene in broader social issues such as gender roles, racial inequality, and sexual assault. Nineteenth-century conduct fiction by African American women includes both religious conversion and second type of conversion, where the main character recognizes her humanity, that reflects each author’s purpose of racial uplift. Evangelical romance, a genre that emerged in the late twentieth century, is a direct descendant of nineteenth-century sentimental conduct fiction, as evidenced by its key conversion scenes and employment of other commonalities of the earlier genre, such as sentimental keepsakes and death scenes, didacticism, and focus on manners and industry. While early evangelical romance was very conservative, for the most part advocating traditional gender roles, later evangelical romance subtly questions patriarchy and takes on other more controversial topics.