Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America
Radical Spirits · Radical spirits : spiritualism and women's rights in nineteenth-century America
Source entries are currently shown in Spanish; English-first entries arrive with the next cataloguing pass.
Estudio histórico del cruce entre el espiritismo y el movimiento por los derechos de la mujer en los Estados Unidos del siglo XIX, escrito para sostener que ese cruce no es una rareza: «Women’s rights and spiritualism. This book explores the intersection between two movements that may appear unlikely bedfellows. One of its goals is to suggest that they are not» «Braude — Radical Spirits (2001) · p. 10». El segundo objetivo que se fija es de método: «A second goal of the book, therefore, is to suggest that Spiritualism should be taken seriously as a religion making a legitimate response to nineteenth-century theological challenges» «Braude — Radical Spirits (2001) · p. 10».
De ahí sale la consecuencia que ordena el libro entero, y que es la que lo hace historia de mujeres: «Taking Spiritualism seriously as a religion means that the cadre of female mediums who spread the movement should be seen as religious figures, rather than as impressionable dupes» «Braude — Radical Spirits (2001) · p. 10».
El enunciado que más se le cita es una asimetría, no una identidad: «Not all feminists were Spiritualists, but all Spiritualists advocated woman’s rights, and women were in fact equal to men within Spiritualist practice, polity, and ideology» «Braude — Radical Spirits (2001) · p. 22». El propósito declarado es medir esa superposición: «The goal of this book is to examine the nature and extent of the overlap between the woman’s rights movement and Spiritualism in nineteenth-century America» «Braude — Radical Spirits (2001) · p. 22».
Del espiritismo da una caracterización doble. Como respuesta religiosa: «Spiritualism was a religious response to the crisis of faith experienced by many Americans at mid-century» «Braude — Radical Spirits (2001) · p. 23». Y como atractivo: «It held two attractions that proved irresistible to thousands of Americans: rebellion against death and rebellion against authority» «Braude — Radical Spirits (2001) · p. 22».
1943 claims · 1 source · 1 attribution
Attribution
recorded, never asserted«Braude — Radical Spirits (2001) · p. 4»
The chain of the work
the processed witness, in emeraldClaims
1943 entries — the work's own voice, with its passage«In 1857, Annie Denton Cridge lost her first child within months of his birth.» — el caso con que abre el libro entero: en 1857 Annie Denton Cridge pierde a su primer hijo a los pocos meses de nacido.
«Though a member of an orthodox church for years, I never derived that satisfaction that must arise from positive knowledge,” she told her readers. “What we believed was on the authority of someone else, and hence could not possibly effect us as a faith does based on what we know and have seen.”» — según Braude, Cridge explica así su insatisfacción: lo que se cree por autoridad ajena no obra como una fe fundada en lo que uno sabe y ha visto.
«Although she had been exposed to the Spiritualist doctrines that engrossed other American radicals, including her husband, before her son’s death, it was not until Anne Cridge saw spirits herself that communication with the dead changed from a theory to a compelling faith.» — y el punto de giro que Braude localiza en ella: la doctrina ya la conocía por su marido, pero la comunicación con los muertos pasó de teoría a fe cuando vio espíritus ella misma.
«Whether reverenced or ridiculed, Spiritualism was ubiquitous on the American scene at mid-century.» — y la extensión que le atribuye a mediados de siglo, venerado o ridiculizado por igual.
«For some it provided solace in the face of bereavement, for some entertainment, for some a livelihood earned from the credulous.» — los tres usos que censa sin jerarquizarlos: consuelo ante el duelo, entretenimiento y modo de vida a costa de los crédulos.
«For many it provided evidence of the immortality of the soul that formed the basis of a sincere religious faith.» — y el cuarto, que es el que le interesa: la evidencia de inmortalidad en que se apoyaba una fe sincera.
«For iconoclasts and nonconformists it provided an alternative to the established religious order.» — lo que ofrecía a iconoclastas e inconformes: una alternativa al orden religioso establecido.
«Spiritualism held a special attraction for activists such as Anne Denton Cridge and her husband Alfred, who felt oppressed by the traditional roles assigned to men and women, found the entire social order in need of revision, and condemned the churches as perpetuators of repressive conventions.» — según Braude, el atractivo particular para militantes como los Cridge: se sentían oprimidos por los papeles asignados a hombres y mujeres y tenían a las iglesias por perpetuadoras de convenciones represivas.
«The only religious sect in the world … that has recognized the equality of woman is the Spiritualists,” claimed the Histo» — la declaración de la History of Woman Suffrage que Braude convierte en apoyo documental de su tesis; el verbatim se corta donde el troceo cambia de renglón.
«Written in the 1880s, the official history of the nineteenth-century woman’s rights movement recorded the equality of women as speakers and leaders throughout Spiritualism’s thirty-seven-year history and the movement’s vocal support for woman suffrage.» — el peso que le da a esa fuente: es la historia oficial del movimiento, escrita en los años ochenta del siglo XIX.
«They have always assumed that woman may be a medium of communication from heaven to earth,” the History observed, “that the spirits of the universe may breathe through her lips.”» — y lo que esa misma historia observa del espiritismo: siempre dio por supuesto que la mujer puede ser medio de comunicación del cielo a la tierra.
«Like the woman’s rights movement, Spiritualism dated its inception to 1848 in upstate New York.» — el dato de coincidencia con que ancla la tesis: los dos movimientos fechan su inicio en 1848 y en el mismo norte del estado de Nueva York.
«Certainly, as the History of Woman Suffrage stated, Spiritualists were the only religious group of which this could be said.» — y el respaldo que toma de esa historia para la exclusividad del caso.
«Detractors concurred in linking “Women’s Rights and Spiritualism, [as] illustrating the follies and delusions of the nineteenth-century.”» — el argumento por el lado contrario: los detractores unían los dos nombres para ilustrar las locuras y los delirios del siglo.
«At a time when no churches ordained women and many forbade them to speak aloud in church, Spiritualist women had equal authority, equal opportunities, and equal numbers in religious leadership.» — la medida concreta de la igualdad que documenta: cuando ninguna iglesia ordenaba mujeres y muchas les prohibían hablar en el templo, las espiritistas tenían autoridad, oportunidades y números iguales.
«While most religious groups viewed the existing order of gender, race, and class relations as ordained by God, ardent Spiritualists appeared not only in the woman’s rights movement but throughout the most radical reform movements of the nineteenth century.» — el contraste que traza: la mayoría de los grupos religiosos tenía el orden de género, raza y clase por ordenado por Dios, y los espiritistas convencidos aparecían en los movimientos reformistas más radicales.
«They led so-called ultraist wings of the movements for the abolition of slavery, for the reform of marriage, for children’s rights, and for religious freedom, and they actively supported socialism, labor reform, vegetarianism, dress reform, health reform, temperance, and antisabbatarianism, to name a few of their favorite causes.» — la lista de causas con que documenta ese radicalismo, del abolicionismo y la reforma del matrimonio al socialismo, el vegetarianismo y la reforma del vestido.
«Why did Spiritualism’s heterodoxy appeal to men and women anxious to depart from the traditional social order and especially from existing gender roles? What made the new religious movement as a whole sympathetic to woman’s rights and to other reforms that horrified most pious Americans?» — las dos preguntas que el libro se plantea, formuladas como preguntas y no como tesis.
«The outcome, I hope, illuminates the elusive connection between religious and political radicalism in American culture.» — lo que espera del resultado, dicho en modo de esperanza: iluminar la conexión esquiva entre radicalismo religioso y político.
«Based on the view that contact with the spirits of the dead provided empirical proof of the immortality of the soul, Spiritualism appealed to people in search of new justification for a wavering faith.» — el mecanismo de ese atractivo: prueba empírica de la inmortalidad para quien buscaba justificación nueva de una fe vacilante.
«For those no longer convinced by the “evidences” of Christianity, Spiritualism provided “scientific” evidence of religious truth.» — y la sustitución que describe: donde ya no convencían las evidencias del cristianismo, el espiritismo ofrecía evidencia científica de la verdad religiosa.
«Initially, it required people to believe nothing. Rather, it asked them to become “investigators,” to observe “demonstrations” of the truth of Spiritualism produced under “test conditions” in the séance room.» — el rasgo de método que subraya: al principio no pedía creer nada, sino hacerse investigador y observar demostraciones bajo condiciones de prueba.
«It provided a way to remain religious for those disaffected from Calvinism or evangelicalism in the antebellum years and for those disillusioned by Darwinism, biblical criticism, and the rise of science later in the century.» — a quiénes servía esa vía: a los desafectos del calvinismo antes de la guerra y a los desilusionados por el darwinismo y la crítica bíblica después.
«Considering its own methods to be scientific, the movement participated in the optimistic equation of science and progress that bolstered the conviction of so many nineteenth-century reform groups.» — y el rasgo de época que le adjudica: participaba de la ecuación optimista entre ciencia y progreso que sostenía a los grupos reformistas.
«Spiritualism’s claim to be scientific may draw smiles from twentieth-century readers, but the contention was not unreasonable within the context» — la advertencia con que impide el juicio anacrónico: la pretensión científica hará sonreír al lector del siglo XX, pero no era irrazonable en el contexto del saber popular de entonces.
«Few people viewed science and religion as enemies before the Civil War. Rather, investigators of each understood themselves as pursuing related inquiries into the nature of reality.» — el estado de la relación entre ciencia y religión que documenta para antes de la Guerra Civil.
«Antebellum churchmen and scientists alike viewed the physical world as “one volume of God’s Bible” in which God’s will might be discovered in the laws he established to govern his creation.» — la fórmula con que ambos bandos veían el mundo físico: un volumen de la Biblia de Dios.
«All scientists saw God’s hand in nature, although Spiritualists may have seen it more clearly than some.» — y la ironía con que Braude acota ese cuadro, con su *may* a cuestas.
«When Samuel F. B. Morse went to Congress to request $30,000 to construct an experimental telegraph line linking Washington and Baltimore in 1842, he found little understanding of the principles of electricity in the nation’s governing body.» — el caso con que muestra hasta dónde llegaba la incredulidad ante la ciencia nueva: Morse pidiendo treinta mil dólares al Congreso en 1842.
«Congressman Cave Johnson of Tennessee sarcastically suggested that, if the Congress wished to encourage science, half the appropriation should support experiments in mesmerism.» — según Braude, el congresista Cave Johnson propuso con sarcasmo destinar la mitad de la partida a experimentos de mesmerismo.
«His colleague from Alabama then moved that the Millerites—a sect predicting the second coming of Christ in 1844—should also share the appropriation.» — y su colega de Alabama añadió a los milleritas, que predecían la segunda venida para 1844.
«Chairman Winthrop of Massachusetts refused to rule that the amendment was not sufficiently analogous in character to the original bill and therefore was out of order.» — el dato que a Braude le importa de ese episodio: el presidente de la cámara no quiso declarar la enmienda fuera de lugar.
«It would,” the chair opined, “require a scientific analysis to determine how far the magnetism of mesmerism was analogous to the magnetism to be employed in telegraphs.”» — y la razón que dio, que es la que sostiene el argumento: haría falta un análisis científico para saber cuánto se parecen el magnetismo del mesmerismo y el del telégrafo.
«Two days later, when the bill finally came to a vote, seventy congressmen left their seats, many hoping “to avoid spending the public money for a machine they could not understand.”» — el desenlace de la votación, con setenta congresistas ausentándose para no gastar dinero público en una máquina que no entendían.
«Morse won his appropriation by a margin of three votes.» — y el margen con que Morse ganó: tres votos.
«If the U.S. Congress found the use of electricity in the telegraph incomprehensible in 1842, the general public can hardly have had a firm grasp of the principles of telegraphy six years later, when many of them found parallels between the instantaneous communication of messages over long distances by wires and what came to be known as “the spiritual telegraph,” the communication of messages between this world and the next through human mediums.» — la inferencia que saca de todo el episodio: si el Congreso no entendía el telégrafo en 1842, el público de 1848 difícilmente entendería la telegrafía, y de ahí el paralelo con el telégrafo espiritual.
«When Anne Denton Cridge became a Spiritualist, she joined a popular and controversial movement that assumed a self-conscious identity in North America in the mid-nineteenth century.» — según Braude, al hacerse espiritista Cridge entró en un movimiento popular y controvertido que tomó identidad propia en Norteamérica a mediados del siglo XIX.
«movement aimed at proving the immortality of the soul by establishing communication with the spirits of the dead.» — la definición del espiritismo, cuyo arranque —*Spiritualism was a new religious*— queda del otro lado del cambio de plana y por eso el verbatim empieza en *movement*.
«Skeptics who wanted to discredit mediums required them to stand on materials presumed to be nonconductors of electricity, hoping to show that phenomena attributed to spirits was actually caused by electricity.» — según Braude, los escépticos hacían pararse a las médiums sobre materiales no conductores para mostrar que los fenómenos eran electricidad.
«One Spiritualist called electricity “the God principles at work,” while another believed that “the delicate organization” of spirits enabled them to produce a “refined species of electricity” through which they communicated with liv» — y del lado espiritista, dos formulaciones que recoge sobre la electricidad como principio divino y como especie refinada de electricidad; el verbatim se corta donde el troceo cambia de renglón.
«An early message attributed to Benjamin Franklin (a frequent communicator) gave credit for the success of the telegraph to “the intelligence of disembodied spirits.”» — el mensaje temprano atribuido a Benjamin Franklin, comunicante frecuente, que da a los espíritus desencarnados el crédito del telégrafo.
«Science, as Robert Darnton has observed about late eighteenth-century France, “captivated [the public] by revealing to them that they were surrounded by wonderful invisible forces.”» — toma de Robert Darnton la fórmula sobre la Francia de fines del XVIII: la ciencia cautivaba al público revelándole que lo rodeaban fuerzas invisibles maravillosas.
«The strange forces that Congressman Johnson found equally absurd impressed many Americans as equally plausible.» — y la vuelta de tuerca que le da al chiste del congresista: las fuerzas que él igualaba en absurdo, a muchos estadounidenses les parecían igual de plausibles.
«Because Spiritualism asserted that divine truth was directly accessible to individual human beings through spirit communication, the new faith provided a religious alternative that supported the individualist social and political views of antebellum radicals.» — el eslabón que une religión y política en su tesis: al afirmar que la verdad divina es accesible directamente a cada persona, el espiritismo daba alternativa religiosa al individualismo de los radicales.
«Spiritualists believed that the advent of spirit communication heralded the arrival of a new era, one in which humanity, with spirit guidance, would achieve hitherto impossible levels of development.» — según Braude, los espiritistas tenían la comunicación con los espíritus por anuncio de una era nueva en que la humanidad, guiada por los espíritus, alcanzaría niveles de desarrollo antes imposibles.
«While other radicals struggled to reconcile their commitment to individualism with their belief in the sovereignty of God, Spiritualists found in their faith direct divine sanction for advancing social change.» — la ventaja que eso les daba frente a los demás radicales: donde otros forcejeaban entre individualismo y soberanía de Dios, ellos hallaban sanción divina directa para el cambio social.
«The prominence of women within Spiritualism resulted from a staunchly individualistic form of religious practice.» — la explicación que da del lugar de las mujeres: resulta de una práctica religiosa acérrimamente individualista, no de una doctrina sobre la mujer.
«women have been able to exercise leadership where religious authority derives from direct individual spiritual contact or experience rather than from office, position, or training.» — el principio general que toma de la investigación feminista: las mujeres han podido ejercer liderazgo donde la autoridad religiosa viene del contacto individual directo y no del cargo o la formación.
«Spiritualism produced an extreme case of these conditions, offering a unique opportunity for women to assume leadership.» — y el caso extremo que el espiritismo hace de ese principio.
«The movement viewed the individual as the ultimate vehicle of truth. Spirit communication could occur only through human mediumship.» — los dos supuestos que anuda: el individuo es el vehículo último de la verdad, y la comunicación con los espíritus solo ocurre por mediumnidad humana.
«Of all the changes in the social order advocated by Spiritualists in order to improve the status of women, two stand out.» — el criterio con que selecciona los dos capítulos centrales sobre reforma social.
«Chapter 5 explores the critique of marriage that made Spiritualism infamous for its association with free love.» — el primero: la crítica del matrimonio que hizo al espiritismo infame por su asociación con el amor libre.
«Chapter 6 discusses a second issue that Spiritualists viewed as crucial for women’s emancipation: health.» — y el segundo: la salud, que los espiritistas tenían por crucial para la emancipación de la mujer.
«Mediums offered a variety of unorthodox diagnostic and therapeutic techniques. Both their gender and the benign nature of their treatments appealed to many who sought healing and brought mediums into direct conflict with the orthodox medical profession.» — la razón del conflicto con la medicina regular: el sexo de las médiums y lo benigno de sus tratamientos atraían pacientes.
«Finally, Chapter 7 chronicles the decline of Spiritualism as a progressive social force in the 1870s and the competition it received from two new movements: Theosophy and Christian Science.» — el arco del capítulo final: el declive del espiritismo como fuerza social progresista en los años setenta y la competencia de la Teosofía y la Ciencia Cristiana.
«In Spiritualism, the romanticism and perfectionism of antebellum reform outlived the Civil War.» — lo que sostiene que sobrevivió en él a la Guerra Civil: el romanticismo y el perfeccionismo de la reforma de anteguerra.
«Even though its extreme individualism lost broad appeal after the war, it continued to motivate and support a small cadre of committed radical activists.» — con su límite dicho en la misma frase: perdió atractivo amplio, y aun así siguió sosteniendo a un pequeño cuadro de activistas radicales.
«Spiritualists never accepted the compromise with individualism that characterized the reform movements of the late nineteenth century.» — el rasgo que los aparta de la reforma de fin de siglo: no aceptaron el compromiso con el individualismo que ésta hizo.
«This may explain the movement’s appeal to aging abolitionists as well as its dwindling influence among the reformers who superseded them as the century wore on.» — y la hipótesis que de ahí saca, en modo conjetural: eso explicaría su atractivo para los abolicionistas viejos y su influencia menguante entre los reformadores nuevos.
«Spiritualism never gave rise to permanent institutions of any consequence.» — el hecho institucional que gobierna todo el libro: el espiritismo no dio lugar a instituciones permanentes de consecuencia.
«Spiritualists held conventions like any other movement of the period, but these did not result in an organized church or even a national council.» — y su matiz: hubo convenciones como en cualquier movimiento, pero no iglesia organizada ni consejo nacional.
«Spiritualists resisted the sectarian impulse that so many denominations decried before splitting from their parent bodies.» — el impulso sectario que, según ella, resistieron.
«These conditions present certain problems for the researcher. It is not absolutely clear who or what to study under the title “Spiritualism.”» — la consecuencia metodológica que declara: con esas condiciones no está del todo claro a quién o a qué se estudia bajo ese nombre.
«The movement had no orthodoxy because it had no governing body or power that could label a subgroup as heterodox.» — la razón de que no hubiera ortodoxia: no había cuerpo ni poder que pudiera declarar heterodoxo a un subgrupo.
«In keeping with the extreme individualism of the movement, many lecturers presented descriptions of reality so unique that they had to invent their own terms to communicate their ideas.» — y el efecto de eso sobre el lenguaje del movimiento: muchos conferenciantes tuvieron que inventar sus propios términos.
«Not only did the movement have no orthodox doctrine; it had no membership because it had nothing for adherents to belong to. It had no official leadership because it had no offices for leaders to hold. Mediums received no training and no ordination.» — el censo de ausencias con que define al movimiento: sin doctrina, sin membresía, sin liderazgo oficial, y médiums sin formación ni ordenación.
«Certainly, anybody who claimed to be may be regarded as a Spiritualist, but how shall we regard the many people who shunned public identification with the notorious movement but quietly attended séances, consulted the planchette (ouija board), or subscribed to Spiritualist periodicals?» — el problema de delimitación que se plantea: quien se decía espiritista lo era, pero queda el muchos que rehuían identificarse y sin embargo asistían a sesiones o se suscribían a la prensa del movimiento.
«If it is difficult to determine who was a Spiritualist, it is also difficult to determine who was not.» — la simetría de esa dificultad.
«Many nineteenth-century figures who were not associated with the movement turned to Spiritualism in old age, frequently on the death of a beloved parent, child, or spouse.» — el fenómeno que documenta del otro lado: figuras ajenas al movimiento se volvían al espiritismo en la vejez, casi siempre tras una muerte cercana.
«Spiritualism was in the air. It was available when it was needed,» — la fórmula con que resume esa disponibilidad difusa.
«Because Spiritualists have no genetic identity, I will presume that a Spiritualist is anyone participating in a Spiritualist activity or idea.» — la definición operativa que adopta y declara: espiritista es quien participa de una actividad o una idea espiritista.
«Some may object that self-identification is insufficient evidence that a person is a Spiritualist, that frauds and charlatans must be distinguished from genuine inquirers.» — la objeción que se plantea ella misma: la autoidentificación no bastaría, y habría que separar a los fraudes de los investigadores sinceros.
«I see no reason to make retrospective judgments on this question. It concerns me only insofar as it concerned nineteenth-century Spiritualists.» — y su respuesta, que es una abstención declarada: no ve razón para juzgar retrospectivamente, salvo en cuanto la cuestión importó a los propios espiritistas.
«If someone was judged to be a fraud by contemporary coreligionists, I take that view into account.» — el criterio concreto de esa abstención: si los correligionarios de la época juzgaron a alguien fraudulento, ella toma ese juicio en cuenta.
«Any further judgments on my part would be comparable to judging the miraculous origins of any religion, a task that I do not understand to be within the competency of the historian.» — y su razón: cualquier juicio suyo equivaldría a juzgar los orígenes milagrosos de cualquier religión, tarea que no tiene por competencia del historiador.
«Many people have asked my views about the authenticity of spirit communication.» — consigna la pregunta que le hacen todo el tiempo.
«The practices of “channels” in the 1970s and 1980s who attribute the messages they voice to external intelligences closely parallel those of nineteenth-century mediums.» — el paralelo que traza con el presente: la práctica de los canalizadores de los años setenta y ochenta corre pareja con la de las médiums del siglo XIX.
«These phenomena have reached a broad audience through the autobiographical writings of the actress Shirley MacLaine, whose interest in investigating spirit communication was strengthened by learning of the existence of nineteenth-century mediums.» — y la vía por la que ese material llegó al gran público, con un dato que le interesa: el interés de Shirley MacLaine se afirmó al enterarse de que hubo médiums en el siglo XIX.
«The acceptance by many Americans of channeled documents such as “A Course in Miracles” and “Seth Speaks” have rekindled nineteenth-century debates about what constitutes convincing evidence of spirit presence.» — el efecto que le atribuye a documentos canalizados como A Course in Miracles y Seth Speaks: reavivan los debates decimonónicos sobre qué cuenta como evidencia.
«As far as my own conclusions about the reality of spirit communication, I can say only that this is not the question that has motivated my inquiry and that this study does not address it.» — la abstención central del libro, dicha sin rodeos: la realidad de la comunicación con los espíritus no es la pregunta que mueve la investigación ni el estudio la trata.
«To me, nineteenth-century Spiritualism, like many of the spiritual explorations associated with the New Age, appears as an example of profound mystical experience and extraordinary self-deception tangled together in a hopeless mélange.» — y aun así deja dicha su impresión personal, que consigna como impresión: experiencia mística profunda y autoengaño extraordinario enredados sin remedio.
«If this study sheds any light on New Age phenomena, it will be by increasing our understanding of the relation of comparable religious expressions to their social and historical contexts, not by making judgments about their authenticity.» — el modo en que acepta iluminar el fenómeno New Age: entendiendo la relación de esas expresiones con su contexto, no juzgando su autenticidad.
«The mystery that has engaged my curiosity throughout this project is not the mystery of spirit communication but rather the mystery of faith.» — el objeto que declara suyo: no el misterio de la comunicación con los espíritus, sino el misterio de la fe.
«I want to know why and how people believe the things they believe and how social, political, and religious beliefs combine to form a comprehensive understanding of reality.» — y la pregunta en que lo desglosa: por qué y cómo se cree lo que se cree, y cómo se combinan creencias sociales, políticas y religiosas.
«In all times and places, some people talk to the spirits of the dead, and they persist in doing so whether it is regarded as revelation, heresy, or insanity.» — la constante antropológica que enuncia: en todo tiempo y lugar hay quien habla con los muertos, se llame eso revelación, herejía o locura.
«I am interested in exploring this phenomenon because I believe that faith is a crucial and little understood element of the social structure.» — y la razón de su interés: tiene la fe por elemento crucial y poco entendido de la estructura social.
«I hope that this study may contribute to our appreciation of the role of individual human intentionality and experience in shaping, as well as being shaped by, the world in which we live.» — lo que espera aportar, dicho en modo de esperanza: apreciar el papel de la intención y la experiencia individuales en dar forma al mundo y en ser formadas por él.
«Quakers, as the History noted, did have women ministers but did not appoint women to select meetings that had authority over both men’s and women’s meetings and censured members who spoke out on any political or reform subject.» — la nota al pie que acota la exclusividad afirmada arriba: los cuáqueros sí tenían ministras, pero no las nombraban para las reuniones con autoridad sobre ambos sexos y censuraban a quien hablara de política o de reforma.
«The National Association of Spiritualists, the first of several organizations that still exist,» — la nota al pie que fecha la primera de las organizaciones espiritistas duraderas; el *was not founded until 1893* cae ya en la plana siguiente.
«But when the Posts learned that the family in which the mysterious sounds occurred was one with which they were “well acquainted,” they took them more seriously.» — el detalle que a Braude le explica el giro: los Post empezaron a tomar en serio los golpes cuando supieron que la familia les era conocida.
«Isaac Post wrote to his brother and sister-in-law that Kate and Margaret Fox, in whose presence the raps occurred, were “Girls of 12 & 14 years who used to live in our house at Cornhill and with whom we always had good understanding.”» — según Braude, así describía Isaac Post a Kate y Margaret Fox: dos niñas de doce y catorce años que habían vivido en su casa.
«“I should love much to look into your home … about once in 24 hours,” Rochester abolitionist Frederick Douglass wrote to Amy Post while absent on a speaking tour.» — el trato que documenta entre los Post y el abolicionismo: Frederick Douglass escribiéndole a Amy Post desde una gira de conferencias.
«Noted abolitionist speakers Abigail Kelly, William Lloyd Garrison, and Henry C. Wright relished Amy’s hospitality and cherished her friendship.» — y la nómina de oradores abolicionistas que pasaban por su casa, entre ellos Garrison y Henry C. Wright.
«Here the story probably would have ended, but for the interest shown in the rappings by the Post family and the other indefatigable reformers who made up their circle of friends.» — la contrafáctica con que Braude mide el papel de los Post: sin su interés y el de su círculo de reformadores, la historia habría acabado ahí.
«Although later mediums would give verbatim messages from spirits, initially the raps were inarticulate, able to respond only “yes” or “no” to specific questions or to answer with a number, the number of raps made in succession.» — la descripción técnica del fenómeno en su fase inicial: golpes inarticulados que solo respondían sí o no, o daban un número.
«True, even in Hydesville, a shower of affirmative raps greeted the question, “Are you a spirit?” But it was the direct inquiries of the Posts and their friends that revealed the presence of spirits other than that of the murdered peddler to whom the first raps were attributed.» — y el paso siguiente que atribuye a los Post: sus preguntas directas revelaron espíritus distintos del buhonero asesinado a quien se achacaban los primeros golpes.
«Because the raps could communicate only in response to questions, the inquirers, rather than the mediums, set the agenda for the first spirit communications.» — la consecuencia que Braude saca de esa técnica, y que vale para todo el libro: la agenda de las primeras comunicaciones la ponían los preguntantes, no las médiums.
«The process proved cumbersome and did not always improve the quality of the messages.» — el juicio que le merece el método del alfabeto: engorroso y no siempre mejor.
«Quaker doctrine taught that the spirit of God lay within each individual and that this inner light was the primary vehicle for religious truth.» — la doctrina cuáquera de la luz interior, que es la puerta doctrinal por la que el espiritismo entra en el círculo de los Post.
«The doctrine of the inner light produced an ongoing tension within Quakerism.» — la tensión permanente que esa doctrina le genera al cuaquerismo.
«Quaker tradition emphasized a simple life-style, and vested authority in meetings to ensure that members complied with rigorous standards of behavior and segregation from the non-Quaker “world.”» — un lado de esa tensión: vida sencilla y reuniones con autoridad para exigir normas rigurosas y separación del mundo.
«But, at the same time, Quaker doctrine undermined the authority of meetings and elders to enforce those standards by encouraging anyone who felt moved by the spirit to speak freely in meetings and by recognizing the authority of the inner light within each individual.» — y el otro, que la socava: la misma doctrina anima a hablar libremente a quien se sienta movido por el espíritu.
«During the antebellum period, Friends who felt moved to testify against the injustice of buying and selling human beings were silenced by an increasingly rigid disciplinary structure.» — cómo se resolvió esa tensión en la práctica antes de la guerra: a los Amigos que testificaban contra la esclavitud se les acalló con una disciplina cada vez más rígida.
«Obedience to conscience clashed with obedience to Quaker elders and to the authority of meetings.» — la fórmula con que resume el choque.
«In 1827, the conflict between the authority of meetings and the freedom of the individual to act according to the promptings of the spirit caused a split within the Society of Friends.» — y su desenlace: la escisión de 1827 en la Sociedad de Amigos.
«The followers of Elias Hicks, a cousin of Amy Post, withdrew to form separate meetings because they believed that orthodox Friends’ meetings had become too formalized and no longer gave adequate freedom for individuals to act according to the dictates of the inner light.» — según Braude, los seguidores de Elias Hicks —primo de Amy Post— se separaron por tener las reuniones ortodoxas por demasiado formalizadas.
«Hicks also believed that the Quaker establishment had become too enmeshed with the institutions and material comforts of “the world” and that tolerance of slavery confirmed this excessive worldliness.» — y la segunda razón que le atribuye a Hicks: la tolerancia de la esclavitud confirmaba la mundanidad del establecimiento cuáquero.
«When the Hicksites censured Amy and Isaac for participating in antislavery societies with non-Quakers, the Posts withdrew to help found yet another group, the Congregational Friends, in Waterloo, New York, composed predominantly of ex-Friends who wanted greater liberty to express their political views.» — la segunda escisión, la que deja a los Post donde el libro los encuentra: censurados por los hicksitas, fundan los Congregational Friends en Waterloo.
«The term congregational implied the adoption of a congregational form of polity, meaning that the Waterloo meeting did not recognize the authority of the Quaker hierarchy over the local congregation and would not answer to the Hicksite Genessee Yearly Meeting.» — qué significaba ese nombre: una polity congregacional que no reconocía autoridad de la jerarquía sobre la congregación local.
«The Waterloo Congregational Friends based their beliefs on the Quaker principle that the law of God is written in every human soul.» — el principio en que fundaban sus creencias: la ley de Dios está escrita en toda alma humana.
«Because human beings were created in the image of God, each one, “however less or more perfect be the manifestations of the principles of his nature,” was in fact “a limited transcript of the perfect Architect.”» — y su desarrollo: cada persona es una transcripción limitada del Arquitecto perfecto, por más o menos perfectas que sean sus manifestaciones.
«These views led the Waterloo friends to conclude that “an unbroken chain of communication” exists “between the Infinite and all beings.”» — la conclusión que da título al capítulo: existe una cadena ininterrumpida de comunicación entre lo Infinito y todos los seres.
«They left the Society of Friends because they viewed its increasing regulation of its members’ freedom of expression as impeding communication with God.» — el motivo de la salida, tal como Braude lo formula: la regulación creciente de la libertad de expresión estorbaba la comunicación con Dios.
«Greeley became a frequent investigator and invited the Fox family into his home.» — según Braude, Horace Greeley se volvió investigador asiduo y alojó a la familia Fox en su casa.
«Greeley’s wife, Molly, received messages that she believed to be from her recently deceased five-year-old son.» — y el motivo doméstico que lo explica: su esposa Molly recibía mensajes que tenía por de su hijo muerto a los cinco años.
«Greeley proclaimed himself “convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt of [the Fox sisters’] perfect integrity and good faith.”» — el juicio público de Greeley sobre las hermanas, que Braude cita para mostrar de qué tipo era la adhesión: integridad y buena fe, no prueba del origen.
«He assured his readers in the Tribune that, “Whatever may be the origin or cause of the ‘rappings,’ the ladies in whose presence they occur do not make them.”» — y la forma precisa de esa adhesión en el Tribune, que deja el origen abierto y solo niega que las mujeres produzcan los golpes.
«Willis described the “Post-Mortuum Soiree” less sympathetically to readers of the Home Journal, noting “the disinclination which these spirits seemed to have for any intercourse with editors.”» — el contraste que pone al lado sin armonizarlo: Willis, en el Home Journal, anota la poca gana de los espíritus de tratar con editores.
«The renown of the raps became a mixed blessing for the Fox sisters, who found themselves living among strangers, with little control over their lives.» — el balance que hace del éxito para las propias hermanas: bendición mixta, viviendo entre extraños y con poco control sobre su vida.
«Before leaving the séance, Garrison devised his own test to confirm the spirit presence.» — según Braude, William Lloyd Garrison se inventó su propia prueba antes de irse de la sesión.
«He directed the party to put a bell under the table, which, Garrison reported, was rung by “unseen power.”» — en qué consistió: una campana bajo la mesa que, según su relato, sonó por un poder invisible.
«Garrison then felt the touch of a hand “with no warmth in it” while he saw the hands of all, including the medium, resting on the table.» — y el segundo elemento de su testimonio: el roce de una mano sin calor mientras veía sobre la mesa las manos de todos, la de la médium incluida.
«Kane’s respectable family, not surprisingly, denied his connection with the medium.» — el desenlace del enlace de Margaret Fox con Elisha Kent Kane, negado por la familia de él.
«Margaret responded by converting to Roman Catholicism.» — la respuesta de ella, que Braude consigna sin interpretarla.
«She continued to give private sittings but ceased to use her mediumship for profit.» — y su consecuencia práctica: siguió dando sesiones privadas, pero dejó de cobrar por su mediumnidad.
«Although the Fox sisters converted many influential people and provided the model for other mediums, they never participated actively in the movement they began.» — la paradoja que Braude subraya y que sostiene su lectura del movimiento: las Fox convirtieron a mucha gente influyente y dieron el modelo, pero nunca militaron en lo que empezaron.
«They never appeared at conventions, contributed to publications, or cooperated with those interested in promoting the cause.» — el detalle de esa ausencia: ni convenciones, ni publicaciones, ni cooperación con quienes promovían la causa.
«By 1854, even the Foxes’ early supporter George Willets lost interest in them, although he was still an ardent Spiritualist who frequently sought communications.» — el indicio con que la documenta: hasta George Willets, su valedor temprano, dejó de interesarse en ellas sin dejar de ser espiritista.
«When the medium Emma Hardinge sought material for the first history of Spiritualism, she lamented Leah’s unwillingness to contribute to the effort.» — y el otro: Emma Hardinge, al reunir material para la primera historia del espiritismo, lamentó que Leah Fox no quisiera colaborar.
«However, she did not expect her proposed book to suffer because the Foxes’ story had “been so much before the public that there can’t be much to add.”» — con la acotación que la propia Hardinge le pone a esa queja.
«I only asked in compliment to them,” she explained to Amy Post.» — y la explicación que le dio a Amy Post: había preguntado por cortesía.
«The more recent historian of Spiritualism, Ernest Isaacs, concludes that “the Fox sisters did possess extra-normal powers of extra-sensory perception, telepathy, and telekinesis” but that there is no evidence that these derived from spirits» — la posición del historiador Ernest Isaacs que Braude consigna sin arbitrar: concede poderes extranormales a las Fox y niega evidencia de que vinieran de espíritus.
«From a historical perspective, whether the Hydesville rappings were produced by the spirit of a traveling peddler buried in the basement or by a conscious or unconscious bid for attention by two imaginative young girls is of little consequence compared to the massive popular movement that resulted.» — la abstención con que la propia Braude cierra el asunto: desde el punto de vista histórico, el origen de los golpes importa poco al lado del movimiento popular que produjeron.
«Whether or not Kate and Margaret controlled the raps, they did not determine the meaning attributed to them by observers.» — y su formulación más ajustada, que es la que gobierna el resto del libro: controlaran o no los golpes, las hermanas no determinaron el sentido que los observadores les dieron.
«The interpretations of investigators, rather than the manifestations themselves, provided the content of the new religion.» — la tesis que de ahí sale: el contenido de la religión nueva lo pusieron las interpretaciones de los investigadores, no las manifestaciones.
«Within months of the Rochester rappings, thousands of Americans across the northern states and eastern seaboard sat around their parlor tables to see whether they might not witness manifestations similar to those occurring in the presence of the Fox sisters.» — la escala de la difusión a los pocos meses de los golpes de Rochester.
«Fueled by rumor, curiosity, and persistent hunger for contact with the dead, Spiritualism spread “like a prairie fire,” unhindered by the need for special facilities or trained emissaries.» — y lo que la explica, según ella: rumor, curiosidad y hambre de contacto con los muertos, sin necesidad de local ni de emisarios formados.
«Eliab Capron claimed that Auburn, New York, where Margaret Fox lived briefly with her brother, housed one hundred mediums by the summer of 1850.» — según Braude, Eliab Capron afirmaba que en Auburn había cien médiums para el verano de 1850.
«By 1852, a Spiritualist in Woodstock, Vermont, reported the existence of “8 or 10 good mediums [and] 50 partially developed.”» — y otro espiritista de Woodstock contaba en 1852 ocho o diez médiums buenas y cincuenta a medio desarrollar.
«Anyone might be a medium, and the only way to find out who could communicate with spirits was to try and see.» — el rasgo que hace posibles esas cifras: cualquiera podía ser médium y la única manera de saberlo era probar.
«She inquired of the raps for mediums and learned that her brother, his son, and mother as well as a female neighbor were all mediums, “so you can form a team among yourselves.”» — según Braude, así se armaba un círculo doméstico: se preguntaba a los golpes quién era médium y salía media familia.
«Most advised a maximum of twelve investigators, equally divided between men and women, seated close together around a table, hands either joined or laid on the table» — la receta que daban los manuales para formar un círculo: doce investigadores como máximo, mitad hombres y mitad mujeres, sentados juntos.
«Most people initially investigated Spiritualism at home or in the homes of friends or neighbors, with untrained and unpaid girls or women acting as mediums.» — y el lugar donde ocurría casi todo, que es el argumento del capítulo: la casa propia o la del vecino, con muchachas o mujeres sin formación ni paga haciendo de médium.
«The society met to hear lectures by its members and to read communications received in the circles.» — según Braude, así funcionaba la Harmonial Benevolent Association: conferencias de sus miembros y lectura de las comunicaciones recibidas en los círculos.
«Joseph Barker was an English Methodist who had lost his faith and now gave lectures against the divine origins of the Bible.» — quién era el testigo que sigue: un metodista inglés que había perdido la fe y daba conferencias contra el origen divino de la Biblia.
«Barker described himself as “exceedingly wishful to witness some proof of the spirit rapping theory” but as having “little or no hope” that such proof would be forthcoming.» — según Braude, Barker se presentaba a la sesión deseoso de una prueba y sin esperanza de obtenerla.
«It would be impossible to imagine anything more unlike fraud or deceit.» — y el juicio que le mereció la niña médium, en su propia letra.
«When his pencil rested on D, three raps sounded, followed by raps at O, R, and A, to spell Dora, the name of the Collinsons’ two-year-old daughter, who had died a few months before.» — la mecánica del deletreo, con el resultado que le tocaba de cerca a la familia: el nombre de la hija muerta.
«Dora reported on her happy play life in heaven and her contact with other dead relatives, including her twenty-year-old cousin, Mary Anne, who had been her nurse.» — el contenido del mensaje, que Braude reproduce sin comentario: juegos felices en el cielo y trato con otros parientes muertos.
«His brother’s spirit rapped affirmatively when asked if he approved Barker’s course in leaving Methodism and lecturing against the divine origins of the Bible.» — y el uso doctrinal que se le daba a la sesión: el espíritu del hermano aprobó por golpes el abandono del metodismo.
«Mediumship was closely identified with femininity.» — la identificación que el capítulo documenta y que el libro entero explota.
«The medium may be man or woman—woman or man—but in either case, the characteristics will be feminine—negative and passive,”» — la fórmula del movimiento que Braude cita: el médium puede ser hombre o mujer, pero en cualquier caso los rasgos serán femeninos, negativos y pasivos.
«Spiritualists used the language of electricity, also current in mesmerism and phrenology, to describe the relative positions of men and women in spirit communication.» — el vocabulario prestado con que se decía eso, común al mesmerismo y a la frenología.
«Circles should be composed of equal numbers of men and women “or of persons in whom respectively the positive and negative elements predominate.”» — la regla de composición del círculo, que traduce esa polaridad a números.
«Experts agreed that “some males are comparatively feminine, or negative, as indicated by a lack of muscularity of organism, and of force of character; while some females are comparatively masculine or positive, as evinced by the possession of these characteristics.”» — y la salvedad que los expertos del movimiento hacían: hay varones comparativamente femeninos y mujeres comparativamente masculinas.
«By identifying mediumship with characteristics believed to be inherent in women, Spiritualists echoed the language of the larger culture, which identified the qualities of piety with the qualities of femininity.» — la lectura que Braude hace de esa identificación: el movimiento repetía el lenguaje de la cultura mayor, que ya identificaba piedad con feminidad.
«Not in the church, not in the capitol, but in the family, came the first demonstrable recognition of immortal life and immortal love—the holiest truth to the holiest place.”» — la fórmula espiritista que traslada el reconocimiento de la vida inmortal de la iglesia y el capitolio a la familia.
«Charles Beecher claimed, “It is not in its published literature, its periodicals, its lectures and its public mediums that the strength of the movement lies. It is in its family or home circles.”» — según Braude, Charles Beecher situaba la fuerza del movimiento en los círculos familiares y no en su literatura, sus periódicos ni sus médiums públicas.
«Although not commercially mass-produced in the United States until the 1860s, planchettes imported from France were available in Spiritualist bookstores by the late 1850s.» — el dato material del instrumento doméstico: la planchette llegaba importada de Francia a las librerías espiritistas antes de fabricarse en serie en el país.
«While Spiritualists often organized at the local level, they staunchly opposed national organization or anything that would make a census of the group possible.» — el obstáculo que vuelve incontable al movimiento: se organizaban en lo local y se oponían con firmeza a lo nacional.
«The 1890 census reported forty-five thousand Spiritualists in thirty-nine states and territories, but this included only those formally affiliated with an organized society.» — la cifra del censo de 1890 con su límite dicho: cuarenta y cinco mil, pero solo los afiliados formalmente a una sociedad organizada.
«The Plain Guide to Spiritualism advised that, “During the long evenings, as friends and families gather around the social board, no enjoyment can become more genial and benign than that of seeking communion with those» — el consejo del Plain Guide to Spiritualism, que hace de la comunicación con los muertos una velada doméstica; el verbatim se corta en el límite de chunk.
«who have passed on to the land of eternal spring and perennial summer.”» — el cierre de esa misma frase del Plain Guide, ya del otro lado del corte de chunk.
«Unlike most religious groups, Spiritualists avoided institutional form and frequently influenced people of other denominational affiliations.» — el rasgo que hace incontable al movimiento y que Braude convierte en dato: evitó la forma institucional y a la vez influyó en fieles de otras denominaciones.
«Many believers based their faith on a single séance at which convincing communication occurred, while other individuals investigated for decades without success.» — la dispersión de experiencias que documenta: unos creían por una sola sesión convincente y otros investigaron décadas sin resultado.
«One observer counted Spiritualism high among “Certain Dangerous Tendencies in American Life” and estimated that “Perhaps a majority of the members of evangelical Protestant churches in this country have at sometime consulted the spirits of dead people, by the help of some professional ghost-seer or medium.”» — según Braude, un observador contaba al espiritismo entre las tendencias peligrosas de la vida estadounidense y calculaba que quizá la mayoría de los protestantes evangélicos había consultado a alguna médium.
«Medium historian Emma Hardinge wondered whether the movement benefited more from “the zealous enthusiasm of its admirers or the bitter persecution of its antagonists,” as the latter sometimes generated more publicity» — la pregunta que se hacía Emma Hardinge, historiadora del movimiento y médium ella misma: si le rendía más el entusiasmo de sus admiradores o la persecución de sus antagonistas.
«Spiritualists did not join organizations, but they did read and write.» — la fórmula con que Braude resuelve el problema de fuentes: no se afiliaban, pero leían y escribían.
«Because the movement shunned the kind of structures that in other American denominations served to foster cohesion and spread information, it relied heavily on the public press.» — y su consecuencia: al rehuir las estructuras que en otras denominaciones daban cohesión, el movimiento se apoyó en la prensa.
«While Henry James, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and William Dean Howells expressed varying degrees of distaste for the new movement, they gave graphic portrayals of its practitioners in The Bostonians, The Blithedale Romance, and The Undiscovered Country, respectively.» — el rastro literario que documenta: James, Hawthorne y Howells retrataron a los espiritistas con grados diversos de desagrado.
«Jo March, scribbling heroine of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, lamented that her first novel was accused of “spiritualistic ideas” even though she had none.» — y el indicio de cuán extendida estaba la etiqueta: a la Jo March de Alcott le achacan ideas espiritistas que no tenía.
«“That paper commands an immense circulation and influence,” she wrote, “and a notice of the ‘spiritualistic features’ of the book in it would ensure a sale of many copies.”» — según Braude, Harriet Beecher Stowe aconsejaba buscar reseña en el Banner of Light por su circulación y su influencia.
«The conversion of New York State Supreme Court judge John Edmonds in 1851 increased the movement’s credibility.» — el caso con que mide la respetabilidad ganada: la conversión del juez John Edmonds en 1851.
«Edmonds resigned his position on the bench to become a full-time advocate and medium.» — y hasta dónde llegó: renunció al estrado para ser propagandista y médium de tiempo completo.
«The New York Tribune printed the pro-Spiritualist correspondence of U.S. senator N. P. Talmadge with the poet Sarah Helen Whitman, former fiancée of Edgar Allan Poe.» — otro indicio de la misma clase: el Tribune publicando la correspondencia espiritista del senador Talmadge con Sarah Helen Whitman.
«In 1854, thirteen thousand people signed a petition asking the U.S. Senate to appoint a scientific committee to investigate spirit communication.» — la petición de 1854 con que trece mil personas pidieron al Senado un comité científico.
«The petition received enough support to reach the floor of the Senate, but not enough to prevent it from being ridiculed once it arrived there.» — y su suerte, dicha con precisión: llegó al pleno, pero no con apoyo bastante para librarse del ridículo.
«Mary Todd Lincoln spoke with her dead son, Willie, and brought mediums into the White House, where they conducted séances for senators and cabinet members.» — según Braude, Mary Todd Lincoln hablaba con su hijo muerto y llevó médiums a la Casa Blanca.
«Although the new faith had some prestigious adherents, spirits were no respecters of class.» — el límite que le pone a esa nómina de prestigio: los espíritus no respetaban clases.
«Lydia Maria Child wrote in 1862 that “Spiritualism is undermining the authority of the Bible in the minds of what are called the common people faster than all other causes put together.”» — según Braude, Lydia Maria Child imputaba al espiritismo estar minando la autoridad de la Biblia entre la gente común más aprisa que todas las demás causas juntas.
«The recent work of Jon Butler suggests that there may indeed have been a substratum of non-Christian folk practice among Americans of both European and African descent that connected Spiritualism with earlier occult beliefs.» — la hipótesis que toma de Jon Butler, en modo conjetural: un substrato de práctica popular no cristiana, de origen europeo y africano, conectaría al espiritismo con creencias ocultas anteriores.
«Intellectuals like Child and fellow abolitionist Thomas Wentworth Higginson constantly tried to distinguish their own beliefs from those of the mass of Spiritualists who flocked to witness sensational demonstrations.» — la distancia que los intelectuales del movimiento trataban de marcar frente a la masa de espiritistas.
«The printed sources on Spiritualism, like most printed sources, derived mainly from educated middleand upper-class adherents, but the halted prose of the letters preserved in the personal and professional correspondence of medium Achsa Sprague shows that setting pen to paper was an unusual event for many adherents, even among local leaders.» — el sesgo de sus propias fuentes, declarado: lo impreso viene de adherentes educados, y las cartas mal escritas de los archivos corrigen el cuadro; la fuente imprime *middle-* a fin de renglón y el volumen lee *middle- and upper-class*, pero la normalización de la casa borra ese guion y aquí queda *middleand*.
«Two Jews became well-known advocates, Cora Wilburn and Louis Schlesinger.» — los dos judíos que nombra entre los propagandistas conocidos.
«Spiritualism found a natural resonance with African religious beliefs introduced by the slave population in the South.» — la resonancia que le atribuye con las creencias religiosas africanas llevadas por la población esclavizada.
«The belief that “the dead can return to their living in visitations that are not necessarily ill-intended or dangerous” persisted among African-Americans both in the rural South and in the large cities to which they migrated following Reconstruction» — la creencia que documenta como persistente entre afroamericanos: los muertos pueden volver en visitas que no son necesariamente malintencionadas.
«Black churches in Washington, D.C., welcomed the white medium Cora Hatch in their pulpits, something no white evangelical church ever did.» — el contraste que subraya: las iglesias negras de Washington abrieron su púlpito a la médium blanca Cora Hatch, cosa que ninguna iglesia evangélica blanca hizo.
«Spiritualism’s association with abolition generated substantial antagonism to the movement among southerners of European descent.» — el costo que esa asociación tuvo en el sur.
«Nevertheless, believers willing to brave the rancor of their neighbors appeared in small numbers throughout the region.» — con su matiz: aun así hubo creyentes dispuestos a arrostrar el rencor de sus vecinos.
«Spiritualism flourished in New Orleans, which contributed two national leaders to the movement.» — la excepción sureña que documenta: Nueva Orleans, que dio dos dirigentes nacionales.
«One New Orleans observer commented that “Spiritualism has made much more rapid progress among the Creole and Catholic portions of our population than the Protestant; first, because most of them have more time for investigation than the rushing hurrying, money-making American, and secondly, the creed of the Catholic Church does not deny the possibility of spirit communion.”» — y la explicación que un observador local daba de esa excepción, por el lado del catolicismo criollo.
«A Methodist minister organized the leading séance circle in Memphis, which used a “pious young lady” from the Baptist church as its medium.» — según Braude, el círculo principal de Memphis lo organizó un ministro metodista y usaba de médium a una joven piadosa de la iglesia bautista.
«Gertrude Thomas, a well-educated Georgia Methodist who became a suffragist, found attending séances compatible with a vibrant Methodism.» — y el caso de Gertrude Thomas, metodista de Georgia y después sufragista, que hallaba compatibles la sesión y su metodismo.
«The Southern Baptist Publication Society published Mary Dana Schindler’s sympathetic account of investigation in A Southerner Among the Spirits.» — el dato editorial que mide esa compatibilidad: la casa bautista del sur publicó el relato simpatizante de Mary Dana Schindler.
«One early believer privately opined that the spirits would not have selected his wife as a medium unless “some good should come out of it,” by which he meant pecuniary good.» — el motivo económico que Braude no oculta: un creyente temprano opinaba en privado que los espíritus no habrían escogido de médium a su esposa si de ahí no saliera algún bien, y quería decir dinero.
«Spiritualism’s association with abolition may have limited its appeal among slaveholders to urban professionals whose livelihood did not depend on slavery.» — la hipótesis con que explica el perfil sureño del movimiento, en modo conjetural.
«Interpretations of Spiritualism that dismiss hordes of truth seekers as benighted kooks ignore the sincere longings that attracted people to the movement and fail to locate Spiritualism within the context of the cosmological alternatives available in the mid-nineteenth century» — la objeción que le hace a las lecturas que despachan a los buscadores como chiflados: ignoran los anhelos sinceros y no sitúan al movimiento entre las alternativas de su tiempo.
«The historical significance of Spiritualism lies less in the few outstanding sensationalists than in the masses of faithful followers who made it a popular movement.» — y el criterio que de ahí saca para todo el libro: la importancia histórica está en la masa de seguidores, no en los pocos sensacionalistas notorios.
«Mary Post’s hope of being convinced of the reality of spirit communication may have been quickened by her attendance at the funeral of a friend’s son.» — según Braude, el funeral del hijo de una amiga avivó en Mary Robbins Post el deseo de convencerse de la comunicación con los espíritus.
«Her loss was an especially difficult one—the unexpected death of the daughter who bore her name, a healthy young woman who had served as nurse during an outbreak of measles and pox.» — y la pérdida propia que vino después: la hija que llevaba su nombre, muerta de golpe tras haber cuidado enfermos en una epidemia.
«She found bereavement “far less afflictive and overwhelming” after she accepted Davis’s view that nothing is lost by leaving this world “to pursue life’s journey amid immortal beauties in th» — el efecto que Post declara del pensamiento de Davis sobre su duelo; el verbatim se corta donde el troceo cambia de renglón.
«Apparently, Davis’s philosophy comforted Post sufficiently to allow her to shift her attention from her grief to the progress of Spiritualism.» — y la lectura que Braude hace de ese efecto, con su *apparently* a cuestas: el consuelo le permitió pasar del duelo a la militancia.
«These three events parallel the three immediate factors that provoked popular interest in Spiritualism: the desire for empirical evidence of the immortality of the soul; the rejection of Calvinism or evangelicalism in favor of a more liberal theology; and the desire to overcome bereavement through communication with departed loved ones» — los tres factores con que explica el interés popular: evidencia empírica de la inmortalidad, rechazo del calvinismo y consuelo del duelo.
«No one of these alone accounts for the rise of Spiritualism, but together they explain much of its appeal.» — con su acotación: ninguno basta por separado, y juntos explican buena parte del atractivo.
«Spirit manifestations,” the observable evidence of spirit presence during a séance, addressed the first desire.» — qué satisfacía el primero: las manifestaciones, evidencia observable de presencia espiritual en la sesión.
«Spiritualism’s elaboration, through the writings of Andrew Jackson Davis and a host of self-proclaimed philosophers, of a cosmology that contradicted the tenets of orthodox Protestantism satisfied the second desire» — el segundo, cubierto por la cosmología que Davis y otros filósofos autoproclamados oponían al protestantismo ortodoxo.
«The third desire was satisfied when the bereaved received messages from the deceased by either automatic writing or verbal communication through a human medium.» — y el tercero, cubierto por el mensaje del muerto, por escritura automática o por voz de la médium.
«Investigators sought a new basis for faith in spirit communication because they found the teachings of existing churches either inadequate or incorrect.» — el motivo de fondo que atribuye a los investigadores: tenían por inadecuada o incorrecta la enseñanza de las iglesias existentes.
«But the manifestations themselves were not sufficient to constitute a new religion.» — y el límite que pone a las manifestaciones: por sí solas no hacían una religión.
«Davis proclaimed a vision of the unity of natural and supernatural truths revealed to him during mesmeric trances by the spirit of the eighteenth-century Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg.» — según Braude, Davis decía haber recibido en trance mesmérico, del espíritu de Swedenborg, la visión de la unidad de las verdades naturales y sobrenaturales.
«Davis recorded the content of his messages from Swedenborg in a voluminous tome entitled The Principles of Nature, Her Divine Revelations, and a Voice to Mankind.» — y el libro en que lo consignó: The Principles of Nature, Her Divine Revelations, and a Voice to Mankind.
«On hearing of the Rochester rappings, Davis invited the Fox sisters to his home in New York City.» — el encuentro entre las dos vertientes: al saber de los golpes de Rochester, Davis invitó a las hermanas Fox a su casa.
«Davis investigated the Fox sisters’ mediumship himself and explained it to the public in terms of his own philosophy in Philosophy of Spiritual Intercourse.» — y lo que hizo con ellas: investigó su mediumnidad y la explicó al público con su propia filosofía.
«Once Davis and his followers joined their cause to that of the manifestations, the Harmonial Philosophy began to enjoy greater success.» — el efecto de esa unión sobre la Filosofía Harmonial.
«However, after becoming investigators of Spiritualism, they anxiously imbibed writing that provided a philosophic explanation of what they had seen or hoped to see.» — y el efecto inverso: quien ya investigaba absorbía con ansia la escritura que explicaba filosóficamente lo visto o lo esperado.
«Davis would likely have remained an obscure prophet had he not tied his cause to the new manifestations.» — la contrafáctica con que mide esa dependencia mutua, dicha con su *likely* a cuestas.
«Davis became the philosopher of a mass movement.» — y el lugar que de ahí le queda: filósofo de un movimiento de masas.
«Spiritualists recoiled from giving anything authority over individual conscience or inspiration and therefore refrained from according the status of scripture to Davis’s writing or to anyone else’s, including the Bible» — el límite que el propio movimiento le puso: no dio a lo escrito por Davis, ni a nada, el estatuto de escritura.
«Davis’s most significant contribution to Spiritualism was the articulation of a comprehensive worldview incorporating spirit manifestations, reform principles, and an anti-Calvinist theology into a single system.» — y su aporte principal, según ella: una visión del mundo que integraba manifestaciones, principios de reforma y teología anticalvinista en un solo sistema.
«Spiritualist cosmology viewed nature as a benign reality that revealed the divine order.» — el núcleo de la cosmología espiritista según Braude: la naturaleza es realidad benigna que revela el orden divino.
«Andrew Jackson Davis described nature as “the only true and unchangeable revelation of the Divine Mind.”» — según Braude, Davis llamaba a la naturaleza la única revelación verdadera e inmutable de la Mente Divina.
«Spiritualism offered a rosy picture of reality that many Americans found more consistent with nineteenth-century optimism than the religious traditions from which they came.» — el atractivo que de ahí saca: un cuadro risueño de la realidad, más acorde con el optimismo del siglo que las tradiciones de origen.
«Spiritualists shocked their contemporaries by following the national liberal trend in theology so far that it led them to question the most fundamental Protestant doctrines: the divinity of Jesus and the divine origins of the Bible» — hasta dónde llevaron la tendencia liberal en teología: a poner en duda la divinidad de Jesús y el origen divino de la Biblia.
«Because Spiritualists believed that they had penetrated the veil of death, they could discard distasteful doctrines required by the Christian attempt to reach an explanation of death consistent with the benevolence of the deity and with a human moral order.» — el mecanismo doctrinal que Braude describe: creyendo haber atravesado el velo de la muerte, podían descartar las doctrinas que el cristianismo necesitaba para explicarla.
«Without a “final change” at death, the underpinnings of Christian theology lost their explanatory function.» — y el efecto sobre el edificio: sin cambio final en la muerte, los cimientos de la teología cristiana pierden su función explicativa.
«The system no longer needed original sin, which brought death into the world, or predestination, future punishment, final judgment, or infant damnation, which explained the fate of the soul after death.» — el censo de doctrinas que quedaban de sobra: pecado original, predestinación, castigo futuro, juicio final y condenación de los infantes.
«With no threat of judgment or punishment, humanity needed no redemption and therefore no atonement.» — el paso siguiente de esa cadena: sin amenaza de juicio no hace falta redención ni expiación.
«Christ himself became logically unnecessary, as did the Gospels that announced his resurrection.» — y su término, dicho con precisión lógica: Cristo mismo se vuelve innecesario, y con él los evangelios que anuncian su resurrección.
«Spiritualism objected to Christian doctrine at precisely those points at which a “true woman” of the Victorian era would be appalled by Calvinism.» — la tesis de género que ordena el capítulo: el espiritismo objetaba la doctrina cristiana justo donde una mujer verdadera de la época se horrorizaría del calvinismo.
«Spiritualists attributed dire tragedies to Calvinist beliefs and to the Catholic view that those who died unbaptized would spend eternity in limbo.» — las tragedias que los espiritistas achacaban al calvinismo y a la doctrina católica del limbo de los no bautizados.
«He condemned the Protestant failure to actively refute this Catholic doctrine.» — y el reproche que Davis dirigía a los protestantes por no refutarla.
«Spiritualism concurred with the Arminian view that heaven was not reserved for an elect few, but it parted with all evangelicals by rejecting the existence of hell altogether.» — dónde coincidía con el arminianismo y dónde rompía con todos los evangélicos: al negar el infierno por entero.
«“[Spiritualism] is so much more comforting than the old theology,” wrote a Kentucky advocate, explaining the movement’s success to a friend in Wisconsin.» — según Braude, así explicaba un propagandista de Kentucky el éxito del movimiento: consuela más que la teología vieja.
«Spiritualists viewed the existence of hell as inconsistent with the benevolence of God and the essential goodness of human beings, each of whom, as part of the order of creation, reflected the divine mind in his or her own being» — el argumento de fondo contra el infierno: es incompatible con la benevolencia de Dios y con la bondad esencial de cada persona.
«women were less and less willing to accept that those who died without a Christian conversion experience were damned in spite of God’s love» — el cambio de sensibilidad que documenta entre mujeres: cada vez menos dispuestas a aceptar que los muertos sin conversión estuvieran condenados.
«Nineteenth-century women refused to believe that a benevolent deity would cause precious sons and daughters to be born knowing all along that he would condemn some, if not most, of them to eternal punishment in hell.» — y su formulación más aguda: se negaban a creer que una deidad benevolente hiciera nacer hijos sabiendo que condenaría a algunos.
«Antoinette Brown Blackwell, America’s first woman minister, resigned her pulpit in 1854 when she recoiled from her congregation’s expectation that she would hold up frightening images of punishment at the deathbed of an unconverted youth and at the burial of an illegitimate baby.» — el caso extremo que trae al caso: Antoinette Brown Blackwell dejó su púlpito en 1854 antes que predicar esas imágenes.
«She later left her orthodox tradition for Unitarianism.» — y adónde fue después.
«These authors explicitly connected their rejection of Calvinism with their gender.» — el nexo que esas autoras hacían explícito entre su rechazo del calvinismo y su condición de mujeres.
«Where “hard old New England divines … tread with sublime assurance,” wrote Harriet Beecher Stowe, “woman often follows with bleeding footsteps.”» — según Braude, así lo decía Harriet Beecher Stowe: por donde los viejos teólogos de Nueva Inglaterra pisan con seguridad sublime, la mujer sigue con los pies sangrando.
«Spiritualists offered concrete descriptions of the fate of lost loved ones after death.» — lo que el espiritismo ofrecía a cambio: descripciones concretas del destino de los muertos queridos.
«They propounded the doctrine of progression, asserting that individual souls continued to grow in grace after death, advancing through a series of successively more perfect spheres, each one suited to promote spiritual development for the attainment of the next sphere of heaven» — la doctrina de la progresión: el alma sigue creciendo en gracia después de la muerte, por esferas cada vez más perfectas.
«Davis believed the notion of spheres provided a better incentive to lead a moral life on earth than the concept of heaven and hell because the more spiritually advanced one became during life on earth the more advanced would be the sphere one entered at death.» — y el argumento moral que Davis le veía, frente al de cielo e infierno.
«Spirits assured bereaved parents that heaven provided “suitable arrangements” for the care of infants.» — lo que los espíritus aseguraban a los padres en duelo: que el cielo tiene arreglos adecuados para el cuidado de los infantes.
«One spirit message described the care of babies in heaven, declaring “If you could but see them as we see them; could you but know the joy that we find in pressing them to us, in watching over them, how soon would the tear of sorrow be wiped from the parent’s eye.”» — un mensaje concreto de esa clase, que Braude reproduce sin comentario.
«Thus, a bereft parent could look forward not only to a heavenly reunion with a cherished child but also to constant and increasing intimacy, just as though the child still lived.» — y lo que de ahí resultaba para el deudo: no solo reunión futura, sino intimidad constante y creciente, como si el hijo siguiera vivo.
«Spiritualism presented the most extreme version of the rejection of the Puritan view of the child as a vessel of imputed sin unredeemed by conversion.» — el lugar que le da al espiritismo dentro del rechazo decimonónico de la visión puritana del niño.
«In place of faith in a savior, Spiritualists saw God in the harmony and beauty of the natural world and in the inherent goodness of human beings.» — lo que ponía en lugar de la fe en un salvador: Dios en la armonía del mundo natural y en la bondad inherente del ser humano.
«Unlike their evangelical contemporaries, who believed that the natural person was separated from God by sin and needed to receive a new nature through conversion to be transformed into a Christian, Spiritualists believed that human nature did not need to be transformed, that human beings were born good, each reflecting the image of God, and therefore did not need to be saved.» — y el contraste con los evangélicos, que tenían a la persona natural separada de Dios por el pecado.
«Mary Fenn Love’s escape from the agony of her orthodox belief and her conversion to Spiritualism occurred through the contemplation of nature.» — el caso con que lo documenta: la salida de Mary Fenn Love de la agonía de su creencia ortodoxa ocurrió contemplando la naturaleza.
«In spite of the apparent logical conflict between the evidences of Spiritualism and the doctrines of Christianity, many investigators found support for their Christian faith at the séance table.» — la contradicción que Braude consigna sin resolverla: pese al conflicto lógico entre las evidencias del espiritismo y la doctrina cristiana, muchos investigadores hallaron apoyo para su fe cristiana en la mesa de sesión.
«Nature, in the Spiritualist view, not only became the source of truth but also served as an antidote to the repression of established religions.» — el doble papel que la naturaleza tenía en esa visión: fuente de verdad y antídoto contra la represión de las religiones establecidas.
«Some argued that Spiritualists should remain within their churches “and work for truth there” rather than withdrawing to form their own societies.» — la posición interna que documenta: quedarse en las iglesias y trabajar allí por la verdad, en vez de retirarse a formar sociedades propias.
«In her defense, she did not deny the charges but argued that “The real [charge] that has so agitated the mind of our pastor, and caused him to be the instigator of all the rest, is not named.… It is, that I am a Spiritualist.”» — según Braude, así se defendió una excomulgada: no negó los cargos y sostuvo que el verdadero era ser espiritista.
«Oliver Wendell Holmes quipped that “with the crack of a toe joint” Kate and Margaret Fox had caused “such a crack of old beliefs that the roar of it is heard in all the ministers’ studies in Christendom.”» — la broma de Oliver Wendell Holmes con que Braude cierra el punto: el crujido de una articulación del pie de las Fox resquebrajó las creencias viejas.
«The Spiritualist critique of Calvinism offered little that was original or even of recent vintage.» — el límite que le pone a la originalidad del movimiento: su crítica del calvinismo no aportaba nada original ni reciente.
«Yet the apparently appealing view that infants could not be damned only slowly penetrated popular Protestantism.» — y la matización que sigue: la idea de que los infantes no podían condenarse penetró despacio en el protestantismo popular.
«While Unitarianism offered a religious alternative to the harsh doctrines of orthodox theology, its emphasis on rationality limited its appeal to a small educated elite.» — por qué el unitarismo no ocupaba ese lugar: su acento en la racionalidad le acotaba el público a una élite educada.
«But Emerson eschewed their praise and failed to return the compliment.» — la relación asimétrica con el trascendentalismo: los espiritistas alababan a Emerson y él no correspondía.
«Yet, whatever disdain Emerson and Thoreau felt for Spiritualism, it spread some of their most cherished ideas far beyond the ranks of those who identified with Transcendentalism.» — y aun así, lo que Braude le reconoce al movimiento: difundió las ideas de ambos mucho más allá de quienes se decían trascendentalistas.
«The birth of Spiritualism coincided almost exactly with the death of Transcendentalism as a social movement.» — la coincidencia cronológica que subraya.
«Instead, they followed his lectures with visits to séances, where the power of Emerson’s ideas helped fuel the movement he despised.» — y lo que hacía el público de Emerson al salir de sus conferencias.
«Spiritualist Cora Wilburn echoed the claims of her more sophisticated Transcendentalist predecessors.» — según Braude, Cora Wilburn repetía en clave espiritista las tesis de sus predecesores trascendentalistas.
«Like the Transcendentalists, she found “great and noble truths … in the Scriptures of all nations” but rejected the possibility of an “infallible and closed revelation” because she found it incompatible with “human progression.”» — el contenido de esa repetición: verdades grandes en las escrituras de todas las naciones, y rechazo de una revelación infalible y cerrada por incompatible con el progreso humano.
«Both movements based their metaphysics on the immanence of God in nature and in the human soul.» — el suelo común que les encuentra: la inmanencia de Dios en la naturaleza y en el alma.
«Emerson’s Nature, like Andrew Jackson Davis’s Principles of Nature, was originally assumed to be the work of a Swedenborgian.» — el detalle de recepción que ilustra ese parentesco: los dos libros se atribuyeron al principio a un swedenborgiano.
«Transcendentalist editor William Henry Channing thought the appeal of the two movements similar enough to purchase the subscription list of Andrew Jackson Davis’s Univercœlum when he embarked on the publication of The Spirit of the Age, which superseded both the first Spiritualist periodical and The Harbinger, the organ of the Transcendentalist Brook Farm community,» — según Braude, Channing tenía los dos públicos por bastante parecidos como para comprar la lista de suscriptores del Univercœlum de Davis.
«While direct communication with individual spirits struck Emerson as a vulgar distortion of the message of Transcendentalism, it struck many Americans as concrete proof of the immanence of God and as a literal interpretation of Emerson’s advice to seek truth within their own souls.» — la divergencia que consigna sin armonizar: a Emerson la comunicación con espíritus le parecía distorsión vulgar de su mensaje, y a muchos estadounidenses prueba concreta de la inmanencia.
«But, in the process, the new movement made itself reprehensible to some of its most important philosophical forebears.» — y el costo de esa popularización: el movimiento se hizo reprobable para algunos de sus antecesores filosóficos.
«Spiritualism drew many followers from religious groups that “held some liberal or attenuated Christian doctrine,” such as Unitarians, Universalists, and Quakers.» — de dónde salían sus adeptos, según ella: de los grupos con doctrina cristiana liberal o atenuada.
«In contrast to evangelical denominations whose theology Spiritualists attacked head-on, investigators from liberal groups found in the manifestations evidence for what they already believed.» — y por qué: los investigadores de esos grupos hallaban en las manifestaciones evidencia de lo que ya creían.
«Spirit communications provided Unitarians with confirmation for their rejection of eternal damnation, Universalists found in them confirmation of the doctrine of universal salvation, and Quakers saw them as a concrete illustration of the doctrine of the inner light.» — el reparto exacto de esa confirmación: para los unitarios el rechazo de la condenación eterna, para los universalistas la salvación universal, para los cuáqueros la luz interior.
«Podmore went on to claim that “no religious body gave a larger contingent to the new faith than the Universalists.”» — según Braude, Frank Podmore afirmaba que ningún cuerpo religioso aportó a la fe nueva un contingente mayor que los universalistas.
«Winthrop Hudson, writing in the 1960s, concurred with Podmore, concluding that Universalism never completely recovered from the enthusiasm shown for Spiritualism among both its clergy and its laity» — y Winthrop Hudson concordaba en los años sesenta del siglo XX: el universalismo nunca se repuso del todo.
«Universalist minister Olympia Brown reported in the 1870s that “half of Universalist ministers are Spiritualists and make no secret of it.”» — el dato con que se mide eso desde dentro: la ministra universalista Olympia Brown contaba en los años setenta que la mitad de los ministros de su iglesia eran espiritistas y no lo ocultaban.
«Rev. N. Gunnison opined that Spiritualism was “dying out” in 1869.» — la opinión contraria que Braude pone al lado sin arbitrar: el reverendo Gunnison lo daba por moribundo en 1869.
«Yet even Gunnison’s claim that the heterodox faith was on the decline confirms that Spiritualism had indeed flourished among Universalist clergy and that it continued to be a point of controversy» — y lo que ella lee en esa misma opinión: que declarara su decadencia confirma que había florecido entre el clero universalista.
«Universalist leader Rev. T. Starr King thought Spiritualism important enough within Universalism to address it in an 1858 sermon entitled “The meaning and methods of communication with the Spiritual World.”» — otro indicio del mismo peso: T. Starr King le dedicó un sermón entero en 1858.
«The Spiritualist Banner of Light applauded the sermon but criticized its failure to openly condone Spiritualism.» — y la reacción del Banner of Light, que aplaudió el sermón y le reprochó no aprobar abiertamente el espiritismo.
«No other denomination would have felt compelled to specify the particular type of Spiritualist teaching that it prohibited, as most churches would brook no Spiritualism of any kind» — el indicio que Braude extrae de una resolución universalista: solo una iglesia con espiritistas dentro necesitaría precisar qué tipo de enseñanza espiritista prohíbe.
«Even this mild prohibition, however, failed, and the convention ultimately left it to each church to decide about Spiritualist teachings independently.» — y la suerte de esa prohibición suave, que acabó dejando la decisión a cada iglesia.
«Only a strong Spiritualist presence within the denomination could have resulted in such an action.» — la inferencia que saca de todo el episodio.
«The Harvard-trained Unitarian minister Herman Snow transferred his allegiance from William Ellery Channing to the spirits during a winter spent at the Spiritualist-leaning Hopedale community and published a volume on “spirit-intercourse.”» — el caso unitario que documenta: Herman Snow, formado en Harvard, pasó de Channing a los espíritus en un invierno en Hopedale.
«He subsequently resumed his ministry, called by a Unitarian congregation fully aware of his unorthodox views.» — y el dato que a Braude le importa: volvió al ministerio llamado por una congregación que conocía sus opiniones.
«Although Spiritualism shared important doctrines with liberal Christian denominations, to hold these views in conjunction with belief in spirit communication was very different from holding them without it.» — la distinción que impide confundir al espiritismo con el cristianismo liberal: sostener esas doctrinas junto con la creencia en la comunicación con los espíritus no es lo mismo que sostenerlas sin ella.
«Spiritualists viewed liberal theology as a necessary but insufficient basis for religious faith.» — y cómo veían los propios espiritistas a la teología liberal: base necesaria y no suficiente.
«Even those introduced to Spiritualism by the philosophical writing of Andrew Jackson Davis looked for manifestations to confirm what they read.» — el orden que documenta en la práctica: hasta quien llegaba por los escritos de Davis buscaba manifestaciones que confirmaran lo leído.
«Séances provided two features that no amount of philosophy could offer: an opportunity to seek communication with spirits of those one had known while alive and an empirical demonstration of the doctrines Davis taught» — las dos cosas que la sesión daba y la filosofía no: la ocasión de hablar con un conocido muerto y una demostración empírica.
«However philosophical some Spiritualists might wax, manifestations formed the foundation of the new faith.» — el orden de fundamentación que fija: por filosóficos que se pusieran, el cimiento eran las manifestaciones.
«Andrew Jackson Davis himself dated the “external” beginning of Spiritualism to the Hydesville rappings.» — y el respaldo que toma del propio Davis, que fechaba el comienzo externo del movimiento en los golpes de Hydesville.
«The world grows dark with us,” Horace Greeley confided to Margaret Fuller following the death of his five-year-old son in 1849.» — según Braude, así escribía Greeley a Margaret Fuller tras la muerte de su hijo de cinco años.
«Greeley later attributed the attempt to reach Pickie through Spiritualism to his wife, who “talked to dear Pickie daily for weeks when Catherine Fox was with her.”» — y a quién atribuía después el intento de alcanzarlo: a su esposa, que habló con el niño a diario durante semanas.
«Patriarch Lyman Beecher, one of the best-known evangelists of the early nineteenth century and father of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher, described heaven as a place of great beauty, where individuals would retain characteristics and proclivities of their earthly personalities.» — el caso Beecher, que le sirve para mostrar que la expectativa de reencuentro no era exclusiva del espiritismo.
«Caskey argues that the Beechers’ Spiritualism resulted from the persistence into the nineteenth century of their Calvinist anxiety about the fate of the soul after death.» — la explicación que Marie Caskey da del espiritismo de los Beecher, y que Braude consigna como de ella: la persistencia de la ansiedad calvinista por el destino del alma.
«Although death rates fell throughout the nineteenth century, or perhaps because of it, a cultural preoccupation with death and mourning flourished.» — la paradoja demográfica que registra: las tasas de mortalidad bajaban y la preocupación cultural por la muerte florecía.
«Death presented a greater cosmological problem for emerging worldviews that emphasized human agency than for earlier visions based solidly on the sovereignty of God.» — por qué la muerte pesaba más en las visiones nuevas: dan más lugar a la agencia humana que las asentadas en la soberanía de Dios.
«Urbanization and industrialization transformed death from an event that deprived the community of a unique social actor into a personal loss felt only by family and friends.» — el cambio social que acompaña a esa carga: la muerte deja de privar a la comunidad de un actor y pasa a ser pérdida privada.
«Death also challenged romantic outlooks that viewed nature as benign and harmonious.» — y el tercer flanco: la muerte desafiaba a la mirada romántica que tenía la naturaleza por benigna y armónica.
«In “To My Spirit-Brother,” Spiritualist poet Fanny Green asked the questions that bothered many Americans.» — según Braude, la poeta espiritista Fanny Green formulaba en verso las preguntas que inquietaban a muchos.
«Spiritualists not only asserted the possibility of hearing the dead speak but proposed this as the normative religious experience.» — el paso que distingue al espiritismo de la mera esperanza de reencuentro: no solo afirmaba que se puede oír hablar a los muertos, sino que proponía eso como la experiencia religiosa normativa.
«“Believe not that what is called death is a final termination to human existence, nor that the change is so entire as to alter or destroy the constitutional peculiarities of the individual,” wrote Andrew Jackson Davis, “but believe righteously, that death causes as much alteration in the condition of the individual as the bursting of a rose-bud causes in the condition and situation of the flower.”» — según Braude, así lo formulaba Davis: la muerte no termina la existencia ni altera las peculiaridades del individuo.
«“Death,” said Henry Ward Beecher, “is only God’s call, ‘Come home.’”» — la fórmula de Henry Ward Beecher que pone al lado, para mostrar hasta dónde había llegado ya la teología liberal.
«While Spiritualists were criticized for their materialistic portrayal of life after death, churchgoers across the country enthusiastically peered through The Gates Ajar to see the apple trees and meadows of a heaven that looked very much like the New England village of novelist Elizabeth Stuart Phelps’s girlhood.» — la asimetría que consigna: se reprochaba a los espiritistas su retrato materialista del más allá mientras el país entero leía The Gates Ajar.
«Spiritualist surveyor John Shoebridge Williams provided the plan for the new Oak Dale Cemetery in Urbana, Ohio, in 1856, clearly indicating the innovations that made a rural cemetery a place of spiritual uplift.» — el caso material del cambio funerario: el agrimensor espiritista John Shoebridge Williams trazó en 1856 el cementerio rural de Oak Dale, en Urbana.
«If, as Davis claimed, “Death is but a Birth of the Spirit from a lower into a higher state,” then it did not justify mourning.» — la consecuencia práctica que Braude saca de la doctrina de Davis: si la muerte es nacimiento del espíritu, no justifica el luto.
«In his final condemnation of American attitudes toward death, Davis described it as infinitely preferable to a loveless marriage:» — y hasta dónde llevaba Davis esa condena de las actitudes estadounidenses ante la muerte.
«Spiritualists responded to Davis’s advice by wearing white at funerals and by transforming internments into events that emphasized continuity rather than the finality of death.» — lo que hicieron los espiritistas con ese consejo: blanco en los funerales y entierros que subrayaban la continuidad.
«Instead of delivering eulogies, mediums who presided at funerals delivered messages from the deceased, often describing the journey away from earth, the beautiful destination at which the spirit arrived, and its continued love and concern for survivors.» — y cómo cambiaba el propio rito: en vez de elogio fúnebre, la médium daba el mensaje del difunto.
«Andrew Jackson Davis attributed conventional mourning practices to the false teaching that death caused the annihilation of the individual personality.» — a qué achacaba Davis las prácticas de luto convencionales: a la enseñanza falsa de que la muerte aniquila la personalidad.
«“Could you but turn your gaze from the lifeless body, which no longer answers to your look of love; and could your spiritual eyes be opened; you would behold—standing in your midst—a form, the same, but more beautiful, and living!” he told his readers.» — y la exhortación con que lo decía a sus lectores.
«Few Americans would have objected to the response non-Spiritualist author Sarah Payson Willis (Fanny Fern) gave to a “broken Hearted mother” who asked for “a word to comfort me for the death of my baby.”» — el ejemplo con que Braude muestra que el consuelo espiritista no era exclusivo suyo: la respuesta de Fanny Fern, que no era espiritista, a una madre rota.
«Willis replied in words that any Spiritualist might utter. “But one thing I know,” she wrote, “that in the other world your baby and mine will know us—their mothers, else God were not God.”» — y la fórmula que empleó, que cualquier espiritista podría haber dicho.
«Leader William Hayden noted that orthodox clergy often sounded like Spiritualists when consoling the bereaved, assuring them that the deceased “are not gone, but often with you, watching over you and loving you, far more than ever before, coming to you in the still hours of the night, with sweet words of comfort and hope.”» — según Braude, el dirigente William Hayden hacía notar que el clero ortodoxo sonaba a espiritista al consolar a los deudos.
«But, Hayden complained, “the very moment you say to them that you have realized the sublime truth of their teachings, that you have communicated with the dear ones, whose bright dwellings are on the glorious hills of heaven … they look at you to see if you are not mad, and assure you that it is all wicked delusion … the work of the devil.”» — y su queja: bastaba decirles que uno se había comunicado de veras para que lo llamaran obra del diablo.
«The angels in the Bible cited by Spiritualists as evidence for their faith were not actually spirits of the dead but rather a distinct order of beings created by God.» — la objeción escrituraria que Braude consigna contra el argumento bíblico de los espiritistas: los ángeles de la Biblia no son espíritus de muertos.
«In fact, it was used to criticize Spiritualism as demonic because of the popular identification of the woman who contacted the spirit of Samuel as the “Witch of Endor.”» — y el uso contrario que se le daba al pasaje que sí es de comunicación con un muerto, por la identificación popular con la bruja de Endor.
«Although overall death rates declined, epidemics of cholera and diphtheria occurred every ten years or so, reminding Americans that death could suddenly appear in the midst of any family» — el correctivo que pone a la baja de la mortalidad: cada diez años una epidemia recordaba que la muerte podía caer en cualquier casa.
«‘Equals Rights’ is my motto,” declared the medium Elizabeth Kingsbury in 1857.» — según Braude, así se declaraba la médium Elizabeth Kingsbury en 1857.
«But she found that “Woman has been so long subject to customs degrading to herself, that neither she nor the men are sensible where, and to what extent, they [equal rights] exist!”» — y el diagnóstico que le seguía: la costumbre degradante ha durado tanto que ni ella ni los hombres perciben dónde y hasta dónde existen esos derechos.
«When Spiritualists applied their individualist convictions to women’s situation, they found a need for drastic changes to allow women to express their true natures as human beings.» — el mecanismo que Braude describe en este capítulo: al aplicar sus convicciones individualistas a la situación de la mujer, los espiritistas hallaban necesarios cambios drásticos.
«They denounced the authority of churches over believers, of governments over citizens, of doctors over patients, of masters over slaves, and, most of all, of men over women.» — la lista de autoridades que denunciaban, con la que encabeza el orden: la de los hombres sobre las mujeres.
«Their faith was antithetical to institutional religion because it asserted that truth came directly to the individual without mediation by minister, Bible, or church.» — por qué esa fe resultaba antitética de la religión institucional: la verdad llega al individuo sin mediación de ministro, Biblia ni iglesia.
«Unlike church attendance, which reinforced the worshiper’s identity as a member of a congregation, attending a séance was an intensely individual action.» — y el contraste práctico entre ir a la iglesia y asistir a una sesión.
«Spiritualists believed, as one advocate put it, that “woman’s freedom is the world’s redemption.”» — la fórmula con que un propagandista resumía la posición del movimiento: la libertad de la mujer es la redención del mundo.
«While not all feminists were Spiritualists, all Spiritualists advocated woman’s rights.» — la asimetría central del libro, repetida aquí como premisa del capítulo.
«According to the Spiritualist press, Mary Love had “consecrated her life—her all for the redemption of her sex.”» — según Braude, así presentaba la prensa espiritista a Mary Love.
«“In point of pleasing oratory,” observers found her “even more acceptable” than her husband.» — y el juicio comparativo de los oyentes, que la ponían por encima de su marido como oradora.
«“Spiritualism has inaugurated the era of woman,” Mary Davis» — la declaración de Mary Davis que Braude cita; el verbatim se corta donde el troceo cambia de renglón.
«Since that time Spiritualism has promoted the cause of woman more than any other movement,” Davis explained.» — y su continuación, que adjudica al espiritismo más impulso a la causa de la mujer que a cualquier otro movimiento.
«Spiritualist conventions called for the “Emancipation of women from all legal and social disabilities.”» — lo que las convenciones espiritistas resolvían en materia de derechos.
«Three of this group, Amy Post, her sister Sarah Hallowell, and Sarah Fish, made the historic recommendation that the Rochester Woman’s Rights Convention elect a female president.» — el episodio con que documenta el peso de las espiritistas en el movimiento: la propuesta de Rochester de elegir presidenta mujer.
«When this group made the unprecedented proposal that a woman preside over the convention, Mott and Stanton “stoutly opposed it” as “a most hazardous experiment” and urged the election of Lucretia’s husband, James.» — y la resistencia que encontró, que a Braude le interesa por venir de donde viene: Mott y Stanton la tuvieron por experimento arriesgado.
«The convention threatened to break up, but, after convincing reassurances from Amy Post and Rhoda De Garmo about the ability of women to preside at conventions, Abigail Bush was elected and took the chair.» — el desenlace, que atribuye a las seguridades de Amy Post y Rhoda De Garmo.
«She recorded in her diary that “Spiritualism as usual [was] the principle topic” when she dined with a group of Quaker abolitionists and woman’s rights pioneers at the Philadelphia home of Lucretia Mott in 1854.» — según Braude, Susan B. Anthony anotó en su diario que el espiritismo era el tema de siempre en casa de Lucretia Mott.
«The early woman’s rights movement, like Spiritualism, drew both inspiration and leadership from the left wing of the movement for the abolition of slavery.» — el origen común que les encuentra: los dos toman inspiración y dirigentes del ala izquierda del abolicionismo.
«Radical abolitionists, in turn, found in Spiritualism a religion in harmony with their individualist principles.» — y el movimiento inverso: los abolicionistas radicales hallaban en el espiritismo una religión afín a su individualismo.
«They opposed slavery because it depended on the unjust usurpation of the individual autonomy of one person by another, and they found the same injustice in the relations between men and women and in the dogmatic teachings of the churches.» — el principio único del que derivaban las dos oposiciones: la usurpación injusta de la autonomía de una persona por otra.
«The issue of women’s public participation split the abolition movement.» — el punto de ruptura del abolicionismo.
«The evangelically inclined conservative group argued that assigning public roles to women was so controversial that it would detract from the achievement of freedom for the slave.» — el argumento del bando conservador: dar papeles públicos a las mujeres restaría fuerza a la libertad del esclavo.
«The more radical followers of William Lloyd Garrison believed that they were fighting for freedom as an ideal and that denying it to women would not hasten its approach for slaves.» — y el del bando garrisoniano, que Braude consigna sin arbitrar entre ambos.
«Spiritualist reformers found adherence to prescribed gender roles inconsistent with the principle of individual sovereignty.» — dónde se situaban los reformadores espiritistas en esa disputa.
«“Let every woman, who feels the chains imposed on her by tyrant custom, resolve to break them, cost her what it may,” declared Miss S. Hill, writing on “Individualism” in the Agitator, a Spiritualist periodical.» — según Braude, así escribía Miss S. Hill sobre el individualismo en el periódico espiritista Agitator.
«She enjoined women to disregard customs that limited their freedom to follow their own consciences.» — el contenido de esa exhortación.
«“Let man too, the slave of passion, of prejudice, and of ignorance, become his own sovereign,” she proposed.» — y su simetría, que Braude no omite: también el hombre, esclavo de la pasión y del prejuicio, ha de hacerse su propio soberano.
«Society’s notions of appropriate behavior for men and women should not be allowed to preempt the divine order expressed in human nature.» — el principio que sostiene esa exhortación: la noción social de conducta apropiada no debe adelantarse al orden divino expresado en la naturaleza humana.
«Radical abolitionists agreed with Romantics and Transcendentalists that the church, the clergy, and the Bible were so many enslavers of the human spirit.» — la posición que atribuye a los abolicionistas radicales: iglesia, clero y Biblia como esclavizadores del espíritu.
«They also believed that individualist principles required constant agitation in order to effect a transformation of society.» — y la táctica que se seguía de ella: agitación constante.
«While the more moderate majority of reformers based their programs on Christian teachings, radicals urged men and women of conscience to “come out” from the churches.» — el deslinde interno del reformismo: los moderados fundaban su programa en la enseñanza cristiana y los radicales urgían a salirse de las iglesias.
«They viewed the churches as corrupt because their failure to take a stand against the ungodly institution of slavery proved them untrue to Christian principles.» — el argumento con que se justificaba esa salida.
«The Garrisonian critique of the churches stemmed from Christian perfectionism, the doctrine that it is possible to attain complete freedom from sin in this life.» — de dónde venía la crítica garrisoniana: del perfeccionismo cristiano, que tiene por posible librarse del pecado en esta vida.
«Perfectionism contrasted with the orthodox view that we are bound to sin as long as we are bound to our bodies.» — y contra qué se recortaba: la visión ortodoxa que ata al pecado mientras se esté atado al cuerpo.
«Their rejection of the churches was a rejection not of religion but rather of the corruption of religion.» — la precisión que Braude hace del alcance de ese rechazo.
«Lucy Coleman recalled that, when she became a Spiritualist, she gave up the church “more because of its complicity with slavery than from a full understanding of the foolishness of its creed» — según Braude, Lucy Coleman recordaba haber dejado la iglesia más por su complicidad con la esclavitud que por entender lo necio de su credo.
«It asked abolitionists to take a religious stand against the churches, the clergy, and the Bible, but it offered nothing in place of these cherished institutions.» — el hueco que la crítica garrisoniana dejaba abierto.
«The religious anarchism of Spiritualism provided a positive religious expression that harmonized with the extreme individualism of radical reform.» — y lo que el espiritismo venía a llenar, según su tesis: una expresión religiosa positiva acorde con ese individualismo.
«The fullest elaboration of the radical critique of established religion found expression in the New England Non-Resistance Society, founded by abolitionists whose moral encounter with slavery led them to condemn any institution based on the use of force.» — dónde halló su forma más acabada esa crítica: en la New England Non-Resistance Society.
«They took their name from their extreme pacifist position, which condemned the use of force even in self-defense.» — de dónde le venía el nombre: condenaban la fuerza incluso en defensa propia.
«Nonresistants found immoral attempts at coercion in virtually everything associated with Protestant religious practice: in the hierarchies of denominations, in the exercise of discipline over church members, in the power of the clergy, and in the use of the Bible as the test of truth.» — y hasta dónde extendían la noción de coerción dentro de la práctica protestante.
«They coined the term self-sovereignty to describe the state of absolute individual autonomy they believed to be God’s intention for every person.» — el término que acuñaron para nombrar la autonomía individual absoluta que tenían por designio de Dios.
«Consistent application of the principle of self-sovereignty that emerged from the struggle against slavery required a complete transformation of the existing power relations between men and women.» — y la consecuencia que Braude le saca: aplicado con consistencia, exige transformar por entero la relación de poder entre hombres y mujeres.
«“Quakerism furnishes a good substratum for steady and permanent progress in reform,” observed Alfred and Anne Denton Cridge,» — según Braude, los Cridge tenían al cuaquerismo por buen sustrato del progreso reformista sostenido.
«they all claimed to be throwing off the authority and formalism of superior church bodies to return to the liberty and simplicity of primitive Quakerism.”» — la fórmula con que el historiador Albert J. Wahl resume lo que esos grupos decían de sí mismos.
«Spiritualism was the “ruling element” at the 1856 Michigan Yearly Meeting, where Henry C. Wright played a prominent role.» — el dato con que mide la penetración: el espiritismo era el elemento dominante en la reunión anual de Michigan de 1856.
«the same group resolved that “modern Spiritualism had promoted human progress, physically and spiritually.”» — y lo que ese mismo grupo resolvió sobre el espiritismo moderno.
«Thomas Went-worth Higginson spoke in support, “presenting an outline of the argument which satisfied his own mind that the so-called spirit manifestations are genuine.”» — según Braude, Higginson habló a favor exponiendo el argumento que a él lo satisfacía sobre la autenticidad de las manifestaciones; la fuente imprime su apellido partido.
«Finally, the meeting adopted a testimony that condemned opposition to investigation and expressed gratitude for “the power [Spiritualism] is exerting to break up sectarianism, enlighten individual minds, and elevate the lives of many.”» — el testimonio que la reunión adoptó: condena de la oposición a investigar y gratitud por el poder del espiritismo para romper el sectarismo.
«The Quaker historian Allen C. Thomas found no record of meetings of Progressive Friends after 1865 and attributed their demise to the abolition of slavery, which he believed put an end to their reason for being» — la explicación que el historiador cuáquero Allen C. Thomas da de la desaparición de los Progressive Friends, y que Braude consigna como suya.
«They arranged their fourteenth annual meeting so that “those wishing to attend both this and the annual spiritualist meeting in Buffalo can do so in one trip.”» — el detalle logístico con que documenta la superposición de los dos movimientos.
«In 1869, when mediums were under attack, they passed a resolution in their support.» — y la resolución de apoyo a las médiums que aprobaron en 1869.
«They found their three-day conference inadequate for the full examination of their many concerns.» — el detalle con que Braude mide la amplitud de la agenda reformista de esas reuniones.
«The 1857 Michigan Yearly Meeting of Progressive Friends claimed that its resolutions embodied “the highest ideals of the friends on nearly all the subdivisions of Progress” during their four-day meeting» — y lo que la reunión de Michigan de 1857 decía de sus propias resoluciones.
«The Friends of Human Progress joined in the condemnation of the churches as agents of oppression in general and as oppressors of women and slaves in particular.» — la condena de las iglesias que compartían: opresoras en general y de mujeres y esclavos en particular.
«A speaker then made “a very strong speech,” in which she argued that “women were in an enslaved and crushed condition, and that the ‘Old Theology’ was responsible for it” because the Bible and the church “taught that man was far superior to woman.”» — según Braude, una oradora imputaba a la Teología Antigua la condición esclavizada de las mujeres.
«According to the Waterloo Friends, any attempt to base reform on the established churches was “in the first place … a piece of arrogance intensely narrow and Romish; and in the next … a wild hallucination, and an utter futility.”» — el juicio de los Amigos de Waterloo sobre cualquier reforma fundada en las iglesias establecidas.
«The Spiritualist network, including Progressive Friends, assembled large audiences for promoters of radical causes.» — la función que Braude atribuye a esa red y que es su argumento del capítulo: reunía grandes públicos para las causas radicales.
«A large convention in Providence, Rhode Island, found that “all departments of human improvement and practical reform come legitimately within the scope of a broad Spiritualism” because “the present selfish and antagonistic relations of society are unsuited to a higher spiritual condition.”» — la resolución de Providence que mete toda mejora humana dentro del alcance de un espiritismo amplio.
«The Providence meeting then adopted resolutions addressing a variety of specific reforms because “spiritual growth and welfare depends on [one’s] physical health and surroundings.”» — y el argumento que unía reforma social y doctrina: el crecimiento espiritual depende de la salud y el entorno físicos.
«Abby Kelly Foster, the abolitionist and feminist agitator, “rejoiced to see that the tendency of Spiritualism was to elevate woman.”» — según Braude, Abby Kelly Foster celebraba que el espiritismo tendiera a elevar a la mujer.
«The Rutland Free Convention of 1858, remembered by reformers as one of the great radical events of the period, illustrated both the central position of Spiritualists within the radical audience and their role in keeping woman’s rights central to the radical agenda.» — el episodio que le sirve de prueba mayor: la Rutland Free Convention de 1858.
«“I am just returned from attending one of the largest and most important Reformatory Conventions ever held in this or any other country,” wrote the non-Spiritualist» — cómo la recordaba un asistente que no era espiritista; el verbatim se corta donde el troceo cambia de renglón.
«It resolved that “the authority of each individual soul is absolute and final” and condemned “the individual, the Church or the State, that attempts to control the opinions or practices of any man or woman by an authority or power outside of his or her own soul.”» — la primera resolución de Rutland: la autoridad de cada alma es absoluta y final.
«The convention affirmed the truth of Spiritualism in its third resolution, nestled» — el lugar que la afirmación del espiritismo ocupaba en el orden de resoluciones; el verbatim se corta donde el troceo cambia de renglón.
«A strong woman’s rights resolution asserted that because of her individual autonomy woman should be placed “politically, educationally, industrially and socially on perfect equality with man.”» — la resolución de derechos de la mujer, derivada de esa autonomía individual: igualdad perfecta en lo político, lo educativo, lo industrial y lo social.
«The convention found that belief in “spirit-intercourse is opposed to all despotism, impurity and sensualism, and conduces to the only authority consistent with the human soul, or favorable to sound morality.”» — y la que responde por adelantado al reproche de inmoralidad.
«Resolved, That the slavery and degradation of woman proceed from the institution of marriage; that by the marriage contract, she looses control of her name, her person, her property, her labor, her affections, her children, and her freedom.» — la resolución sobre el matrimonio, que Braude cita entera porque es la que dará título al capítulo quinto.
«The assembly vetoed Parker Pillsbury’s motion to subject Andrew Jackson Davis’s lecture on Spiritualism to the same ten-minute limit applied to other speakers.» — el detalle de procedimiento con que mide el peso de los espiritistas en la convención.
«Davis used his time to argue that “belief in Spiritualism is simply the door to … acceptance of the various reforms for which this Convention has assembled.”» — según Braude, Davis usó ese tiempo para sostener que la creencia en el espiritismo es la puerta a las reformas allí reunidas.
«Only the indomitable atheist, Ernestine Rose, argued that Spiritualism was incompatible with the convention’s reform objectives.» — y la única voz discordante, que Braude consigna sin armonizar: la atea Ernestine Rose.
«On Sunday, Mary Fenn Davis spoke on “Freedom, without distinction of sex” to an audience so large that it “could be accommodated» — según Braude, Mary Fenn Davis habló allí sobre la libertad sin distinción de sexo ante un público enorme; el verbatim se corta en el cambio de plana.
«The majority concurred with the convention’s resolution that Spiritualism and radical reform expressed complementary aspects of the single goal of human progress.» — el resultado de la disputa de Rutland: la mayoría tuvo al espiritismo y a la reforma radical por caras de una misma meta.
«He expressed his willingness to listen to other reforms, although he viewed Spiritualism as “the foundation on which all reforms must rest” because “no man or woman can be a true Spiritualist who does not believe in the abolition of all slavery, whether of the mind or the body.”» — según Braude, un orador de New Hampshire se decía dispuesto a oír otras reformas y tenía al espiritismo por fundamento de todas.
«One might believe in both, but partisans urged that, as a matter of expediency, one or the other must be put first.» — la forma que tomaba la disputa: no era de compatibilidad sino de prioridad.
«Many reformers believed in Spiritualism but rarely identified themselves with the movement, focusing their public activities first on abolition and second on woman’s rights» — y el reparto de prioridades que documenta: muchos creían y casi nunca se identificaban en público con el movimiento.
«Although he claimed that “nothing but want of time” prevented him from accepting the many invitations he received to speak on Spiritualism, he took exception to the content of Spiritualist lectures.» — el caso de Higginson, que atribuía a la falta de tiempo su ausencia de las tribunas espiritistas y objetaba el contenido de sus conferencias.
«“Undoubtedly the facts of Spiritualism are the most important yet launched upon the history of humanity,” Higginson concluded» — su juicio sobre los hechos del espiritismo, que Braude cita entero para que se vea la tensión; el verbatim se corta donde el troceo cambia de renglón.
«But the philosophy of Spiritualism is not yet born, and the more boldly one talks about it, the less attention he usually deserves.» — y su reverso, en la misma frase: la filosofía del espiritismo no ha nacido todavía.
«Radicals may not have cared for the metaphysical excesses of some Spiritualists, but their distaste was insufficient to dispel their faith in a religion that harmonized so well with their social and political ideas.» — la lectura que Braude hace de esa ambivalencia: el disgusto por los excesos metafísicos no bastaba para disolver la afinidad social y política.
«In spite of reservations, Pillsbury and Ernestine Rose shared the platform with Spiritualists repeatedly during the 1850s and 1860s.» — la prueba práctica de eso: Pillsbury y Ernestine Rose compartieron tribuna con espiritistas una y otra vez.
«Spiritualist meetings were large and frequent and provided an important platform for radicals, who were invited to speak freely whether they were Spiritualists or not.» — y la razón material que lo explica: las reuniones espiritistas eran grandes y frecuentes y daban tribuna libre a los radicales.
«In the 1870s, Pillsbury still frequented Spiritualist conventions and claimed that he had always been a friend of the movement.» — el dato con que cierra el caso Pillsbury.
«Garrison defended Sunderland’s character, finding that his “course [regarding Spiritualism] has been disinterested, upright and honorable,” but confirmed that Sunderland “has not been visible, as a public labourer, in the anti-slavery cause, for several years (having devoted himself with enthusiastic zeal to scientific investigations and experiments)» — según Braude, Garrison defendió la conducta de Sunderland en lo tocante al espiritismo y confirmó a la vez que se había apartado de la causa antiesclavista.
«She explained to the black abolitionist Spiritualist William Cooper Nell that “she considered antislavery included in her spiritualism.”» — la fórmula con que una espiritista resolvía el conflicto de prioridades ante el abolicionista negro William Cooper Nell.
«“My friend Mrs. Post, as well as myself, was a Spiritualist, but we could see no propriety in turning an Abolition meeting into an ‘experience meeting’ for Spirits,” Coleman complained.» — y la queja contraria, que Braude pone al lado sin armonizar: Lucy Coleman, espiritista ella misma, no veía propio convertir una reunión abolicionista en sesión.
«Even the veteran Henry C. Wright seemed to have lost all zeal for the slave, saying that now the spirits would, without doubt, bring the emancipation of the race; just as the Christian would have said, ‘God will in his own good time, take care of the slave.’» — el reproche que se le hacía hasta al veterano Henry C. Wright: fiar la emancipación a los espíritus.
«The Banner’s defense of the legal rights of slaveholders may have sustained subscriptions in the South, but it drew criticism from the abolitionists who were a vocal part of the Spiritualist public.» — la posición del Banner of Light sobre los derechos legales de los esclavistas y el costo que le trajo.
«“I solemnly protest, as a Spiritualist,” wrote antislavery activist E. R. Place, “against the Spiritualism that could utter, or that can endorse the sentiments quoted above.”» — según Braude, así protestaba el activista antiesclavista E. R. Place desde dentro del movimiento.
«Editor Luther Colby responded with a plea that politics be kept out of religion, a cry heard often from other churches but only rarely from Spiritualists.» — y la respuesta del director Luther Colby, que Braude señala como rara entre espiritistas: dejar la política fuera de la religión.
«The opening editorial condemned “any serial or journal … which, because lacking something, either in purse or principle, attempts to maintain positions of amiable neutrality on questions of great moment to mankind.”» — el editorial de apertura del periódico rival, que condena justamente esa neutralidad.
«They warned Davis that he had ended his usefulness to Spiritualism in the South.» — el aviso que le llegó a Davis por tomar partido.
«Although neutrality on abolition was good business, judging from the Banner of Light’s stability and wide circulation, activists supported a host of smaller, more daring papers.» — el balance económico que saca del asunto, con su límite dicho: la neutralidad rendía, y los militantes sostenían a un enjambre de periódicos más audaces.
«Although woman’s rights agitators held their own conventions during this period, the women who led these meetings remained a subgroup within the abolition movement.» — y la posición institucional del movimiento de la mujer en esos años.
«When Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony immediately formed the Women’s Loyal League to lobby for a constitutional amendment outlawing slavery.» — el contexto político del giro: firmada la Proclamación de Emancipación, Stanton y Anthony fundan la Women’s Loyal League.
«Although Spiritualists universally condemned slavery, their organizational independence from abolition allowed them to assert that woman’s rights should be the preeminent reform» — la ventaja de posición que Braude atribuye a los espiritistas: su independencia organizativa del abolicionismo les dejaba poner los derechos de la mujer por delante.
«As one male Spiritualist put it, he wanted “equality for all before the law, regardless of sex or color (and I place woman before the Negro).”» — una de las formulaciones de esa prioridad, que Braude cita sin suavizar el paréntesis.
«“The woman of refined sensibilities, more than the stolid slave of the south, needs emancipation,” wrote the editor of the Social Revolutionist.» — otra, del director del Social Revolutionist, en los mismos términos comparativos.
«Trance speaker Warren Chase, member of the Wisconsin legislature in the early 1850s, concluded from his efforts to extend suffrage to blacks and women that “the slavery of women was deeper and mose lasting that that of Negroes in the hearts and prejudices of the people.”» — según Braude, el orador en trance Warren Chase sacaba esa conclusión de su intento legislativo de extender el sufragio a negros y mujeres.
«Mrs. H. M. F. Brown told a convention that white women endured the worst slavery, but the resolution she put before the assembly protested the slavery of both blacks and women.» — la divergencia interna que consigna sin armonizar: Brown decía en la tribuna que la peor esclavitud era la de las mujeres blancas, y la resolución que presentó protestaba por las dos.
«While Frederick Douglass implored equal rights advocates to make the years after the war “the Negro’s hour,” a reporter at a Spiritualist convention observed that “the interest and appreciation” shown Juliet Still-man’s woman’s rights speech “told plainer than words that now is woman’s hour, and she has but to work and wait for the harvest that is ripening, when she can gather for herself and her daughters the rich fruits of freedom, equality, and justice.”» — y el contraste directo con Douglass, que pedía que los años de posguerra fueran la hora del negro.
«Spiritualist agitators did not depend on the antislavery movement for resources or networks and did not determine their reform program in response to abolition.» — la explicación estructural de esa independencia.
«A typical speaker “protested against the ownership of souls” and called for “freedom for the black man and the white woman.”» — el otro lado de la misma tribuna: oradores que pedían libertad para el hombre negro y la mujer blanca a la vez.
«Even a speech by “a colored gentleman,” an unusual event at a Spiritualist convention, endorsed universal suffrage, enfranchising African Americans and women simultaneously» — y el dato que Braude no oculta al documentarlo: que hablara un caballero de color era inusual en una convención espiritista.
«Mediums often lectured on woman’s rights while in trance, and Spiritualism’s national speakers helped spread the new movement more widely than could the few abolitionist» — el mecanismo de difusión que subraya: las médiums daban conferencias sobre derechos de la mujer en trance, y los oradores nacionales del movimiento llegaban más lejos que los pocos abolicionistas.
«But an 1860 Spiritualist conference resolved that any abridgment of woman’s rights constituted “an unwarrantable assumption of power unbecoming of an enlightened people,” and Illinois Spiritualist conventions were a hotbed of woman’s rights agitation throughout the early 1860s.» — la resolución de 1860 que declara toda merma de derechos de la mujer una asunción de poder impropia de un pueblo ilustrado.
«The minutes of a large Spiritualist convention held in Chicago in 1865 reflect the prominence that Spiritualists gave to woman’s rights while much of the women’s movement was in abeyance during the Civil War years.» — las actas de Chicago de 1865, con que mide el lugar que los espiritistas daban al asunto mientras el movimiento de la mujer estaba en suspenso.
«The first speaker from the floor “spoke in favor of the elective franchise for woman, as the foundation of all future guarantees of rights.”» — y lo primero que se dijo desde el público: el voto femenino como fundamento de todas las garantías futuras.
«At the conclusion of Dr. Stillman’s lengthy indictment of tightlacing, petticoats, and insufficient exercise, the assistant secretary of the Society, Lois Waisbrooker, presented an opposing view.» — el desacuerdo interno que Braude conserva: tras el alegato de Stillman contra el corsé, Lois Waisbrooker presentó la posición contraria.
«She felt unable to withstand the additional ridicule heaped on those who wore the “American Dress,” composed, like the bloomer costume, of a shortened skirt over loose trousers» — y su motivo, dicho en primera persona: no se sentía capaz de aguantar el ridículo añadido de vestir el American Dress.
«Spiritualists not only kept woman’s rights before the public during the Civil War years but also provided for the expression of a diversity of opinions among agitators of the cause.» — el doble mérito que les reconoce: sostuvieron el asunto en público durante la guerra y dieron cauce a opiniones divergentes.
«Spiritualism provided a platform and a network of support for a relentless group of woman’s rights advocates who operated outside the mainstream of the women’s movement.» — la función que el capítulo entero documenta: tribuna y red de apoyo para militantes que operaban fuera de la corriente principal.
«In spite of their ardent dedication to the cause, Spiritualist woman’s rights agitators are strangely absent from the chronicles of the nineteenth-century women’s movement» — y la ausencia que le llama la atención: esas militantes faltan en las crónicas del movimiento.
«Mrs. H. F. M. Brown published the Agitator, a newspaper devoted to Spiritualism and woman’s rights, in Cleveland in the late 1850s.» — una de las militantes que nombra: Brown, que editaba en Cleveland un periódico dedicado al espiritismo y a los derechos de la mujer.
«Hannah Brown became an agent for Stanton and Anthony’s new paper, the Revolution, probably selling it in her bookstore, and Alcinda Wilhelm wrote exuberant praise for the new publication, but its editors left the activities of their Spiritualist coworkers unnoticed.» — el trato documentado entre unas y otras, que hace más rara la omisión.
«It is unclear whether the editors intentionally excluded Spiritualists from their account or whether they were simply unfamiliar with them.» — la abstención con que Braude se niega a decidir el motivo de la omisión.
«In either case, Spiritualists’ exclusion from the historical record did not reflect their impact at the time.» — y lo único que sí afirma: la exclusión del registro no mide su influencia de entonces.
«In their zeal for “self-ownership,” Spiritualists advocated a broad woman’s rights program, combating every disability imposed by church, state, or social convention.» — el alcance del programa que les atribuye, derivado del principio de propiedad de sí.
«Spiritualism’s greatest contribution to the crusade for woman’s rights probably lay in the new role of spirit medium.» — la tesis del capítulo cuarto, dicha con su *probably* a cuestas: el aporte mayor del espiritismo a los derechos de la mujer fue el papel de médium.
«While reformers talked about women’s autonomy, mediumship cast women in a central public role in the new religion.» — y su razón: mientras los reformadores hablaban de autonomía, la mediumnidad daba a las mujeres un papel público central.
«While this ideology held that women were especially suited to religion and that religion was especially important to women, it nevertheless required them to defer to men in all religious matters.» — la contradicción de la ideología dominante que el espiritismo aprovecha: la mujer es especialmente apta para la religión y a la vez debe deferir a los hombres en todo asunto religioso.
«Every Sunday women saw more of their sisters than their brothers in the churches they attended, yet they, the majority of members, were excluded from all decisions regarding church operations» — la forma práctica de esa contradicción: mayoría en los bancos y excluidas de toda decisión.
«The religious instruction of the young was entrusted to them in Sunday schools, but they were forbidden to speak out loud during regular services.» — y su reparto exacto: se les confía la escuela dominical y se les prohíbe hablar en el culto.
«Women’s spiritual prowess was affirmed, but they were still denied ordination or positions of authority in church organizations.» — el mismo reparto en materia de cargos.
«But, instead of concluding that the qualities that suited women to religion unsuited them to public roles, Spiritualism made the delicate constitution and nervous excitability commonly attributed to femininity a virtue and lauded it as a qualification for religious leadership» — el giro que el espiritismo le da: en vez de tomar esas cualidades como incapacidad para lo público, hace de la constitución delicada una credencial.
«If women had special spiritual sensitivities, then it followed that they could sense spirits, which is precisely what mediums did.» — la inferencia que Braude reconstruye, y que es la bisagra de todo el libro.
«“Women in the nineteenth century are physically sick, weak and declining,” wrote one Spiritualist leader.» — según Braude, así describía a la mujer un dirigente espiritista.
«Women did not consciously choose to be mediums.» — la precisión que impide leer la mediumnidad como estrategia: no se elegía conscientemente.
«While men might bar women from church councils or from theological education, human authority could not supersede that given to mediums by the spirits who spoke through them.» — y la consecuencia de autoridad que sí tenía: la autoridad humana no podía sobreponerse a la que los espíritus daban a la médium.
«communcation carried its own authority. If one accepted the message, one had little choice but to accept the medium.» — el mecanismo exacto de esa autoridad, que la fuente imprime con la errata *communcation*.
«Trance Speakers Spiritualism departed from accepted social norms by encouraging women to speak in public, but the manner in which they spoke had a cultural significance of its own.» — el matiz que abre la sección de las oradoras en trance: hablar en público rompía la norma, y el modo de hablar significaba por su cuenta.
«But speakers observed a rigorous sexual division of labor.» — la división que documenta en el estrado.
«In contrast, the women at the podium were unconscious.» — y en qué consistía.
«Mediums presented not their own views but those of the spirits who spoke through them.» — lo que se decía del contenido de esas conferencias.
«The juxtaposition of men officiating at large assemblies with unconscious women voicing extemporaneous visions of heaven in verse both satisfied existing sexual stereotypes and pushed them a step further.» — la lectura doble que Braude hace de esa escena: satisfacía los estereotipos sexuales y los empujaba un paso más.
«Sparse qualifications in a trance speaker reinforced the claim that the lecture originated not with the speaker but with spirits.» — por qué la falta de credenciales no era un defecto sino una prueba.
«While men qualified for the public platform by wisdom, education, and experience, trance speakers qualified by innocence, ignorance, and youth.» — la inversión de credenciales que de ahí resulta.
«A correspondent to the Banner of Light argued that the doctrines of Spiritualism must be true because the great “lady trance speakers,” Rosa Amedy, Cora Hatch, Emma Hardinge, Emily Beebe, Emma Jay Bullene, and Anna Henderson, “have never been able, nor even attempted, as far as we know, to give such lectures in the normal state.”» — según Braude, un corresponsal del Banner of Light sacaba de ahí la verdad misma de la doctrina.
«Women, in contrast to men, could be public teachers of religion without education because they were pious by nature.» — el supuesto cultural que lo hacía aceptable: la mujer es piadosa por naturaleza.
«According to the well-respected trance speaker Lizzie Doten, “Woman does not need to cultivate her intellect in order to perceive spiritual truths.» — según Braude, la oradora en trance Lizzie Doten sostenía que la mujer no necesita cultivar su intelecto para percibir verdades espirituales.
«She conceded that women received inadequate education, but she did not view lack of training as a block to religious leadership.» — con la concesión que le acompaña: reconocía la educación insuficiente y no la tenía por obstáculo.
«“Woman … has been forced into a narrow circle of life, a dull routine of duties; and that is declared to be woman’s sphere,” Doten complained.» — y la queja que Doten formulaba a la vez, contra el círculo estrecho al que se llama esfera de la mujer.
«But God does not wait for this [education]. He has made woman a religious teacher.» — el paso con que salvaba esa contradicción.
«Although the views expressed here are consistent with those Doten expressed while conscious, they were delivered in trance.» — el dato que Braude añade y que hace ambigua la voz: esas opiniones de Doten, coherentes con las que sostenía consciente, se pronunciaron en trance.
«But if “the functions depending on force and muscle are weak … the nerves are intensely» — y qué sacaba de esa descripción; el verbatim se corta en el cambio de plana, y la enumeración que sigue —impresionabilidad, mediumnidad, comunicación, revelación— queda del otro lado.
«Fourteen-year-old Flora Temple, of Bennington, Vermont, traveled to the Rutland Free Convention to speak in trance, “though apparently in a normal state,” before several hundred people» — el caso con que documenta la edad de las oradoras: Flora Temple, de catorce años, habló en trance en la convención de Rutland; el troceo corta *Fourteen-* a fin de renglón y el guion se restituye aquí.
«For audiences that had never witnessed a woman speaking in public, the spectacle of a teenage girl at the podium must have appeared impressive, if not miraculous.» — el efecto que Braude le supone a esa escena en un público que nunca había visto hablar a una mujer.
«“Skeptics have more faith in that which is given through children than older mediums, … [because] they consider there is less ability, as well as less desire, to practice trickery and deception in the child than in the adult,” wrote a Banner of Light correspondent» — según Braude, un corresponsal del Banner of Light explicaba por qué los escépticos confiaban más en las médiums niñas.
«“She is very childlike in her manners,” observed a member of the audience, “which simplicity and innocence makes her very attractive.”» — y el juicio de un oyente sobre esa misma cualidad.
«Mediums began careers at all ages, and those who began as children often continued for decades.» — el límite que pone a la imagen de la médium niña: se empezaba a cualquier edad y quien empezaba de niña seguía décadas.
«When a young medium was discovered faking manifestations while she was supposed to be inside a bag nailed to the floor, a leading Spiritualist explained that “it is possible for a medium, when in a trance state, to become an unconscious and irresponsible instrument in the hands of a controlling spirit.”» — según Braude, así se explicaba desde el movimiento el fraude descubierto de una médium joven: pudo ser instrumento inconsciente de un espíritu que la controlaba.
«Because of the unaccountability of mediums controlled by unseen intelligences, an editorial in the Spiritual Age asserted that the trance was not the optimum condition for spirit communication.» — el costo doctrinal de esa defensa, y la posición que un editorial del Spiritual Age derivó de ella.
«The editor accepted that, “In the unconscious trance, a person may be susceptible to spirit influence, or controlled by a spirit power, and thus be used to furnish evidence of spirit existence and presence, and to give utterance to spiritual truths,” but concluded that, “in a more advanced and spiritualized condition, one can do all this and more, and yet be fully awake and conscious.”» — la fórmula con que ese director graduaba el asunto: el trance inconsciente sirve de evidencia, y hay un estado superior donde se está despierto y consciente.
«The assertion that the passivity that gave women access to spirits made them morally unaccountable undercut women’s claim to spiritual authority.» — la lectura que Braude hace de esa disputa, que es la que le interesa: si la pasividad las volvía inimputables, se les quitaba la autoridad espiritual.
«One reminded the editor that “Your patrons in this state have, as a general thing, been converts of trance speaking, and you, I think, pay those laborers a poor compliment.”» — la réplica que le llegó al director desde el propio público del periódico.
«“Trance speaking in an unconscious state is one of the most exalted, the most reliable, the most convincing as to its origins of any manifestation connected with the human organism,” wrote» — y la posición contraria dentro del movimiento, que tiene al trance por la manifestación más exaltada y fiable; el verbatim se corta donde el troceo cambia de renglón.
«Although more serious challenges to their leadership would emerge following the Civil War, trance speakers enjoyed the support of the mass of believers» — el balance del episodio, con su anuncio de lo que vendrá después de la guerra.
«According to Lizzie Doten, “the external phenomena of Modern Spiritualism … compared to the great principles underlying them, are but mere froth and foam on the Ocean of Truth.”» — según Braude, Lizzie Doten tenía los fenómenos externos por mera espuma sobre el océano de la verdad.
«Certain it is that a physical change took place, effecting both my breathing and my circulation.» — el testimonio en primera persona sobre el cuerpo en trance que Braude reproduce sin interpretarlo.
«The “host of women” who superseded her on the lecture circuit between 1853 and 1859 were predominantly trance speakers.» — el dato de composición que sostiene el capítulo: la hueste de mujeres que llenó el circuito de conferencias entre 1853 y 1859 era mayoritariamente de oradoras en trance.
«Although radical Garrisonians supported women as speakers, the abolition movement split over the issue of women’s participation, and some of the most heated feeling focused on women’s right to speak in public.» — y el contraste con el otro circuito: el abolicionismo se partió por la participación de las mujeres.
«Although unanimously elected by her fellow students to give a graduation address, she refused to write one rather than have it read for her by a male professor, as school policy dictated.» — el caso de Lucy Stone, que prefirió no escribir su discurso de graduación antes que hacerlo leer por un profesor varón.
«In spite of derision, abuse, and severe clerical opposition, women established a presence on the American platform during the 1850s.» — el resultado que aun así consigna para los años cincuenta.
«This may have excluded some speakers; however, her list includes some reform women who rarely spoke, such as Martha Coffin Wright and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who did not appear in public frequently until the 1860s.» — la cautela con que trata su propia fuente de recuento, señalando a la vez su sesgo y su inclusión de mujeres que apenas hablaban.
«Yet trance speakers received extensive press notice, both positive and negative.» — la asimetría de atención que documenta.
«Not even the more conservative of the antislavery papers, the National Era, would print an abolitionist lecture if it was delivered by a woman.» — hasta dónde llegaba el veto: ni el National Era imprimía una conferencia abolicionista dada por una mujer.
«In contrast, a relatively obscure medium, Ella E. Gibson, filled a concert hall in Augusta, Maine, for six consecutive evenings.» — y el contraste inmediato: una médium poco conocida llenaba seis noches seguidas una sala de conciertos.
«But, by 1858, Greeley found this practice too controversial to continue.» — el límite que hasta Greeley acabó poniendo.
«Not only was the pulpit “dictatorial and authoritative,” but it was also, of course, closed to women.» — el juicio sobre el púlpito que circulaba en el movimiento, con la evidencia añadida de que estaba cerrado a las mujeres.
«Lizzie Doten thought the platform superior to the pulpit not only because it admitted women but also because it was a better vehicle for spiritual enlightenment.» — y las dos razones por las que Doten prefería la tribuna al púlpito.
«The visibility of trance speakers as pioneer women orators was sufficient to convince the Methodist missionary W. M. Leftwich that “The first female lecturers and public speakers were spiritualists.”» — el testimonio de un adversario que Braude usa como prueba: el misionero metodista W. M. Leftwich daba por espiritistas a las primeras conferencistas.
«But my instinctive feeling, I must own, made no objection to the propriety of the performance.» — según Braude, así reconocía un cronista que su instinto no objetaba la escena.
«Women are certainly better than we in these latter days, and as standing far nearer God, may properly speak for us, even in holy places—or so it seemed to me while listening to Mrs. Hatch.» — y hasta dónde llegaba ese reconocimiento al oír a Cora Hatch.
«He reminded his readers that his past experience with spiritualism had been unsatisfactory and that “The ‘Fox Sisters’ and others have tried their spells on me in vain.”» — la reserva que ese mismo cronista dejaba dicha sobre su experiencia previa.
«Rynders replied that he had come believing Hatch to be a “humbug” but now had “the highest possible regard for the lady’s talent.”» — el cambio de opinión de un asistente hostil, que Braude cita con sus dos extremos.
«He declared that “her prayer … was beautiful, her theory profound, and her language eloquent.”» — y los términos de ese elogio.
«W. M. Leftwich, the Methodist missionary, agreed with Willis in associating Spiritualism’s introduction of women onto the public platform with the creation of a new religous role for women.» — la coincidencia entre adversarios y partidarios que Braude subraya, con la errata *religous* que imprime la fuente.
«Lizzie Doten agreed that women should not speak in church, but for very different reasons.» — la coincidencia formal de Doten con la prohibición eclesiástica, y su fundamento opuesto.
«The suffragist Abigail Scott Duniway wrote in her newspaper, the New Northwest, that the trance speaker Belle Chamberlain excelled both Henry Ward Beecher and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in eloquence and logic.» — según Braude, la sufragista Abigail Scott Duniway ponía a una oradora en trance por encima de Beecher en elocuencia y lógica.
«He reported that “several ladies came with streaming eyes to thank the orator and yield assent to sentiments and opinions advanced.”» — el efecto sobre el público femenino que un cronista registra.
«For a woman to defy convention and mount the public platform required tremendous self-confidence. Spirit mediumship emboldened women to overcome internal fears about their capabilities as well as external social strictures.» — el argumento central de la sección: subir a la tribuna exigía una confianza enorme, y la mediumnidad la daba.
«The calm confidence born of spirit guidance contrasted with the insecurity that kept most women off the public platform and continued to plague some who took the giant step to the podium.» — y el contraste con la inseguridad que mantenía a las demás fuera del estrado.
«Sallie Holley, for example, spoke regularly on antislavery from 1851 until the Civil War but never lost her fear of lecturing.» — el primero de los casos con que lo documenta.
«Matilda Joslyn Gage was “trembling in every limb” when she delivered her first public lecture and spoke so softly that few could follow her carefully prepared text.» — el segundo, con el detalle de que llevaba texto preparado.
«Susan B. Anthony became a skilled orator by the end of the 1850S but never overcame her self-doubt on the platform.» — y el tercero, que es el más notorio; la fuente imprime *1850S* con ese en mayúscula.
«Anthony questioned her ability to hold an audience, but at least she possessed sufficient volume to make herself heard.» — la matización con que Braude sitúa el caso de Anthony.
«The idea that women should speak audibly in public was controversial even at the woman’s rights convention.» — hasta dónde llegaba la controversia sobre la voz.
«Trance speakers presented a very different image of the female lecturer.» — y el modelo alternativo que las oradoras en trance ofrecían.
«Observers were surprised if a medium faltered on the platform.» — la expectativa invertida que documenta.
«When the seventeen-year-old Martha Brown Sawyer spoke at the Melodeon Hall in Boston, a reporter commented that her voice had not yet matured and that she had therefore “not yet attained that pleasant volume which characterize many of our female speakers.”» — el juicio de un cronista sobre una oradora de diecisiete años.
«Because of their speaking skills, trance mediums were often asked to preside at funerals and weddings.» — el uso ritual que esa destreza les abría.
«The flowing speech of trance mediums depended on a self-assurance unavailable to mid-century women who lacked spiritual inspiration.» — de qué dependía esa fluidez, según Braude.
«Their ability to address unknown topics chosen by the audience without preparation set them apart from other lecturers.» — y el rasgo que las separaba de las demás conferencistas: hablar sin preparación sobre temas que elegía el público.
«Even the silver-tongued Lucy Stone, among the most self-assured of women reform speakers, repeated the same three lectures in rotation on her early tours.» — el contraste con que lo mide: hasta Lucy Stone repetía tres conferencias en rotación.
«Although the New York Times thought her spirits “talked arrant transcendentalism of the» — la asimetría de la prensa: el Times despachaba a sus espíritus y aun así cubría sus conferencias; el verbatim se corta en el cambio de plana.
«Paulina Wright Davis opposed Anthony’s motion because “ladies did not come there to screech; they came to behave like» — el desacuerdo que consigna sin armonizar: Paulina Wright Davis se oponía a que las mujeres alzaran la voz; el verbatim se corta en el cambio de plana.
«She was twenty years old and had taught school for eight years.» — según Braude, así llega Achsa Sprague a la enfermedad: veinte años y ocho de maestra.
«Sprague’s experience showed all forms of medical care to be costly, time consuming, and ineffective.» — lo que su caso muestra del cuidado médico de entonces.
«Her account suggests that the consumers of health care in northern New England in the 1850s did not distinguish between “regular” or allopathic physicians and their “irregular” or sectarian counterparts.» — y el hallazgo que Braude extrae de su relato, en modo cauteloso: quien buscaba salud en Nueva Inglaterra no distinguía entre médicos regulares e irregulares.
«She grew to mistrust doctors and approached new treatments with skepticism.» — el efecto de esa experiencia sobre ella.
«She provides an ideal case study of the role played by mediumship in empowering a woman to assume a public career.» — por qué Braude la elige: es el caso ideal del papel de la mediumnidad en habilitar una carrera pública para una mujer.
«Illness was a common, although not normative, precondition of mediumship.» — el lugar que la enfermedad ocupa en ese camino, con su acotación: frecuente, no normativa.
«Sprague did not accept her illness complacently; she rebelled against the role of invalid.» — la actitud que Braude documenta en sus papeles.
«Sprague’s illness changed her from one of the most independent women in Plymouth to one of the most dependent.» — y el vuelco social que la enfermedad le impuso en su pueblo.
«She found this display of helplessness embarrassing and probably feared that, if it were discovered, she would lose her one remaining source» — lo que Braude conjetura que temía perder; el verbatim se corta donde el troceo cambia de renglón.
«She never complained of being in pain, even to her private diary.» — el rasgo de sus papeles que a Braude le llama la atención.
«Sprague repeatedly lamented that her confinement was especially difficult to bear because it dashed the “bright hopes” she had held for her future.» — y de qué se lamentaba en cambio, una y otra vez.
«By 1850, Sprague had exhausted the alternatives offered by antebellum medical practitioners and had given up hope of regaining her health.» — el punto en que la deja la medicina de su tiempo.
«She found the conversation inspiring and as a result wrote a poem for a friend whose mother had recently died.» — cómo entra el espiritismo en su vida.
«Sprague was quite receptive to the concept of Spiritualism. “’Tis a beautiful idea, that our departed friends are around us and with us, that they can come» — y la receptividad con que lo recibió, en su propia letra; el verbatim se corta donde el troceo cambia de renglón.
«But, if true, could the world be so sunk in wickedness? Yet … is it not their influence when better thoughts to the heart come back which had almost y» — la objeción que Sprague se hace a sí misma en su diario, y que Braude conserva porque la duda es parte del testimonio; el verbatim se corta donde el troceo cambia de renglón.
«They moved her hand to write beatific visions prophesying an end to her suffering.» — según Braude, así describía Sprague la escritura automática de sus visiones.
«Come forth even though thy eyes are dimmed with weeping, for thy grief shall be changed into gladness.» — el contenido de uno de esos mensajes, reproducido sin comentario.
«Even as the clouds of night have fled before the first rays of the morning sun, so shall the dark clouds of sorrow soon vanish before thy returning jo» — y su imagen central; el verbatim se corta donde el troceo cambia de renglón.
«Although Sprague dated her cure to the winter of 1853, months passed before she was strong enough to leave her room.» — la precisión con que Braude fecha la curación frente a lo que Sprague misma decía.
«The same spirits who freed Sprague from the “chains of disease” now inspired her voice.» — el eslabón entre curación y vocación pública que el caso muestra.
«She had exhausted human remedies and viewed her situation as utterly hopeless until divine intervention caused a radical change in her state of being.» — la estructura del relato de Sprague: remedios humanos agotados, situación desesperada e intervención divina.
«She is not convicted of sin—she never accepts her suffering as something that she deserves.» — y lo que ese relato NO tiene, y que a Braude le importa: no hay convicción de pecado ni sufrimiento merecido.
«The nonspiritual aspect of Sprague’s recovery is difficult to interpret in retrospect because of the limited description of her physical symptoms.» — la abstención médica que declara ante el caso.
«Historian Leonard Twynham’s diagnosis of tuberculosis of the bone is also improbable because that disease causes irreparable damage, making a cure after five years impossible.» — la objeción que le hace al diagnóstico retrospectivo del historiador Leonard Twynham.
«Arthritis, especially among young women, has been associated by doctors with repressed anger turned inward.» — la hipótesis alternativa que menciona, atribuida a los médicos y no afirmada por ella.
«For Sprague, the return to health represents a turn outward: a shift from writing in her diary to speaking in public, a shift from the world of the home—deemed appropriate to women—to the outside world deemed appropriate to men.» — la lectura que sí hace suya: la vuelta a la salud es un giro hacia fuera, del diario a la tribuna y de la casa a un mundo tenido por de hombres.
«Sprague believed that continued improvement in her health depended on her carrying out the spirits’ instructions to spread the news of spirit communication through trance lectures.» — según Braude, Sprague ligaba su mejoría a cumplir la encomienda de los espíritus.
«Sprague was in great demand as a speaker. “Miss Sprague is our criterion as to all that is good, great, eloquent and beautiful,” wrote the man responsible for procuring Spiritualist lecturers in Terre Haute, Indiana.» — la demanda que llegó a tener, medida en el elogio de quien contrataba conferencistas.
«“Our people in Utica have fallen more deeply in love with you than before,” wrote another lecture committee, entreating her to return to their city for another month.» — y en la insistencia de los comités que la reclamaban.
«The more I talk with the members of Our Church the stronger is my conviction that you are the only one that can give full satisfaction in our pulpit,” wrote Benjamin Starbuck from Troy, New York.» — el caso extremo de esa demanda: una iglesia que la quería en su púlpito.
«She refused several requests that she speak at the prestigious Dodsworth Hall in New York City.» — y el límite que ella misma se ponía.
«She was expected to speak in the principle town that invited her each Sunday and in smaller settlements in the vicinity during the week.» — el régimen de trabajo que el circuito imponía; la fuente imprime *principle* por principal.
«In April 1860, she wrote to the Banner of Light that all her Sundays were engaged until the following January.» — la medida documental de esa agenda.
«We may assume that the fifteen or twenty Spiritualist women who ranked with her in popularity were equally in demand as speakers.» — y la extrapolación que Braude hace, declarada como suposición.
«A man who had heard Sprague speak once when she passed through his town wrote to her, “Often in the quiet hours of night … do you visit me in my imagination as you stood inspired before the audience in our little hall» — el efecto que dejaba en un oyente, en su propia letra; el verbatim se corta donde el troceo cambia de renglón.
«The trance speaker’s anomalous independence freed men from conventions governing their interaction with women just as it freed women to address mixed audiences.» — el efecto que Braude atribuye a esa independencia anómala: soltaba a los hombres de las convenciones de trato tanto como a las mujeres del veto de la tribuna.
«I never felt so much like worshipping a mortal as I did you for the intelligence that spoke through you not for yourself although I might agree with a young man if he said you was a very comely and rather good looking young lady but as a Spiritualist I felt that I saw an experience of that same power that worked so wonderfully upon the Minds of the early Christians which they called miraculous.» — el testimonio de un espiritista casado que Braude cita entero, con su adoración y sus reservas a la vez.
«According to the mores of the time, male audiences probably understood the willingness of a medium to appear in public—a measure shunned by any woman with a modicum of modesty—as implying consent to be stared at.» — la lectura que hace de esa mirada masculina, en modo conjetural, según las costumbres del tiempo.
«Susan B. Anthony, outraged by Smith’s appearance, argued that “Nobody who dressed as she did could represent the earnest, solid, hard-working women of the country for whom they were making the demand for equal rights.”» — el desacuerdo de vestido que consigna sin armonizar: Anthony sostenía que quien vistiera así no podía representar a las trabajadoras.
«But neither men nor women questioned the feminity of the beautiful Cora Hatch, ringlets bobbing about her youthful face as she expounded visions of angels.» — el contraste que trae al caso: a Cora Hatch nadie le discutía la feminidad; la fuente imprime *feminity*.
«She wrote sarcastically, “I have nothing to say about myself except that I am as ugly looking as nature could make me and as for my real self, the Internal, I shall let you draw your own conclusions from my style of writing, as I of course shall take the same liberty with regard to you.”» — según Braude, así respondía Sprague con sarcasmo a quien le pedía descripción de sí misma.
«He had not been enchanted by her appearance on the platform since he had never seen her, but the mere knowledge that she was a lecturer and did not “keep silent in publick” added to her appeal.» — el caso de un corresponsal que la admiraba sin haberla visto.
«Derisive observers commented on Susan B. Anthony’s broad shoulders and suggested that the practice of women speaking in public would give rise to a third sex.» — la burla corriente que documenta, y hasta dónde llegaba: hablar en público engendraría un tercer sexo.
«Louden, who was a frequent correspondent in 1858, had never met Sprague but wanted to after reading her articles» — el corresponsal que la buscó por sus artículos; el verbatim se corta donde el troceo cambia de renglón.
«He so admired her views that he read one of her articles aloud to a crowd of thirty people.» — y lo que hizo con uno de ellos.
«Sprague’s correspondence contains five proposals of marriage, three of which arrived in a single two-week period.» — el dato con que Braude mide la posición pública de una médium soltera.
«I do wish to act, to do, to live an active life and have that life one of usefulness.» — según Braude, así formulaba Sprague lo que quería de su vida.
«She explained that Achsa “loved the cause in which [she was] engaged better than anything else or anybody.”» — y así lo explicaba su amiga Townsend, que Braude cita como testimonio ajeno.
«Women also had ample opportunity to observe men in public roles.» — la asimetría de modelos disponibles que el capítulo señala.
«Sprague reassured one trance speaker who doubted her performance in public» — el papel que Sprague cumplía para otras oradoras; el verbatim se corta donde el troceo cambia de renglón.
«Sprague, who wrote easily and treated the publication of her pieces lightly, provided encouragement to a few women who hoped to write for the Spiritualist press.» — y el mismo papel en la escritura, ante mujeres que querían publicar.
«Sprague’s confidence in the public realm made her a model for women in a variety of roles.» — la función de modelo que Braude le adjudica.
«Sprague viewed her mediumship as a religious vocation, not a career.» — la distinción con que ella entendía su propio trabajo.
«If money was my object, I might get four times what I do,” she told» — el argumento con que la sostenía; el verbatim se corta donde el troceo cambia de renglón.
«But money is not my object.» — y su conclusión, en su propia letra.
«Sprague asserted that her “mission” as a medium was “wholly under the control of Spirits”» — cómo describía la fuente de esa misión.
«Sprague had a reputation for sincerity.» — la reputación que Braude documenta y que sostiene su lectura del personaje.
«Sprague had to endure the derision that met any woman who flouted convention.» — el precio que pagaba por su vida pública.
«The spirits, who signed themselves “Thy Guardians,” left no doubts about Sprague’s abilities.» — y la contrapartida que recibía de sus propios mensajes.
«Much have the sacred powers that guard and guide this lower sphere accomplished through thy organism though as yet thy Angel directed feet have scarcely touched the threshold of the shining portals through which thy Mission to Humanity shall inevitably lead,” said the spirits.» — según Braude, así se dirigían a Sprague sus propios mensajes en trance; el verbatim se corta donde el troceo cambia de renglón.
«The longer of the two messages, which continues for four pages, responds to Sprague’s internal doubts about her mission, her abilities as a trance speaker, and the source of her power.» — a qué respondía el más largo de esos mensajes: las dudas internas de Sprague sobre su misión y sus dotes.
«The spirits assured her that they would never desert her, that they would support and empower her no matter what challenges appeared in her path.» — lo que le prometían.
«Dost thou sometimes forget that the Power which now upholds thee is as Divine as the Divinity is Divinity”? they asked.» — y la pregunta con que se lo decían.
«The doubts to which the spirit message responds suggest that Sprague felt the same insecurities that might be experienced by any antebellum woman who embarked on a course so precarious as lecturing in public.» — la lectura que Braude hace de esas dudas: son las de cualquier mujer de anteguerra ante una tarea así.
«The difference between Sprague and other women was that inspired messages answered her doubts.» — y la diferencia que sí le encuentra, que es la tesis del capítulo.
«Begin as though thou lovest that work,” they advised. “We wait to help thee on. To help we said for thou must act.» — el contenido práctico del consejo, que Braude subraya: los espíritus mandaban actuar.
«These documents depict the inner struggle of a woman at odds with the social strictures of her age.» — cómo lee esos papeles.
«For Sprague wrote these messages herself, while in trance. Both the doubts and the reassurance emerged from somewhere within herself.» — y el dato que sostiene esa lectura, dicho sin rodeos: los mensajes los escribió ella misma en trance, de modo que la duda y el consuelo salían de dentro.
«Sprague’s spirit messages provide eloquent testimony that internalized conventions presented obstacles to the expansion of women’s public role as difficult to overcome as external prejudices or restrictions.» — la tesis que de ahí saca: las convenciones interiorizadas estorbaban tanto como el prejuicio externo.
«There shall be snarls, there shall be foes. But when thou doubtest most we shall be near.» — el pasaje del mensaje que lo muestra, con el peligro admitido dentro de la promesa.
«Even the spirit voice had to admit that dangers faced the woman who flew in the face of convention. But that voice, the inspired voice with which Sprague spoke from the platform, believed that these dangers could be overcome.» — y la lectura que Braude hace de esa admisión.
«The spirits kept their promises for seven years.» — el plazo en que se cumplió la promesa.
«During the summer of 1861, while in Oswego, New York, to speak at a convention, Sprague was again struck by disease.» — el corte de esa carrera.
«In 1862, the beloved medium died at the age of thirty-four, death bringing her career as a trance lecturer to an abrupt conclusion.» — y su desenlace.
«On the first anniversary of Sprague’s death, Andrew Jackson Davis made a pilgrimage to her grave in Plymouth and described it for the Banner of Light.» — según Braude, Davis peregrinó a su tumba al año de su muerte y lo contó en el Banner of Light.
«The Banner brought out a volume of her poems later that year. Demand for the book was so great that a second edition was issued immediately.» — el dato editorial con que mide su fama póstuma.
«Sprague was well-enough remembered into the twentieth century to be one of the few women included in the Dictionary of American Biography.» — y hasta dónde llegó esa memoria.
«The dead Sprague addressed her friend and coworker, trance speaker Melvina Townsend, through the mediumship of Lizzie Doten: “Sister! One simple word —/I love you still! / My strength shall be conferred / Your need to fill. I come to you at night / In some still hour; / And lend my spirit’s might / To give you power.» — el mensaje que la Sprague muerta dirigió a Melvina Townsend por mediación de Lizzie Doten.
«Born Cora Linn Victoria Scott, this popular medium entered the public record under her birth name and under those of four succesive husbands: Hatch, Daniels, Tappan, and Richmond. Her contemporaries always referred to her by the name of her current husband.» — la nota al pie que explica el problema de nombre de Cora Hatch: entró al registro público bajo el suyo de nacimiento y los de cuatro maridos sucesivos; la fuente imprime *succesive*.
«In order not to confuse the reader, I generally refer to her as Cora Hatch because it was under that name that she initially created a public sensation.» — y la decisión que Braude declara al respecto.
«An engraving, depicting Cora Hatch with flowing ringlets, bare shoulders, and a large cross hanging from a chain around her neck (see plate 9) was widely reproduced, including in the biography by Harrison D. Barrett, Life Work of Mrs. Cora L. V. Richmond (Chicago: Hack & Anderson, 1895), and in Emma Hardinge, Modern American Spiritualism (1869; reprint, New York: University Books, 1970).» — la nota que documenta la difusión del grabado de Cora Hatch, reproducido en la biografía de Barrett y en la historia de Emma Hardinge.
«Many of the pioneer women platform speakers relied on spiritual guidance similar to that depended on by mediums. This group included Quakers who were prompted by the “inner light” and visionaries who obeyed an “inner voice.” Jarena Lee, e.g., heard a voice say, “Preach the Gospel; I will put words in your mouth.” Black evangelist Zilpah Elaw made her first public address in 1817 following a trance.» — la nota que amplía el cuadro fuera del espiritismo: cuáqueras movidas por la luz interior y predicadoras negras como Jarena Lee y Zilpah Elaw.
«If the retrospective diagnosis of arthritis is correct, then her final illness must have been distinct from the disease that caused her five years of invalidism since rheumatoid arthritis is not fatal.» — y la cautela con que trata el diagnóstico retrospectivo hasta el final.
«The village of Plymouth Notch has been preserved much as it was in Achsa Sprague’s day because it became the birthplace, in 1872, of President Calvin Coolidge. Coolidge was visiting Plymouth when he learned of the death of President Warren G. Harding in 1923 and took the oath of office in the front room of his family’s home» — la nota que explica por qué Plymouth Notch se conserva tal cual: fue cuna del presidente Calvin Coolidge, que allí prestó juramento al saber de la muerte de Harding.
«While some of Sprague’s correspondents referred to her fatal illness as a return of her original disease, others described it as a throat problem» — según Braude, los corresponsales de Sprague no se ponen de acuerdo sobre su enfermedad final: unos la tienen por vuelta del mal antiguo y otros por un problema de garganta.
«When Mary Fenn Love left the farm town of Randolph in western New York, she emancipated herself from two mammoth obstacles to her spiritual advancement: the Calvinist theology of her orthodox upbringing and an unhappy marriage» — según Braude, Mary Fenn Love se emancipó de dos estorbos a la vez al dejar Randolph: la teología calvinista de su crianza y un matrimonio infeliz.
«While most of the speakers addressed women’s need for legal and economic rights, Love attributed “the chief evils of society” to “domestic uncongeniality.”» — según Braude, en una convención de 1853 Love se apartó del resto de las oradoras: mientras ellas pedían derechos legales y económicos, ella achacaba los males mayores de la sociedad a la *domestic uncongeniality*.
«The following year, she traveled from her home in New York to Indiana, where more liberal laws allowed her to procure a divorce from a loveless match with Samuel Love, her husband of nine years and the father of her children» — el itinerario del divorcio, que Braude cuenta como acto de valor: viajó a Indiana, de leyes más liberales, para separarse de Samuel Love tras nueve años de matrimonio.
«In 1855, Mary Fenn Love married Davis, in spite of the opposition of her Baptist family. She spent the next decade trying to regain custody of her children, whose loss was the price of her freedom» — y el precio que Braude le pone a esa libertad: casada con Andrew Jackson Davis contra su familia bautista, pasó la década siguiente intentando recuperar la custodia de sus hijos.
«Spiritualists applauded Mary Davis’s identification of marriage as the root of women’s oppression» — según Braude, los espiritistas aplaudieron que Mary Davis identificara el matrimonio como raíz de la opresión de la mujer.
«The New Era reported that at an 1854 Spiritualist convention she did not limit herself to “the mere political and civil rights of woman; but … enters the very citadel of Marriage itself, and … looks the monster—sensuality—full in the face.”» — la crónica del New Era que Braude cita para medir hasta dónde llegaba: no se quedó en los derechos políticos y civiles, sino que entró a la ciudadela misma del matrimonio.
«When Spiritualists focused their reform impulses on their own experience, they found the most serious barrier to the individual sovereignty of women in the institution of marriage as practiced in nineteenth-century America» — la tesis del capítulo: al mirar su propia experiencia, los espiritistas hallaron en el matrimonio decimonónico el obstáculo mayor a la soberanía individual de la mujer.
«The women who criticized marriage from the Spiritualist platform knew whereof they spoke. As had Mary Fenn Davis, many had survived unhappy marriages that ended in divorce or desertion» — y por qué su crítica no era teórica: las que hablaban desde la plataforma espiritista habían sobrevivido matrimonios que terminaron en divorcio o abandono.
«Although Spiritualists agreed that marriage as they knew it was oppressive to women, few went as far as Achsa Sprague in rejecting marriage altogether» — el desacuerdo interno que Braude no armoniza: coincidían en que el matrimonio oprimía, pero pocos llegaron como Achsa Sprague a rechazarlo del todo.
«Most Spiritualists applauded loving unions between women and men but condemned the conditions imposed on such unions by a society that made women subservient to men» — según Braude, la posición mayoritaria: aplaudir las uniones amorosas y condenar las condiciones que una sociedad les impone.
«“The present marriage law is a failure … fettering two beings in externality, but sundering them wide as the poles in the marriage of Natures,” pronounced Emma Hardinge in trance at Boston’s Melodeon Hall» — la sentencia de Emma Hardinge en trance en el Melodeon Hall de Boston, con su figura de la atadura en lo externo y la separación en lo natural.
«mediumship but did eventually marry in 1870 at the age of forty-seven» — el remate de esa frase, que el troceo parte entre planas: Hardinge evitó el matrimonio los primeros quince años de su mediumnidad y se casó al fin en 1870, a los cuarenta y siete.
«Spiritualists recognized that a new order in which women enjoyed complete equality must include a revision of men’s roles in relation to women and especially a reformation of the relationship between women and men in marriage» — según Braude, el orden nuevo que se proponían incluía revisar también los papeles del varón, no solo los de la mujer.
«They hoped to reform marriage by applying their individualist principles to the most intimate areas of human life» — el método que les atribuye: aplicar los principios individualistas a las zonas más íntimas de la vida.
«The same individualism that encouraged mediumship called into question all social relations that placed one person in a position of authority over another» — y la raíz común que señala: el mismo individualismo que alentaba la mediumnidad ponía en duda toda relación de autoridad de una persona sobre otra.
«The example of self-supporting mediums also drew into question the assumption that women needed men for material support» — el argumento que las médiums sostenían con su propia vida: que la mujer necesitara al varón para mantenerse quedaba en duda.
«During a period that placed marriage on a pedestal and banned the discussion of sexuality in public and often in private as well, Spiritualists insisted on a frank and open analysis of the personal, political, and economic implications of all personal and sexual relations» — el contraste de época que Braude subraya: en un tiempo que prohibía hablar de sexualidad, los espiritistas insistían en un análisis franco y abierto.
«The critique of marriage formed the central plank of the Spiritualist woman’s rights platform» — y el lugar que le asigna a esa crítica: el tablón central de la plataforma espiritista de derechos de la mujer.
«Advocates of individual sovereignty attacked the institution of marriage because it conflicted with women’s self-ownership and put the weight of the state behind slavery to oppressive customs» — según Braude, los partidarios de la soberanía individual atacaban el matrimonio por chocar con la propiedad de sí y por poner al Estado detrás de la costumbre.
«Spiritualists complained that the marriage laws “robbed the wife of her child, her property, of her name, and of her individuality.”» — la queja que documenta contra las leyes matrimoniales: despojaban a la esposa de su hijo, su propiedad, su nombre y su individualidad.
«But, worst of all, married women shared a specific disability with those legally enslaved because, once married, they lacked the legal right to control their own bodies» — y el punto que tiene por peor de todos, dicho como equiparación jurídica con la esclavitud: casada, la mujer no tenía derecho legal sobre su propio cuerpo.
«Both the state and the church granted husbands unlimited sexual access to their wives. Women had no legal right to refuse their husbands’ sexual advances or to prevent the resulting pregnancies» — la doble sanción que registra, del Estado y de la iglesia: ni derecho a negarse ni derecho a evitar el embarazo consiguiente.
«In strikingly modern language, Spiritualists complained, “Rape is punished out of wedlock but in it paid no attention to.” Mediums decried the “body and soul destroying marriage institution.”» — las dos frases de época que Braude califica de sorprendentemente modernas, y de la segunda toma el título del capítulo.
«Spiritualists believed that marriage commonly resulted from parental or social pressure, women’s lack of economic alternatives, and men’s lust» — las tres causas que según Braude atribuían al matrimonio corriente: presión de los padres o de la sociedad, falta de alternativas económicas y lujuria del varón.
«In place of conventional marriages in which women relinquished their autonomy in exchange for economic support, Spiritualists proposed an egalitarian bond based on mutual spiritual attraction» — y lo que ponían en su lugar: un vínculo igualitario fundado en atracción espiritual mutua.
«“There is no real marriage, but the marriage of affection,” they insisted» — la fórmula con que lo insistían.
«The Plain Guide to Spiritualism pronounced “all marriages and all sexual cohabitings as false and infernal, unless they are based on spiritual affections and are under the purer influences of celestial harmony.”» — la sentencia del Plain Guide to Spiritualism, que declara falsas e infernales las uniones no fundadas en afectos espirituales.
«Hearkening back to the Fourierist theory of “passional attraction,” some Spiritualists advanced a doctrine of “spiritual affinities,” arguing that the natural order contained one true mate for every individual and that the union of true affinities endured forever» — según Braude, la doctrina de las *spiritual affinities* venía de la atracción pasional fourierista: para cada quien hay un compañero verdadero, y esa unión dura para siempre.
«Individuals who did not find their one spiritual partner on earth would find him or her in heaven» — y el consuelo que la doctrina traía consigo para quien no lo hallara en la tierra.
«Charles S. Woodruff, M.D., author of Legalized Prostitution: or, Marriage As It Is, and Marriage As It Should Be, considered the “Procreative power” to be “man’s» — según Braude, Charles S. Woodruff, autor de Legalized Prostitution: or, Marriage As It Is, and Marriage As It Should Be, tenía el poder procreativo por el atributo más divino del hombre.
«resulting from the operation of the “two great powers in nature,” magnetism and electricity. This process evinced “the God principles at work”» — y cómo explicaba la atracción de las afinidades: por obra de los dos grandes poderes de la naturaleza, el magnetismo y la electricidad.
«Henry Wright concurred on the religious significance of sexuality. He found that “no man can be what he was designed to be, till by marriage, the spirit of a woman has entered into him, to refine, beautify and strengthen his peculiar nature, and assimilate it to the divine.”» — según Braude, Henry Wright coincidía en el sentido religioso de la sexualidad: ningún hombre llega a ser lo que fue designado hasta que el espíritu de una mujer entra en él por el matrimonio.
«Likewise, he viewed the influence of husbands on their wives as equally necessary to women’s spiritual development» — y la reciprocidad que le reconoce a Wright: la influencia del marido sobre la esposa le parecía igual de necesaria.
«In an article entitled “God as a Woman,” he explained that, just as the man Jesus served as savior for women, so woman provided the savior for men» — el artículo de Wright titulado *God as a Woman* y su simetría: como Jesús es salvador de las mujeres, la mujer es la salvadora de los hombres.
«Spiritualists distinguished carefully between true affection and sensual attraction. “To be carnally minded is death,” warned trance speaker Laura Cuppy» — según Braude, distinguían con cuidado el afecto verdadero de la atracción sensual, y la oradora en trance Laura Cuppy avisaba que tener la mente en lo carnal es muerte.
«At a national convention, Henry Wright introduced a resolution committing Spiritualists “to avoid all customs, habits and practices that tend to develop and strengthen the animal appetites and passions at the expense of the higher and more spiritual elements of our nature.”» — la resolución que Wright llevó a una convención nacional: evitar cuanto fortalezca los apetitos animales a expensas de lo espiritual.
«Yet Spiritualists viewed conjugal love as an exalted ideal and appropriate sexual feelings as part of the natural order that drew affinities together» — y el *yet* con que Braude marca el otro lado: el amor conyugal les era ideal exaltado y el sentimiento sexual apropiado, parte del orden natural.
«“All the passions … are, in their ideal conception, good and noble,” explained medium Charlotte Beebe Wilbour, “and only become vices when they become warped and contorted by the inadequacy of the corporeal medium through which they attempt to realize themselves in acts.”» — la formulación de la médium Charlotte Beebe Wilbour: las pasiones son buenas y nobles en su concepción ideal, y solo se vuelven vicio al torcerse en el medio corporal.
«Spiritualists attributed dire consequences to false marriages and hoped for great things from true ones» — la simetría de expectativas que les atribuye: consecuencias funestas de los matrimonios falsos y grandes cosas de los verdaderos.
«“The True basis of reform by which the organization [humanity] is to be perfected may be traced ultimately to the union of the sexes,” wrote an Ohioan in the Spirit Messenger» — el corresponsal de Ohio en el Spirit Messenger que rastrea hasta la unión de los sexos la base verdadera de toda reforma.
«The writer argued that drunkenness, obscenity, licentiousness, and prostitution could not be cured by methods that attacked their symptoms but left intact the false marriages that caused them» — y su argumento contra los remedios que atacan síntomas: la embriaguez, la obscenidad y la prostitución no se curan dejando en pie los matrimonios falsos que las causan.
«“The church or the state can make wedlock, but never marriage,” the writer claimed» — la distinción con que ese mismo escritor separa el vínculo legal del matrimonio.
«Medium Lizzie Doten asserted that fewer women would marry if they had wages equal to men’s and therefore had the option of supporting themselves» — según Braude, la médium Lizzie Doten sostenía que con salarios iguales a los del varón se casarían menos mujeres.
«She advocated legislation requiring employers to pay women equal wages for equal work» — y la medida concreta que pedía.
«Doten, dependent on her own hard-earned resources from an early age, knew how few economic alternatives women had to marriage. She had supported herself by teaching and sewing before becoming a trance speaker and writer» — el dato biográfico con que Braude respalda ese saber: Doten se mantuvo enseñando y cosiendo antes de ser oradora en trance y escritora.
«“The remuneration denied woman for her labor is niggardly, for by it woman is … driven to crime, degradation, and prostitution,” Mary Fenn Davis told the huge crowd at the Rutland Convention» — lo que Mary Fenn Davis dijo ante el gentío de la Convención de Rutland sobre la paga mezquina que empuja a la mujer al crimen y a la prostitución.
«Spiritualists viewed women’s economic independence as a prerequisite to true marriage» — el orden de condiciones que Braude les atribuye: primero la independencia económica, después el matrimonio verdadero.
«Spiritualist fiction, like Lizzie Doten’s short story “Marrying for Money,” frequently focused on the pressure on women to enter loveless matches out of economic necessity» — según Braude, la ficción espiritista volvía una y otra vez sobre esa presión, como en el cuento *Marrying for Money* de Lizzie Doten.
«Epes Sargent’s feminist-Spiritualist-abolitionist novel Peculiar described the common plight of slaves and defenseless wives forced into legal subjugation to unscrupulous men through economic exchange» — la novela Peculiar de Epes Sargent, que Braude describe de un tirón como feminista, espiritista y abolicionista.
«It paralleled the story of a virtuous slave, sold down the river by a fickle owner, with that of an innocent white woman, “First sold by a needy parent to an old man, and then betrayed by her own uncalculating affections to a young one.”» — y el paralelo que la novela traza entre la esclava vendida río abajo y la mujer blanca vendida por un padre necesitado.
«“The law has no lash, no prison” for “the scoundrel who tricks a confiding woman out of her freedom,” Sargent complained» — la queja de Sargent sobre la impunidad del que engaña a una mujer confiada para quitarle su libertad.
«Spiritualists saw a direct connection between economic and sexual subjugation. They compared marriage to prostitution because both gave men sexual access to women in exchange for economic support» — según Braude, comparaban el matrimonio con la prostitución porque ambos daban acceso sexual a cambio de sostén económico.
«“The law grants the husband a right to the person of his wife,” said Mary Davis, “and from this has grown up the system of legal prostitution, to the gratification of lust.”» — la fórmula de Mary Davis: de ese derecho del marido sobre la persona de la esposa nace un sistema de prostitución legal.
«They argued that the double standard forced women into prostitution by leaving no other means of support for women shunned by society because they were the victims of seduction» — y el argumento con que defendían a las prostitutas: la doble moral las empuja al dejar sin sustento a la mujer a quien la sociedad rechaza.
«Lois Waisbrooker criticized the hypocrisy of those who condoned marriage but condemned prostitution» — según Braude, Lois Waisbrooker apuntaba a la hipocresía de disculpar el matrimonio y condenar la prostitución.
«“Women prostitute their bodies daily to the abuse of legal brutes, called husbands,” she wrote, “and, calling them virtuous, shrink from the very touch of the garments of the more womanly woman who is prostitute illegally—forced thereto by the damnable edict of respectability, because she loved in purity of soul and trusted illegally.”» — y la formulación entera de Waisbrooker, que llama virtuosas a las que se prostituyen a diario dentro de la ley y rehúyen a la que lo hace fuera de ella.
«Mediums were especially concerned by the plight of prostitutes. Emma Hardinge, the most conservative of the popular trance speakers, tried to secure the support of Spiritualists across the nation for her “Plan for a Self-Sustaining Institution for Homeless and Outcast Women.”» — el plan de Emma Hardinge —a quien Braude llama la más conservadora de las oradoras en trance populares— para una institución autosostenida de mujeres sin hogar.
«During the early 1860s, she lectured and tried to raise money for this project. Mediums Melvina Townsend and Anna Middlebrook supported the project and helped keep it before the public» — y quiénes lo sostuvieron: las médiums Melvina Townsend y Anna Middlebrook.
«But Spiritualists refused to provide material support. A collection at the huge Abington Grove Meeting netted only twenty dollars, and Hardinge felt compelled to abandon the project» — el desenlace del plan de Hardinge, medido en dinero: una colecta en la gran reunión de Abington Grove juntó veinte dólares y hubo que abandonarlo.
«Hardinge’s project undoubtedly suffered from Spiritualists’ distaste for organizations and suspicion of permanent institutions, which doomed all such proposals» — la primera causa que Braude le atribuye a ese fracaso: el desagrado espiritista por las organizaciones y la sospecha de toda institución permanente.
«But Hardinge also received articulate opposition from her more radical coreligionists. They criticized her proposal because it treated a symptom of women’s oppression while ignoring its underlying cause» — y la segunda, que es la que le interesa: sus correligionarias más radicales objetaban que el plan trataba un síntoma y dejaba intacta la causa.
«Whereas landlords refused to rent to Hardinge because the inmates of her house would not be “respectable,” radical women objected that this and similar proposals» — el doble rechazo que documenta: los caseros no le rentaban porque las internas no serían respetables, y las radicales objetaban por el lado contrario.
«The women’s opposition shocked male proponents» — y el efecto que esa objeción tuvo sobre los promotores varones.
«“The only true method for the reform of ‘outcast females’ (so called),” according to medium Mary Thomas, “is not to exclude them from the world in houses of refuge or reform, but to place them on an equality with their seducers … extending to each equal opportunities, … equal sympathy as well as equal condemnation.”» — la fórmula de la médium Mary Thomas: no excluirlas en casas de refugio, sino ponerlas en igualdad con sus seductores, con igual simpatía e igual condena.
«Mrs. H. M. F. Brown and Juliet Stillman agreed that, if women had rights, could vote, and could support themselves, they would not need protection or charity» — según Braude, H. M. F. Brown y Juliet Stillman lo cifraban en derechos, voto y sustento propio: con eso no haría falta protección ni caridad.
«In their view, the prostitute’s plight only dramatized the common situation of women in general, all of whom had to choose between sexual exploitation and destitution» — y el alcance que le daban al caso: la prostituta solo dramatiza la situación común de todas, obligadas a escoger entre explotación sexual y miseria.
«Lizzie Doten also criticized Hardinge’s proposal to reform prostitutes because she thought that moral reform was meaningless without economic opportunity» — según Braude, Lizzie Doten objetaba lo mismo por su lado: la reforma moral no significa nada sin oportunidad económica.
«She urged society to provide alternatives so that women would not have to enter prostitution» — y lo que en cambio pedía a la sociedad.
«Most damning of all to conventional morality, Doten suggested that many women appreciated the advantages of life in prostitution» — el paso que Braude califica de más demoledor para la moral convencional: Doten sugería que muchas apreciaban las ventajas de esa vida.
«“Kind hearted women” who attempted to aid their fallen sisters in returning to a “path of virtue” actually “envy the lot of the prostitute, as better than their own,” she claimed» — y la vuelta de tuerca con que lo dijo: las mujeres de buen corazón que quieren rescatar a sus hermanas caídas envidian su suerte.
«Perhaps mediums identified with prostitutes because they perceived parallels in the nature and conditions of their work» — la hipótesis que Braude adelanta con un *perhaps*, sin afirmarla: las médiums se identificaban con las prostitutas por parecidos en la índole y las condiciones del oficio.
«At a convention in Maine, a medium was controlled by a spirit who gave an account of “her unfortunate condition in the form as a prostitute at Five Points.”» — el episodio que la apoya: en una convención de Maine un espíritu habló por una médium para contar su condición de prostituta en Five Points.
«The belief that spirits took over the medium’s organism and used it as a vehicle for their own ends suggests that mediumship, like prostitution, could involve relinquishing the use of one’s body for pay» — y la analogía que de ahí extrae: creer que los espíritus toman el organismo de la médium hace de la mediumnidad, como de la prostitución, una cesión del cuerpo por paga.
«An unconscious woman in a séance room faced the same vulnerability encountered by prostitutes, although to a lesser extent» — la medida con que acota esa analogía, con su *although to a lesser extent*.
«Medium Mattie Hull, infamous for her “free marriage” with her lecture partner Moses Hull, remarked late in life that “fully two thirds of those who go to mediums … go with the direct intention of being alone with a lady, and offering an insult» — el testimonio tardío de Mattie Hull, célebre por su matrimonio libre con Moses Hull: dos tercios de quienes van a las médiums buscan quedarse a solas con una dama y ofenderla.
«Others by their very first question show that they are in Spiritualism for the ‘loaves and fishes’—in other words, to prostitute it to mercenary purposes.”» — y el otro tercio que ella misma censa: los que están en el espiritismo por el pan y los peces, prostituyéndolo a fines mercenarios.
«Mediums viewed their susceptibility to spirits as they did their sexuality; it was something that could be either exalted or debased, depending on the conditions under which it was practiced» — según Braude, las médiums veían su susceptibilidad a los espíritus como veían su sexualidad: exaltable o envilecible según las condiciones.
«In a “Defense of Mediumship,” Mrs. M.J. Wilcoxen told the story of a promising young medium taken advantage of by an unscrupulous man, “one of the sharks of carnal ambition,” who hoped to enrich himself at the medium’s expense» — el relato que M. J. Wilcoxen publicó en una defensa de la mediumnidad: una médium joven y prometedora en manos de un tiburón de la ambición carnal.
«Under his management, “all kinds of promiscuous magnetisms were admitted to the mediumistic circle, to say nothing of the positive, oppressive, and even tyrannizing influence of his … impetuous and exacting disposition.”» — y cómo describe el efecto de esa administración sobre el círculo: magnetismos promiscuos y una influencia tiránica.
«Under these conditions, the manifestations gradually “assumed the character of sheer imposture,” and the medium was publicly denounced» — el resultado: las manifestaciones tomaron carácter de impostura pura y la médium quedó denunciada en público.
«Her mediumship discredited, she became even more dependent on her exploiter» — y la trampa que se cierra con el descrédito.
«“Too poor and lonely to make her own terms; with no means of procuring subsistence, she consented, as the sewing woman consents to the terms of her employer, with an arrow in her soul, and only a choice between the two, mediumship and proscription—shall I say prostitution?”» — el remate del relato de Wilcoxen, que deja la palabra en pregunta: mediumnidad y proscripción, ¿o diré prostitución?.
«Wilcoxen’s description of the choice between mediumship and prostitution may have been realistic» — la cautela con que Braude avala ese cuadro: pudo haber sido realista.
«Mediums, like prostitutes, were shunned by “respectable” society and excluded from other employment or from» — y en qué se parecían de veras: la sociedad respetable las rehuía y les cerraba otros empleos; el troceo parte la frase entre planas.
«advantageous marriages because of their profession» — el remate de esa frase en la plana siguiente: también les cerraba los matrimonios ventajosos.
«Mediums’ public roles and heterodox beliefs placed them outside accepted standards of respectability» — las dos causas de ese destierro que Braude nombra: el papel público y las creencias heterodoxas.
«Thus, they shared to some extent the risks prostitutes experienced because they were assumed to be “loose” women» — y el riesgo compartido que de ahí se sigue.
«Most important, mediums and prostitutes shared an acute awareness of the limited economic alternatives to marriage and the thin line that separated all women from destitution» — lo que Braude tiene por más importante de ese parecido: la conciencia aguda de la línea delgada que separaba a toda mujer de la miseria.
«The women who agitated the reform of marriage had firsthand experience of the wrongs they attacked» — el principio con que ordena las biografías que siguen: quienes agitaban la reforma del matrimonio conocían de primera mano los agravios que atacaban.
«One of the most outspoken critics of marriage, Mary Gove Nichols, fled an abusive marriage, returning with her child to her father’s home» — según Braude, Mary Gove Nichols, de las críticas más francas del matrimonio, huyó de uno abusivo con su hija a casa de su padre.
«In an autobiographical novel, she portrayed her first husband, Hiram Gove, as brutal and greedy» — y cómo retrató en una novela autobiográfica a su primer marido, Hiram Gove.
«He left her in peace because he owed her father money but repossessed their daughter on her father’s death» — el detalle económico que explica la tregua y su fin: la dejó en paz mientras le debía dinero al padre.
«Mary was forced to kidnap her daughter and flee across the state line since the father automatically retained legal custody of the child» — y el estado del derecho que la obligó a raptar a su propia hija: la custodia legal quedaba automáticamente en el padre.
«Although little is known of the biography of Mrs. Hannah F. M. Brown, she was apparently divorced before she began her career as a newspaper editor» — la abstención de Braude sobre Hannah F. M. Brown, de quien poco se sabe: al parecer estaba divorciada antes de dirigir un periódico.
«Warren Chase recorded that he met her in 1856 “still struggling in bondage, and waiting for freedom impatiently, which she soon after found.”» — el apunte de Warren Chase que lo sugiere: en 1856 la halló todavía luchando en servidumbre y esperando con impaciencia una libertad que pronto encontró.
«Cora Wilburn and Lizzie Doten, who never married, criticized the marriage» — según Braude, Cora Wilburn y Lizzie Doten criticaban desde fuera por no haberse casado nunca; el troceo corta la palabra a fin de renglón.
«Their difficulties as single women made them appreciate the extent to which women were coerced into marriage» — y lo que su condición de solteras les enseñó: hasta dónde se coaccionaba a las mujeres a casarse.
«Before becoming Spiritualists, both earned a meager living by sewing» — el oficio con que ambas se mantenían antes del espiritismo.
«Many of us were educated in the kitchen or the workshop or on the farm. The first time I spoke in Boston, my hands were blistered with work, by which I was earning my living.”» — lo que Doten decía de la extracción social de las médiums: educadas en la cocina, el taller o la granja, y con las manos ampolladas la primera vez que habló en Boston.
«While Doten achieved independence as a premier trance speaker, Wilburn, an immensely popular Spiritualist author, escaped poverty only briefly» — el contraste de suertes que Braude traza entre las dos: Doten alcanzó independencia y Wilburn escapó de la pobreza solo un rato.
«Well educated and raised in luxury in a Southern family of German Jews, Wilburn had been orphaned and left insolvent» — el origen de Wilburn: criada en lujo en una familia sureña de judíos alemanes, quedó huérfana e insolvente.
«Seven years ago, none praised me.… I was a toiler at my needle, then, and aristocratic Spiritualism knew me not» — el balance que Wilburn hizo en 1860 mirando siete años atrás, con su nombre para lo que la ignoraba: el espiritismo aristocrático.
«Worldly reverses made of me, (for my soul’s good) one of the sisterhood of toil.… Who aided me in my investigation of my own soul’s destiny? Humanity did not, but God and His ministering spirits did» — y a quién le atribuye el auxilio en esa caída, después de negárselo a la humanidad.
«Wilburn’s material success lasted only a few years; she was never able to support herself independently after the Civil War» — el desenlace material de esa carrera: nunca volvió a sostenerse sola después de la Guerra Civil.
«Although she continued to be a much-beloved journalist, she became dependent on the generosity of others, traveling between the homes of friends, unable to sustain a home of her own» — y en qué consistió esa dependencia: viajar entre casas de amigos sin poder sostener una propia.
«Her experience demonstrated that all women hovered on the brink of poverty in a society that expected women to depend on the support of husbands» — la lectura que Braude hace del caso: toda mujer rondaba el borde de la pobreza en una sociedad que la quería dependiente del marido.
«Similarly, medium Julia Schlesinger attributed to “bitter personal experience” her view that only through individual freedom and financial independence “can woman be lifted above the power of men of low moral character to crush and enslave.”» — según Braude, la médium Julia Schlesinger lo sacaba de amarga experiencia personal: solo la libertad individual y la independencia financiera levantan a la mujer.
«Perhaps more than the leaders of the woman suffrage movement, Spiritualist woman’s rights advocates had personal knowledge of the oppressive results of the marriage system» — y la comparación con que cierra el tramo, dicha con *perhaps*: acaso más que las dirigentes del sufragismo, las espiritistas sabían de propia cuenta lo que el matrimonio hacía.
«“The most sacred and important right of woman,” Spiritualists asserted, “is her right to decide for herself how often and under what circumstances she shall assume the responsibilities and be subjected to the cares … of maternity.”» — el derecho que los espiritistas ponían por más sagrado: decidir ella misma cuándo y en qué circunstancias asume la maternidad.
«“Man can commit no greater crime,” they concurred, “than to impose on her a maternity … she is not willing to accept.”» — y el crimen que ponían por mayor, en la misma voz.
«If marriage was to be distinguished from prostitution, not only its economic but also its sexual basis must be transformed» — la consecuencia que Braude extrae del capítulo entero: distinguir matrimonio de prostitución exigía transformar no solo su base económica sino la sexual.
«When the Eighth National Woman’s Rights Convention met in 1858, Henry C. Wright congratulated its participants for having caught up with the Spiritualists because they had finally discussed a resolution supporting a woman’s right to decide for herself whether to bear a child» — según Braude, en 1858 Henry C. Wright felicitó a la Octava Convención Nacional por haber alcanzado por fin a los espiritistas en esta materia.
«“The millions of spiritualists … are prepared, better than any other class of people, to respect and vindicate woman’s rights in regard to maternity, and the relation in which it originates,” he observed» — y la ventaja que Wright reclamaba para los suyos en materia de maternidad.
«In an age without effective contraception, women inevitably linked the decision of when and how often to engage in sexual activity with the decision of when to have children» — el dato material que Braude interpone para explicar el vínculo: en una época sin anticoncepción eficaz, decidir sobre el trato sexual era decidir sobre los hijos.
«“Woman’s rights in regard to maternity” meant that most Victorian of all woman’s rights, the right of wives to withhold sexual access from their husbands, a right the law denied» — y lo que la fórmula significaba en concreto: el más victoriano de todos los derechos, negarse al marido, que la ley no reconocía.
«Wives are brutalized by their husband’s passions, until threatened with death from physical drain of repeated pregnancy. Unwanted maternity turns mothers into murderers and abortionists» — el pasaje espiritista que Braude reproduce sobre el precio físico de esa negativa denegada.
«[The husband] pleads his legal rights, and the priest, the law, and the marriage institution sustain him» — y quiénes lo respaldan según ese mismo pasaje: el sacerdote, la ley y la institución matrimonial.
«Nothing short of giving woman the right to control her own person, and to say when and under what circumstances she is willing to take upon herself the maternal relation, will remedy this great evil» — el único remedio que ese pasaje admite.
«Spiritualists blamed men for enforced motherhood, with its concomitant liabilities» — a quién le cargaban la maternidad forzada.
«“There is no joy on earth compared to that of a willing mother, and no sorrow to that of an unwilling one. And what but man’s animal passions ever make unwilling ones?” asked Mrs. S. H. Walls in the Banner of Light» — la pregunta de S. H. Walls en el Banner of Light, que opone el gozo de la madre voluntaria al dolor de la forzada.
«To a male correspondent who blamed unwanted pregnancies on women’s ignorance, she responded emphatically, “This is not so.”» — y cómo despachó al corresponsal varón que achacaba los embarazos no deseados a la ignorancia de las mujeres.
«Marriage reformers insisted that, if women controlled sexuality, there would be fewer, better children» — la promesa con que los reformadores del matrimonio cerraban el argumento.
«“There is not one child in a hundred, that is begotten with the consent of the mother,” argued Dr. Juliet Stillman Severance, a mother of three» — la cifra que la doctora Juliet Stillman Severance, madre de tres, ponía al asunto.
«She viewed enforced maternity as one more impediment to women’s entering the professions or other gainful occupations» — y el estorbo que veía en la maternidad forzada para entrar a las profesiones.
«“There is no more reason why all women should be housekeepers and mothers than that all men should be farmers and fathers,” she said» — la simetría con que Severance lo dijo.
«The declining birthrates of the period suggest that Spiritualist rhetoric reflected popular sentiment» — el dato demográfico con que Braude contrasta la retórica espiritista.
«Women bore progressively fewer children throughout the nineteenth century, and the decade 1840-50, which produced the doctrine of affinities and the spiritualized marriage, showed the greatest decline in the birthrate of any decade» — y el detalle que le sirve: la década de 1840-50, la de la doctrina de las afinidades, es la de mayor caída de la natalidad.
«Apparently, married women increasingly limited intercourse with their husbands» — la inferencia que de ahí saca, dicha con *apparently*.
«Spiritualist diatribes against the sexual exploitation of women by their husbands persisted even after domestic feminism and Victorian mores reduced the average number of births per woman from 7.04 at the beginning of the century to 3.56 by the end» — y las cifras con que mide el cambio: de 7.04 hijos por mujer a comienzos del siglo a 3.56 al final.
«The decline in marital fertility coincided with an ideological elevation of motherhood throughout American culture» — la coincidencia que Braude subraya sin resolverla: la fertilidad conyugal cae mientras la maternidad se eleva ideológicamente.
«concurred that motherhood was a sacred calling that they insisted that it must not be taken on lightly» — y la razón por la que los espiritistas pedían no tomarla a la ligera: justamente porque la tenían por llamado sagrado.
«Cora Wilburn extolled the “Holy function of reproduction.”» — el nombre que Cora Wilburn le daba.
«“That which should be the expression of the highest, purest love, the spiritualized actualization of the fond parental heart in the formation of angelic souls,” Wilburn wrote, “is desecrated to mere animal gratification; and the child of lust and perversity is the unlooked for accident of such unholy procedure.”» — y su denuncia: lo que debiera ser expresión del amor más puro queda profanado en mera gratificación animal, y el hijo resulta accidente imprevisto.
«In a poem called “The Divine Maternity,” Mary Fenn Davis gave a Spiritualist version of the nineteenth-century understanding of the religious significance of motherhood» — el poema de Mary Fenn Davis que da la versión espiritista del sentido religioso de la maternidad.
«“Very near to the heart of God—… / Is the sacred heart of Woman—/The nature through which alone / The Divine can become embodied, / and the spirit reach its home.”» — y sus versos: la naturaleza de la mujer como aquella por la cual únicamente lo divino puede encarnarse.
«the spiritual significance of the three trimesters of pregnancy in a pamphlet on» — según Braude, la médium Ella Gibson disertó sobre el sentido espiritual de los tres trimestres del embarazo en un folleto sobre el matrimonio del alma.
«The right of women to limit fertility was a rare point of agreement uniting radicals, mainstream suffragists, and conservative temperance and social purity advocates» — y el hallazgo que de ahí saca: limitar la fertilidad era el raro punto de acuerdo entre radicales, sufragistas de la corriente principal y conservadoras de la templanza y la pureza social.
«Although Spiritualists shared little with conservative women’s groups, they sound remarkably similar on this issue» — la coincidencia que Braude registra sin armonizarla: los espiritistas compartían poco con las conservadoras y en esto suenan notablemente parecidos.
«Spiritualism contributed leaders to two other movements concerned with voluntary motherhood: Lucinda Chandler to social purity and Alice Stockham to sex education» — las dos dirigentes que el espiritismo aportó a otros movimientos: Lucinda Chandler a la pureza social y Alice Stockham a la educación sexual.
«Spiritualists differed from other groups in opposing enforced maternity earlier in the century and in insisting on a frank discussion of the issue» — y en qué se distinguían: se opusieron antes a la maternidad forzada y exigieron discutirla de frente.
«Unconcerned by the delicacy of the topic, they occasionally risked jail to assert the need for a graphic discussion of sex and procreation» — hasta dónde llegaba esa franqueza: arriesgaban la cárcel por sostener que hacía falta hablar del sexo y la procreación sin rodeos.
«While Spiritualists disagreed about whether marriage was morally salvageable, their agreement on the immorality of marriage as practiced in mid-century America led to the charge that they advocated free love» — el desacuerdo del que sale la acusación: no coincidían en si el matrimonio era moralmente salvable, pero sí en que el de su tiempo era inmoral.
«Free love is a problematic term for the historian because it was more frequently an accusation leveled at others than a positive self-identification» — la advertencia de método que Braude pone antes de usar el término: *free love* fue más acusación ajena que identificación propia.
«Generally understood to mean opposition to marriage as an institution, many who applied the label to themselves fell far short of this extreme position» — y la brecha que mide entre el sentido corriente del rótulo y lo que sostenía quien se lo ponía.
«Proponents used it to refer to their opposition to marriage laws that discriminated against women, while detractors used it as a synonym for promiscuity or infidelity» — los dos usos opuestos que documenta: para los partidarios, oposición a leyes que discriminan; para los detractores, sinónimo de promiscuidad o infidelidad.
«Similar to the term communist in twentieth-century America, free love often denoted a basic undermining of accepted values» — la comparación con que Braude explica su fuerza: como *communist* en el siglo XX, denotaba una socavación de los valores admitidos.
«Support for marriage as an institution became a litmus test by which conservatives (the New York Times, e.g.) judged the morality of reformers» — y en qué se convirtió el matrimonio para los conservadores, el New York Times entre ellos: una prueba de tornasol para juzgar la moral de los reformadores.
«Those wary of radicals classed Spiritualists, socialists, and woman’s rights advocates together as sympathizers with the bogeyman of radicalism, free love» — el montón en que los recelosos metían a espiritistas, socialistas y defensores de los derechos de la mujer.
«The accusation of free love was a common weapon in the arsenal of Spiritualism’s enemies» — el lugar que Braude le da a esa acusación en el arsenal de los enemigos del espiritismo.
«John Ellis, who dedicated his five-hundred-page exposé of free love to “the advocates of Christian marriage,” concluded that approximately four million Spiritualists in the United States were “all more or less committed to the doctrine of Free Love.”» — según Braude, John Ellis dedicó un tratado de quinientas páginas a los defensores del matrimonio cristiano y contó cuatro millones de espiritistas comprometidos con el amor libre.
«He charged that, “even though he does not practice it, the Spiritualist is bound to uphold the doctrine, since it is part of his peculiar creed.”» — y la vuelta con que Ellis cerraba la acusación: aunque no lo practique, el espiritista está obligado a sostener la doctrina.
«The suspicious public who feared free love believed» — el temor del público, en una frase que el troceo parte entre planas.
«that it threatened the family and the structure of society» — y su remate en la plana siguiente: lo que se creía amenazado era la familia y la estructura de la sociedad.
«While the term free love was infamous in mid-century America, the actual doctrines advocated by its adherents were usually quite tame» — el correctivo que Braude aplica al rótulo: infame el término, bastante mansas las doctrinas.
«Free love in the nineteenth century did not imply the principle of sexual permissiveness that the phrase suggests to the twentieth-century reader» — y el anacronismo del que avisa al lector del siglo XX.
«Rather, it referred to the belief that the morality of sexual intercourse depended on freely experienced compelling mutual desire—that is, love—not on whether the parties were married» — lo que de veras quería decir: que la moralidad del trato sexual depende del deseo mutuo libremente sentido y no del estado civil.
«It applied strict tests of morality to all sexual relations, whether within or without lawful marriage» — y el rigor que eso implicaba, dentro y fuera del matrimonio legal.
«Far from advocating casual or frequent sexual contacts, “free lovers” concurred with other health reformers that Americans had far too much sex, most of it within marriage» — la posición que Braude documenta contra la caricatura: los amantes libres coincidían con los reformadores de la salud en que los estadounidenses tenían demasiado sexo, casi todo dentro del matrimonio.
«Vivian Grey wrote to the Social Revolutionist that sexual slavery in marriage destroyed the health of American women because submitting to sex without love was physically debilitating» — el argumento de Vivian Grey en el Social Revolutionist: someterse al sexo sin amor debilita el cuerpo.
«Following the advice of Spiritualist free love theorist Thomas Low Nichols would result in a married couple having intercourse only as often as they had children» — y a qué frecuencia llevaba el consejo del teórico Thomas Low Nichols.
«Because the conjugal rights described by marriage laws were generally understood to guarantee a man’s sexual access to his wife rather than a woman’s sexual access to her husband, free love meant the freedom of women to refuse their husbands’ sexual advances, a potentially powerful source of autonomy in an age without contraception and with little notion of sexual satisfaction for women» — la asimetría legal de la que Braude hace depender todo: como los derechos conyugales garantizaban el acceso del marido, el amor libre significaba para la mujer la libertad de negarse.
«Spiritualist free love advocates advanced the controversial doctrine as one aspect of woman’s emancipation, as a remedy for abusive marriages» — el encuadre con que los espiritistas presentaban la doctrina: un aspecto de la emancipación de la mujer y remedio de los matrimonios abusivos.
«“Where woman is degraded by a drunkard or a sensualist’s rule, let her make herself free,” advised a popular Spiritualist writer» — el consejo de un escritor espiritista popular a la mujer degradada bajo el mando de un borracho o un sensual.
«In keeping with their anarchist tendencies, Spiritualists believed that state sanction could not impute morality to a sexual relation» — la premisa que Braude llama anarquista: la sanción del Estado no imputa moralidad a una relación sexual.
«Only lovers brought together by God-given natural impulses acted morally» — y quiénes obraban entonces moralmente.
«If husband and wife ceased to feel true love for each other, they should cease sexual contact and live as brother and sister» — la consecuencia práctica, que es lo contrario de la licencia que se les imputaba: cesado el amor, cesa el trato y se vive como hermanos.
«Free love proponents called for liberalized divorce laws because they believed that if spouses did not love each other sexual contact became immoral, even within a lawful marriage» — y por qué pedían divorcio más fácil: sin amor el trato sexual se vuelve inmoral aun dentro del matrimonio legal.
«Most Spiritualists did not support free love, but most free love advocates were Spiritualists, so the movements were widely linked in the popular mind» — la asimetría que deshace el equívoco: la mayoría de los espiritistas no era amante libre, pero la mayoría de los amantes libres era espiritista.
«Notably, figures such as Mary Gove Nichols and Victoria Woodhull espoused Spiritualism during their brief phases as free love activists, although they later recanted their unorthodox stands on both sex and religion» — los dos casos que nombra, con su desenlace: Mary Gove Nichols y Victoria Woodhull abrazaron el espiritismo en su fase de amor libre y después se retractaron de las dos cosas.
«This radical minority benefited from Spiritualists’ commitment to free speech and expressed its position as a consistent application of the familiar concept of individual sovereignty» — de qué vivía esa minoría radical: del compromiso espiritista con la libertad de palabra, y de presentarse como aplicación consecuente de la soberanía individual.
«When a speaker at a New York State convention claimed that Spiritualism had nothing to do with “Free-Love, Abolition or Women’s Rights,” Agitator editor Mrs. H. M. F. Brown asked, “What has it to do with anything if it ignores the discussion of the three great questions of the day?”» — la réplica de H. M. F. Brown, directora del Agitator, al orador que quería el espiritismo sin amor libre, abolición ni derechos de la mujer.
«Radical Spiritualists agreed that Spiritualism had everything to do with these three movements and all for the same reason: free love, abolition, and woman’s rights all sought to liberate the individual from physical and spiritual domination by others and from the oppressive power of the state» — la razón única que los radicales daban para los tres movimientos: liberar al individuo de la dominación ajena y del poder opresor del Estado.
«Each movement spelled out one set of results of the consistent application of the principle of individual sovereignty» — y cómo entendían la relación entre ellos.
«Spiritualist socialist Alfred Cridge argued, “The philosophy of Spirit existence … clearly demonstrates the necessity of freedom in all relations, to Spiritual progress.”» — el argumento del socialista espiritista Alfred Cridge: la filosofía de la existencia del espíritu, sostiene Cridge, exige libertad en toda relación.
«sexual, conjugal, and parental relations” were “the most important that human beings can sustain to each other,” he viewed complete freedom as especially important in these areas» — y por qué le importaba sobre todo en la vida sexual, conyugal y parental.
«Cridge argued that “discordant social relations operate to attract low spirits” because the spouse who attained a high level of spiritual development would be exposed to the spirits attracted by the spouse at a lower level» — el mecanismo espiritista con que Cridge lo sostiene: las relaciones discordantes atraen espíritus bajos, y el cónyuge más adelantado queda expuesto a los del otro.
«Mediums in particular could suffer from the influence of “low spirits” attracted by a spouse» — y a quién perjudicaba más ese contagio.
«power to dissolve all uncongenial and false relations;—to individualize, and disintegrate ourselves from the incongruous mass to which we are held, not by inward attraction, but by the outward forces of law and physical necessity» — el primer paso de Cridge: poder disolver toda relación falsa e individualizarse de la masa que nos retiene por fuerza de ley y necesidad física.
«This constitutes the elements of individual Sovereignty or FREEDOM. The second step is to co-operate; to follow our attractions; to form true business and domestic relations;—or, in other words, to LOVE. Thus we obtain the elements of Freedom» — y el segundo, que es cooperar y seguir las atracciones propias hasta formar relaciones verdaderas.
«This then, being the essence of Spiritual progress, FREE LOVE is the doctrine of Spiritualism» — la conclusión con que Cridge identifica sin más el amor libre con la doctrina del espiritismo.
«During the 1850s, a surprising array of Spiritualists accepted the label “free lover” without rejecting marriage as an institution» — el dato que Braude califica de sorprendente: en los años cincuenta muchos aceptaban el rótulo sin rechazar el matrimonio.
«Only a handful of extremists wanted to abolish marriage altogether, while many Spiritualists accepted a definition of free love that respected marriage and proposed to elevate it to a higher level» — la proporción que establece: un puñado de extremistas quería abolirlo y muchos querían elevarlo.
«In fact, far from avoiding marriage, advocates of free love engaged in it more frequently than those who waited “until parted by death” to marry again» — y la paradoja estadística que de ahí resulta: los amantes libres se casaban más veces que quienes esperaban a la muerte del cónyuge.
«They believed that marriages should be easier to terminate, not more difficult to contract» — la fórmula que Braude usa para deshacer el malentendido.
«They advocated free love because they wanted to free marriage from the debasing interference of the state and of pecuniary interests; they did not want to abolish it» — y el propósito que les atribuye: librar al matrimonio de la injerencia envilecedora del Estado y del interés pecuniario.
«Spiritualists Thomas and Mary Gove Nichols, Alfred and Annie Denton Cridge, and Lois Waisbrooker advocated free love because they viewed marriage as a sacred institution and believed that false marriages were immoral and should be more easily dissolved» — los nombres con que documenta esa posición: los Nichols, los Cridge y Lois Waisbrooker defendían el amor libre por tener al matrimonio por sagrado.
«An exchange regarding “Marriage and Individual Sovereignty” in the Vanguard directly addressed the question of whether marriage was the cause or the symptom of women’s oppression» — la polémica del Vanguard que Braude reconstruye, y que es la pregunta del capítulo: si el matrimonio es causa o síntoma.
«John Patterson, editor of the Vanguard’s predecessor, the Social Revolutionist, criticized editors Alfred and Anne Denton Cridge for being unfaithful to individualist principles by being married» — el reproche de John Patterson a los Cridge: estar casados les parecía infidelidad a los principios individualistas.
«According to Patterson, marriage, including the Cridge marriage, was “incompatible with the individual sovereignty of woman.”» — y la tesis de Patterson sin excepciones, ni siquiera para el matrimonio de sus interlocutores.
«Alfred Cridge replied that the problem lay with the oppression of women, not with the institution of marriage» — la réplica de Alfred Cridge, que desplaza el problema de la institución a la opresión.
«He attributed the oppression of women in marriage to the low level of development of the particular spouses, not to the institution of marriage» — y a qué la achacaba: al desarrollo bajo de los cónyuges concretos.
«He cited himself and his wife as evidence for the compatibility of matrimony with self-sovereignty in the case of enlightened individuals and, “hence, we infer, for others who are developed above the sphere of despotism, and congenially mated.”» — el argumento de caso propio que Cridge alegó, con su generalización condicionada.
«Cridge asserted that those who had not attained his own level of individual development “will be despotic in any relation.”» — y la sentencia con que devolvía el golpe: quien no llegó a ese nivel será déspota en cualquier relación.
«To alleviate the disabilities suffered by married women, Cridge prescribed woman’s rights» — el remedio que recetaba en vez de abolir el matrimonio.
«When woman has her rights, her slavery is annihilated—not her marriage. Woman is deprived» — la fórmula de Cridge: con derechos se aniquila su esclavitud, no su matrimonio; el troceo parte la frase entre planas.
«of her rights because she is a woman, not because she is married» — y el remate en la plana siguiente, que es donde está el desacuerdo con Patterson: se la priva de derechos por ser mujer, no por estar casada.
«Patterson retorted that women could never be free within marriage» — la contrarréplica de Patterson.
«He compared granting rights to women within marriage to alleviating the conditions of slaves without abolishing slavery» — y la analogía con que la sostuvo.
«Any rights a woman gains within marriage are at the whim of her husband» — el remate de Patterson sobre el valor de esos derechos.
«Patterson’s position was the more accurate portrayal of the law» — y a quién le da la razón Braude en cuanto al derecho vigente, contra su propio hilo narrativo.
«Single women lost many rights with their “legal death” on marriage. They lost the rights to own property, to enter into contracts, and to conduct business without the consent of their husbands, not because they were women, but because they were married» — el dato jurídico que lo respalda: la muerte legal del matrimonio les quitaba propiedad, contratos y negocios por casadas, no por mujeres.
«Anne Denton Cridge also disagreed with Patterson’s condemnation of her marriage, but on different grounds from her husband» — el tercer desacuerdo del expediente, que Braude separa cuidadosamente del de su marido.
«She agreed that marriage had restricted her freedom because it had resulted in the birth of a child» — lo que Anne Denton Cridge le concedía a Patterson.
«However, she argued that marriage had also freed her because she wanted a child, and marriage gave her the opportunity to have one» — y lo que no: quería un hijo, y el matrimonio le dio la ocasión de tenerlo.
«This intimate journalistic meeting of the personal and the political ended abruptly with the unexpected death of the Cridge baby» — cómo terminó esa polémica pública sobre una vida privada.
«Discussion of the morality of the Cridge marriage gave way to expositions of parental grief» — y en qué se convirtieron las páginas del Vanguard.
«Anne Denton Cridge wanted self-sovereignty, but she also wanted a family and knew by experience that the latter goal might require some compromise of the first» — la tensión que Braude deja en pie sin resolver: quería soberanía de sí y también familia, y sabía por experiencia el precio.
«Spiritualists who advocated free love in addition to marriage, rather than as an alternative, recognized the potential victimization of women in the context of sexual freedom» — el riesgo que reconocían los que defendían el amor libre además del matrimonio y no en su lugar.
«Transient alliances might deprive women of the opportunity to have children or leave them unable to support their offspring» — y en qué consistía ese riesgo.
«By attacking women’s disabilities within marriage while simultaneously elevating the ideal of marriage as a spiritual union, Spiritualists hoped to free women from threats to their autonomy both in marriage and outside it» — la estrategia doble que Braude les atribuye: atacar las incapacidades dentro del matrimonio y elevar a la vez el ideal de unión espiritual.
«Newspaper editor Mrs. H. M. F. Brown illustrates free love proponents’ support for marriage» — el caso con que lo ilustra.
«A longtime advocate of free love, she sought a license to perform weddings from the state of Illinois as a representative of the Religio-Philosophical Society. She received the license and officiated at Spiritualist weddings» — el detalle que lo prueba: defensora de vieja data del amor libre, pidió y obtuvo licencia de Illinois para casar gente.
«When a young couple came forward and asked to be married at the annual “Festival” of the Religio-Philosophical Society in 1865, Mrs. Brown obliged» — la escena de 1865 en el festival de la Religio-Philosophical Society.
«She “dealt some severe blows against the marriage laws,” detailing the numerous legal disabilities to which marriage exposed women» — y lo que Brown hizo en la ceremonia misma: golpear las leyes matrimoniales detallando las incapacidades que imponen.
«She pled for the equality of wife and husband before the law as they are before God» — la fórmula con que pidió esa igualdad.
«condemning “Mothers and fathers [who] sell their beautiful innocent daughters for homes, a maintenance, and positions.”» — y a quiénes condenó Brown en la misma ceremonia: a los padres que venden a sus hijas por un hogar, un sustento y una posición.
«In a final rhetorical flourish, Mrs. Brown concluded that false marriages were the root cause of all the “heartaches, the suicides, the jealousies, elopements, insanity, drunkenness, and in fact all the ills and curses that call for prisons, asylums, doctors and preachers.”» — el remate retórico con que hizo del matrimonio falso la causa de todos los males que llenan prisiones, asilos, consultorios y púlpitos.
«Brown followed this bitter indictment of the marriage laws with a glowing description of the “peace, good-will and holy aspirations” produced by “true soul unions.”» — y el contrapeso que puso enseguida: la paz y las aspiraciones santas que producen las uniones verdaderas del alma.
«She reminded the bride and groom that “wedded hearts had no need of legislation to keep them together, they were bound by natural, by eternal laws, and could not, would not, dis-unite.”» — lo que Brown les recordó a los novios: los corazones casados no necesitan legislación, los atan leyes naturales y eternas.
«After further remarks, Mrs. Brown performed the marriage, in a ceremony similar to the Quaker rite» — el rito con que ofició, emparentado con el cuáquero.
«She directed the couple to link right hands in recognition that “your hearts are already united, and that you only ask public recognition of the marriage already» — y el gesto que les mandó hacer, con su fórmula: solo piden reconocimiento público del matrimonio ya registrado; el troceo parte la frase entre planas.
«registered in heaven.” She then pronounced them husband and wife» — el remate de esa fórmula en la plana siguiente, con el registro puesto en el cielo.
«Each week, the Religio-Philosophical Journal reported the names of couples committed to free love principles by participating in this unusual rite» — según Braude, el Religio-Philosophical Journal publicaba cada semana los nombres de quienes se comprometían con los principios del amor libre por este rito.
«Spiritualists turned the meaning of the marriage ceremony on its head by making it an occasion for the declaration of woman’s freedom rather than her subjugation» — la inversión que Braude ve en el rito: la ceremonia matrimonial vuelta ocasión de declarar la libertad de la mujer y no su sujeción.
«The rejection of marriage was more characteristic of communitarian movements led by charismatic male mediums than of free love as expressed by independent Spiritualists» — la distinción que ordena el tramo: el rechazo del matrimonio era más de las comunidades dirigidas por médiums varones carismáticos que de los espiritistas independientes.
«Free love was most closely identified with John Murray Spear’s Kiantone community in upstate New York, with the non-Spiritualist Oneida community inspired and governed by John Humphrey Noyse, with the activities of Stephen Pearl Andrews and Thomas and Mary Gove Nichols at Josiah Warren’s Modern Times on Long Island, and with the socialist Berlin Heights Community in Ohio» — las cuatro comunidades con que se identificaba el amor libre: Kiantone de John Murray Spear, la Oneida no espiritista de John Humphrey Noyse —así lo imprime la fuente—, Modern Times y Berlin Heights.
«These experiments made temporary alliances viable because the community replaced the couple as the source of permanent care for children» — y por qué esos ensayos hacían viables las alianzas pasajeras: la comunidad reemplazaba a la pareja como fuente de cuidado permanente de los hijos.
«Mary Gove Nichols saw the cooperative economic and social arrangements of Modern Times as offering “a new future for women.”» — lo que Mary Gove Nichols veía en los arreglos cooperativos de Modern Times.
«In order for women to realize health and freedom, purity and happiness, she argued, they must be self supporting; “so long as man feeds, he must control.”» — y la condición que ponía, con su fórmula económica: mientras el varón alimente, mandará.
«Modern Times proposed cooperative nursery, laundry, and cooking facilities to ensure women’s freedom and to provide for the inhabitants’ material needs» — los servicios cooperativos con que Modern Times pretendía asegurar esa libertad.
«Yet, with all the material objections to transient relationships answered, Nichols still considered marriage “a sacrament,” which could not be made by law» — el *yet* con que Braude marca el límite de Nichols: resueltas las objeciones materiales, seguía teniendo el matrimonio por sacramento que la ley no hace.
«If any should wish to separate and form new unions, I doubt not they will do so, and not live in falsehood and discord.”» — y lo que admitía en cambio para quien quisiera separarse.
«Still, she observed that most at Modern Times were “loyal husbands and wives, because they preferred to be.”» — la observación de hecho con que Nichols cerraba: en Modern Times la mayoría era de esposos leales, porque lo prefería.
«In the long run, utopian free love communities proved too short lived to fulfill their promise to provide women with an alternative to marriage for the raising of children» — el balance de Braude sobre esas comunidades: duraron demasiado poco para cumplir lo que prometían.
«When communities practiced free love as understood by the general public, few Spiritualists condoned the situation» — y lo que pasaba cuando una comunidad practicaba el amor libre en el sentido que le daba el público.
«Even the radical Elmer Louden, who found so much about free love attractive, was repelled by a visit to the Berlin Heights community and professed himself “perfectly content to let them wallow in their licentiousness.”» — el caso extremo que lo prueba: hasta el radical Elmer Louden salió repelido de Berlin Heights.
«At the Rutland Free Convention, infamous for its free love debates, the medium Mrs. Julia Branch presented the antimarriage position» — quién sostuvo la posición antimatrimonial en la Convención Libre de Rutland.
«It is woman’s privilege to accept or refuse any love that comes to her,” proclaimed Mrs. Branch, “and when her love has died out, she is no longer a fit partner for the man who has taken her to his heart.”» — la tesis de Julia Branch: es privilegio de la mujer aceptar o rehusar todo amor, y muerto el suyo deja de ser compañera adecuada.
«She proposed to substitute a resolution stating “that the slavery and degradation of woman proceeds from the institution of marriage” for the more moderate resolution on egalitarian marriage adopted by the predominantly Spiritualist convention» — y la resolución que quiso sustituir por otra más dura, que hacía del matrimonio la causa de la esclavitud de la mujer.
«But Branch backed down when pressed as to whether she wished to be interpreted as advocating the exercise of male lust unrestrained, a result that most Spiritualists viewed as inevitable if marriage was abolished altogether» — el retroceso de Branch cuando la apretaron: casi todos los espiritistas tenían por inevitable que abolido el matrimonio quedara suelta la lujuria masculina.
«Whereas a few were willing to advocate sexual relations outside marriage, very few were willing to put their views into practice, or at least to do so openly» — la distancia que Braude mide entre lo que se defendía y lo que se practicaba.
«Even “varietist” free lovers, who believed that true love could occur with more than one person in a lifetime, never advocated promiscuity» — y el límite de los llamados varietistas, que admitían más de un amor verdadero en una vida y nunca la promiscuidad.
«Spiritualist author and lecturer Moses Hull announced his free love views in 1873 in Woodhull and Claflin’s Weekly» — dónde y cuándo Moses Hull declaró sus ideas sobre el amor libre.
«He believed that people needed changes of sex partners just as they needed changes of scenery» — la analogía con que Hull lo justificaba.
«His wife concurred, and they dissolved their marriage by mutual proclamation» — y cómo disolvieron el matrimonio, sin más trámite que la proclamación mutua.
«free marriage” to his lecture partner, Mattie Sawyer. They considered their union to be a marriage, although contracted without benefit of judge or clergy» — el matrimonio libre de Hull con su compañera de tribuna Mattie Sawyer, que los dos tenían por matrimonio sin juez ni clérigo.
«Likewise, Spiritualists Leo Miller and Mattie Strickland entered into a notorious free union in 1876 because they believed that they were spiritual affinities, not because they sought a temporary sexual relation» — el segundo caso, con su motivo declarado: Leo Miller y Mattie Strickland se unieron en 1876 por creerse afinidades espirituales.
«Because the term free love had no clear definition, reformers often said that they accepted free love if it meant one thing but not if it meant another» — la maniobra que el término sin definición permitía a los reformadores.
«The meaning of the term differed depending on whether it was being used as an accusation or a description» — y de qué dependía su sentido.
«There are two meanings of Free Love, one high and holy …, another low, debased … meaning … free lust,” said trance speaker Lizzie Doten» — los dos sentidos que distinguía la oradora en trance Lizzie Doten, uno alto y santo y otro rebajado hasta la lujuria libre.
«She attributed the latter meaning to misguided male Spiritualists» — y a quiénes le achacaba el segundo.
«The man with a badly regulated love principle will go to a woman, and … let her know that a sentiment of affinity draws him toward her.… And they charge this self delusion to Spiritualism. Distrust the Spiritualism that says it is so.”» — la escena que Doten describe y su consejo: desconfíen del espiritismo que cargue esa autoilusión a su cuenta.
«While Doten did not deny the doctrine of affinities, she asserted that a “properly regulated love principle will not entertain the idea of possession of another man’s wife.”» — el límite de Doten, que no negaba la doctrina de las afinidades: un principio de amor bien regulado no entretiene la idea de poseer a la esposa de otro.
«She was prepared to support free love so long as it did not compromise marriage» — y la condición con que apoyaba el amor libre.
«Trance speaker Achsa Sprague, on the other hand, decried marriage but refused the label “free love.”» — el caso contrario, que Braude pone en paralelo: Achsa Sprague denostaba el matrimonio y rechazaba el rótulo.
«You decidedly misunderstand me,” she wrote to a newspaper to correct the impression that she taught free love» — la carta con que Sprague corrigió a un periódico.
«I only spoke against the injustice of all Laws, the Laws of marriage among them,” Sprague declared, in an explanation that would have confirmed to many that she did in fact advocate free love» — y la aclaración de Sprague que, según Braude, a muchos les habrá confirmado justamente lo contrario.
«Free-love, as I accept it, is to love in my Father’s world all that is lovable, admirable and good,” wrote Cora Wilburn» — el sentido que Cora Wilburn le daba al término, ampliado hasta amar todo lo amable del mundo del Padre.
«Wilburn, a social conservative known for her sentimental fiction and poetry, viewed free love as a stand against all oppression» — la paradoja que Braude subraya: una conservadora social conocida por su ficción sentimental veía en el amor libre una postura contra toda opresión.
«I protest … against all forms of slavery, against the sale of my black brother and sister … against the education and sale of maidens for the marriage altar» — el catálogo de protestas de Wilburn, que enlaza la venta del hermano negro con la venta de doncellas al altar.
«the tyranny of labor, as it is enjoined in our northern cities, in our factories, in our households …; the hard-heartedness of landlords, the tasking of the wretched seamstress, the burdening of orphans and widows with the double weight of humiliation and toil … the starvation wages that force young women into the paths of degradation» — y el tramo laboral de ese mismo catálogo, de la costurera exhausta a los salarios de hambre que empujan a la degradación.
«Wilburn hoped that free love would eradicate “the saddest captivity of all” by bringing “release from the dominion of the senses, … liberty from the bondage of the passions, … the resurrection of the soul life of love and freedom from the environments of gross, debasing sensualism.”» — lo que Wilburn esperaba del amor libre: la liberación del dominio de los sentidos, que ella tenía por el cautiverio más triste.
«While Wilburn understood the absence of sensual desire as freedom, others might interpret it as repression, the antithesis of Spiritualist individualism» — la lectura doble que Braude deja abierta: lo que para Wilburn era libertad, otros lo leerían como represión y antítesis del individualismo espiritista.
«Wilburn’s interpretation of free love clarifies how the espousal of the infamous doctrine could be part of the assertion of a conservative domestic ideology» — y para qué le sirve ese caso: muestra cómo la doctrina infame podía formar parte de una ideología doméstica conservadora.
«Woman’s mission in this age is with the spiritual faculties,” Wilburn claimed; “she has been long even as the beast of burden; she had been the unholy idol, the fashionable goddess; she must become the true woman, the pure angel, now!”» — la misión que Wilburn le asignaba a la mujer, con su serie de figuras: bestia de carga, ídolo impío, diosa de moda, y ahora mujer verdadera.
«Spiritualist free love proponents clearly did not intend to increase men’s sexual access to women or to condone sex outside marriage» — la conclusión que Braude saca del tramo, contra la acusación corriente.
«They condemned the betrayer of innocence who seduces a young girl on a promise of marriage and then disappears, leaving her a victim of the double standard» — y a quién condenaban en cambio.
«Spiritualists showed their sympathy to victims of male lust in their response to the much-publicized divorce suit of the young medium Cora Hatch» — el caso público en que esa simpatía se midió: el pleito de divorcio de la joven médium Cora Hatch; el troceo parte la palabra a fin de renglón.
«old trance speaker convinced a New York court to grant her a divorce because her husband and manager, Benjamin Hatch, took advantage of her youth to abuse her both financially and sexually» — el fallo que Hatch obtuvo a los diecisiete años contra su marido y representante, Benjamin Hatch.
«Benjamin Hatch responded with a pamphlet titled Spiritualist Iniquities Unmasked, which attributed the breakup of his marriage to his wife’s mediumship» — la respuesta del marido, que achacó a la mediumnidad de su mujer la ruptura.
«He accepted the reality of spirit communication but claimed that mediumship always led to marital discord because only the lowest “class” of spirits remained close enough to earth to influence mediums» — y el argumento con que lo sostuvo sin negar la comunicación espiritual: solo la clase más baja de espíritus queda cerca de la tierra.
«He accused mediums generally of infidelity, named specific instances, and assigned the cause to the practice of Spiritualism» — la generalización a que llegó, con nombres.
«Spiritualists jumped to defend the honor of their mediums and the practice of their faith» — la reacción del bando espiritista.
«The public discussion of the unseemly details of Cora Hatch’s conjugal relations drew tremendous sympathy from the Spiritualist public» — y el efecto que la ventilación pública de esos detalles tuvo sobre el público espiritista.
«While the secular press applied the double standard of morality to Cora, as they would to any woman who sought a divorce, the Spiritualist press defended her action» — el contraste entre las dos prensas que Braude mide en este caso.
«This result of the marriage of a girl but sixteen years of age, of pure benevolent disposition, with a man nearly three-fold her years, of an avaricious, mercenary cast of character, has been long anticipated.”» — lo que la prensa espiritista publicó del asunto, con la aritmética de edades a la vista.
«Other mediums responded with trance lectures in Cora’s support» — el modo en que otras médiums salieron a defenderla.
«Lizzie Doten spoke in trance on the text “Let he that is without sin among you cast the first stone.”» — el texto sobre el que Doten habló en trance; la fuente imprime *Let he that is without sin*.
«Without mentioning names, she blamed marital difficulties on the “badly regulated love principle” of errant husbands and urged that a woman of “delicate nature … craving sympathy” who goes astray receive sympathy, not condemnation» — y lo que pidió sin nombrar a nadie: simpatía y no condena para la mujer de naturaleza delicada que se extravía.
«Emma Hardinge responded with a trance lecture entitled “Marriage,” critical of the marriage laws, which the Banner of Light declared the most able yet given about a subject “on which so much happiness and misery depends.”» — la conferencia en trance de Emma Hardinge sobre el matrimonio, que el Banner of Light declaró la mejor dada hasta entonces.
«Twelve years (and two additional marriages) later, Cora Hatch won praise for her divorce suit from woman’s rights advocate Paulina Wright Davis, who recalled that Cora “practically protested false and unholy marriage, because purity and harmony were necessities of her life.”» — el elogio tardío de Paulina Wright Davis, doce años y dos matrimonios después.
«Spiritualists’ critique of marriage and Free Love itself were part of the nineteenth-century elevation of the roles of wife and mother and increased respect for the domestic sphere» — la tesis con que Braude reencuadra el capítulo: la crítica del matrimonio y el amor libre mismo son parte de la elevación decimonónica de los papeles de esposa y madre.
«Discussing the relation between free love and marriage, Alfred Cridge claimed, “We are free not because we have risen above [marriage], but because we have risen up to it.”» — la fórmula de Alfred Cridge que lo dice de un golpe: no somos libres por habernos elevado por encima del matrimonio, sino hasta él.
«Once again, Spiritualists pushed Victorian mores to their logical extreme» — el movimiento que Braude les atribuye una y otra vez.
«If marriage were indeed so sacred as nineteenth-century moralists claimed, then it needed no legal sanction to regulate it» — la primera de las dos consecuencias que sacaban de las premisas de sus adversarios.
«If motherhood were a sacred calling, it could not be entered into involuntarily» — y la segunda.
«Spiritualists drew radical implications from domestic ideals» — la fórmula con que Braude resume el mecanismo.
«Probably the nineteenth-century figure most closely associated with free love is Victoria Woodhull» — a quién asocia el siglo con el amor libre, dicho con *probably*.
«Her extreme antimarriage position, however, was not typical of free love advocates» — y el correctivo que Braude le pone enseguida.
«Within a few years, Woodhull fled to a respectable marriage in England (her third) and denied her earlier views» — el desenlace de Woodhull, con el paréntesis que Braude no se ahorra: un matrimonio respetable en Inglaterra, el tercero.
«Yet the Spiritualist sex radicals who had been discussing alternatives to traditional marriage for twenty years before Woodhull continued» — la continuidad que ese desenlace no interrumpió: los radicales sexuales espiritistas llevaban veinte años discutiendo alternativas antes de Woodhull; el troceo parte la frase entre planas.
«to do so for twenty years after her notoriety made the term free love almost unmentionable» — y el remate en la plana siguiente: siguieron otros veinte años después de que su notoriedad volviera el término casi impronunciable.
«Juliet Stillman Severance and fellow Spiritualist J. H. Cook still wrote “scientific” articles on “the number and duration of sex-loves” in the 1880s, when few reformers not dedicated exclusively to sex radicalism would touch the subject» — quiénes seguían escribiendo del asunto en los años ochenta, cuando casi nadie lo tocaba.
«dissatisfied with sexual relations in the nineteenth century» — la inferencia con que Braude cierra el tramo anterior: la atención seria de los espiritistas a la crítica del matrimonio sugiere que hombres y mujeres entre ellos estaban insatisfechos.
«One figure stands out among Spiritualist lecturers who continued to agitate for the reform of marriage and sexuality long after entrenched Victorian values made their activities scandalous and sometimes illegal» — la figura que Braude destaca entre quienes siguieron agitando cuando eso ya era escandaloso y a veces ilegal.
«Lois Waisbrooker was described by a contemporary as “a she Abraham Lincoln” whose compelling oratory evoked the image of Sojourner Truth, Margaret Fuller, and the actress Charlotte Cushman rolled into one» — cómo la describía un contemporáneo: una Abraham Lincoln en mujer, con la elocuencia de Sojourner Truth, Margaret Fuller y la actriz Charlotte Cushman juntas.
«She described herself as an “untrammeled Spiritualist speaker,” devoted to the intertwined reforms of woman’s rights, free love, and Spiritualism» — y cómo se describía ella misma, con las tres reformas entrelazadas.
«Waisbrooker’s personal history remains mysterious, but she had clearly experienced the economic and social liabilities of unmarried women» — la abstención de Braude sobre su biografía, con lo que sí da por establecido.
«With no husband in evidence, she attempted to support her children by working as a domestic servant, but poverty and illness forced her to give them up to be raised by others» — el tramo documentado de esa historia: sirvienta doméstica sin marido a la vista, y los hijos entregados a otros por pobreza y enfermedad.
«At the age of twenty-six, she resolved to pursue her education and became a teacher in black schools before the Civil War, a task then as disreputable as was her future career as an advocate of Spiritualism and free love» — y el oficio que tomó a los veintiséis, tan mal visto entonces como su carrera posterior: maestra en escuelas de negros antes de la Guerra Civil.
«A brief second marriage when she was thirty convinced her of the immorality of the marriage laws» — el episodio del que Braude hace salir su convicción.
«The content of Waisbrooker’s prolific writings may provide clues to her biography» — la cautela con que propone leer su obra como indicio biográfico.
«The seduction and betrayal of young women and the victimization of unwed mothers by the double standard constantly recur as themes in both her fiction and her nonfiction» — y los temas que reaparecen sin descanso en esa obra.
«Waisbrooker drew critical attention to the relation between the sexual and the economic exploitation of women in The Sexual Question and the Money Power and in her account of a feminist utopia, A Sex Revolution» — los dos títulos en que ligó explotación sexual y explotación económica, uno de ellos una utopía feminista.
«If I am what I am told by those on the other side … then for this cause came I into the world … to declare the truth as I see it,”» — la vocación que Waisbrooker declara en el prólogo de uno de sus libros, puesta en boca de los del otro lado.
«The “truth” as Waisbrooker saw it was that women were victimized by every aspect of contemporary morality» — la verdad que ella decía ver.
«They suffered from the double standard that held them to stricter standards of behavior than men; they suffered from economic discrimination that forced them into loveless marriages; and they suffered from the belief that women were naturally passionless and that the presence of sexual desire reflected a lack of virtue» — los tres agravios que Braude le enumera: la doble moral, la discriminación económica que empuja a matrimonios sin amor y la creencia de que la mujer es por naturaleza sin pasión.
«Waisbrooker believed that women’s emancipation required both the restraint of male passion and the release of female sexual impulses» — y las dos mitades de su remedio, que van en direcciones contrarias.
«Waisbrooker’s attitude toward sexuality reflected her firm belief that the natural world, including natural human impulses, revealed the divine order of creation» — la premisa religiosa de esa posición: el mundo natural, y con él los impulsos humanos, revela el orden divino.
«Because desire was a natural property of human beings, she viewed it as good» — la consecuencia inmediata que sacaba.
«Further, she insisted that each of us must accept our own sexuality in order to attain full self-respect, which she saw as “an absolute requirement as a basis for a noble character.”» — y lo que exigía de cada quien: aceptar la propia sexualidad para alcanzar el respeto de sí, que tenía por requisito absoluto de un carácter noble.
«Because she believed all humans experienced sexual desire, she saw society’s negative attitudes toward sex as degrading to the self-images of all people» — el alcance que le daba a la condena social del sexo.
«Women suffered most from this view because sexual desire was less acceptable in women than in men» — y a quién perjudicaba más.
«I came to womanhood with the idea that purity was without desire, and when my own nature awoke I despised myself because I could not subdue it,”» — el testimonio que Waisbrooker citaba de una de las mujeres más concienzudas que conocía: crecer creyendo que la pureza es no desear.
«insistence that human sexuality must be accepted in order to allow for self-respect shows the distance Spiritualism had traveled from the religious worldviews that preceded and surrounded it» — la medida que Braude toma con ese caso: la distancia recorrida por el espiritismo desde las visiones religiosas que lo precedieron y rodearon.
«Protestant orthodoxy asserted that salvation required a consciousness of oneself as inherently sinful by virtue of one’s descent from Adam through the tainted process of sexual reproduction» — el punto de partida de esa distancia: la ortodoxia protestante pedía saberse pecador por descender de Adán mediante la reproducción sexual.
«In contrast, Waisbrooker believed that a consciousness of oneself as good, including a consciousness of one’s sexuality, was a prerequisite to moral character and behavior» — y el punto de llegada, exactamente invertido.
«Far from abandoning the contemporary elevation of femininity, Waisbrooker insisted that the true woman had sexual feelings and that her purity was compromised by society’s insistence that she deny them» — el matiz que Braude no deja pasar: lejos de abandonar la elevación de lo femenino, Waisbrooker sostenía que la mujer verdadera siente y que negarlo la mancha.
«Waisbrooker tied her free love views directly to her religious beliefs» — el nudo del capítulo aplicado a este caso.
«She attributed her ability to cut through the dishonesty and deception of conventional morality to Spiritualism’s direct access to truth» — a qué atribuía Waisbrooker su capacidad de atravesar la moral convencional.
«As a Spiritualist, she believed that she was “no longer sitting in the shadow of reflected light, but clothed with the sun, with direct power.”» — y la imagen con que lo decía: ya no sentada en la sombra de una luz reflejada, sino vestida de sol.
«In her book The Occult Power of Sex, she argued that the magnetic forces that made spirit communication possible also powered the sex drive that drew individual men and women together» — la tesis de The Occult Power of Sex: las mismas fuerzas magnéticas que hacen posible la comunicación espiritual mueven el impulso sexual.
«This same force was the source of religious enthusiasm» — y el tercer efecto que le atribuía a esa fuerza única.
«The “yearnings of youth,” Waisbrooker contended, could be satisfied either by sex or by religion, and it was because they knew this that the clergy attempted to control sexuality» — la consecuencia con que explicaba el interés del clero por la sexualidad.
«Waisbrooker viewed her struggle to emancipate human beings from uncongenial marriages and sexual relations and her struggle to emancipate souls from the dogma of conventional religion as one and the same» — y por qué tenía sus dos luchas por una sola.
«Waisbrooker was first arrested under the Comstock Antiobscenity Act in 1892» — el primero de sus arrestos, bajo la ley Comstock.
«She was accused of printing obscene matter in her Kansas newspaper, Foundation Principles, which expounded “Humanitarian Spiritualism.”» — el periódico de Kansas por el que la acusaron, que exponía un espiritismo humanitario.
«The offending material consisted of an exchange between the editor and a male correspondent» — y en qué consistía el material ofensivo.
«He sought Waisbrooker’s advice about his sexual relationship with a thirty-year-old unmarried woman because the woman wanted to discontinue their affair» — el caso que el corresponsal le consultaba: un abogado casado sin congenialidad y una mujer soltera de treinta que quería terminar.
«I love her dearly and do not want to do that which will cause her pain or regret, and yet we were made for each other, and for no other, and we need that exchange of sexual vitality that can only be had by free and unrestricted intercourse.”» — cómo lo formulaba él, con la doctrina espiritista puesta a su favor: fueron hechos el uno para el otro y necesitan ese intercambio de vitalidad sexual.
«The correspondent proposed that he and his lover occasionally meet away from home for a day or two, in order to enjoy the benefits of their sexual contact» — y lo que proponía en concreto.
«He contended that “our relations are and would be pure and right according to the true law of nature” and clearly hoped that Waisbrooker would affirm his view and support the continuation of his relationship» — el respaldo que esperaba de Waisbrooker, con la ley verdadera de la naturaleza por argumento.
«Waisbrooker reprinted the letter in full in order to vent her opposition to the views of its author and of those who “think we are demanding freedom that we may revel in sensual pleasure.”» — por qué Waisbrooker reprodujo la carta entera: para oponerse a su autor y a quienes creen que la libertad que se pide es para revolcarse en placer.
«Instead of supporting the writer’s call for freedom, she condemned his hypocrisy for remaining in a loveless marriage and seeking secret sex outside it» — y lo que hizo en vez de apoyarlo.
«What is the matter, my good sir, that you cannot adjust conditions so that you can fearlessly and openly take your loved one by the hand in the face of the world?”» — la pregunta con que lo interpeló.
«She castigated him for wanting to “secure the pleasure without the risk” by continuing the clandestine affair» — el reproche concreto: querer el placer sin el riesgo.
«Should exposure follow, you, a man, can stand it, but where would she be in the eyes of the community? Do you love her and yet would subject her, through her love for you, to such a risk? If you cannot stand by her now, you could not then.”» — y el reparto desigual del riesgo que le puso enfrente, con su conclusión sobre él.
«Waisbrooker saw the source of her correspondent’s dilemma not in the social» — dónde NO ponía Waisbrooker el origen del dilema; el troceo parte la frase entre planas.
«sanctions against extramarital sex but rather in his willingness to remain in a loveless marriage» — y dónde sí, en el remate de la plana siguiente: no en la sanción social del sexo extraconyugal, sino en su disposición a seguir en un matrimonio sin amor.
«As a solution, she prescribed the dissolution of his false marriage, which would free him to follow his heart» — la solución que le recetaba.
«She attributed his problem not to his lover’s unwillingness to continue their affair in secret but to his own moral weakness for being unwilling to brave social ostracism and seek a divorce» — y a quién le cargaba la culpa: no a la renuencia de ella, sino a la debilidad moral de él.
«Her solution moved the onus of loyalty to reform principles off the woman’s shoulders and placed it squarely on those of her married lover» — el desplazamiento de la carga que Braude subraya en esa respuesta.
«Lois Waisbrooker’s views illustrate the possible differences between men’s and women’s understandings of free love» — para qué le sirve el episodio entero.
«The correspondent subscribed to Waisbrooker’s paper and read her writings but used the concepts he found there to support the traditional double standard of morality that allowed men to seek sexual alliances outside marriage without risking the social respectability of the married state» — el uso que el corresponsal hacía de conceptos leídos en ella: sostener la doble moral de siempre.
«Waisbrooker’s response criticized both the inconsistency of the lawyer’s position with free love principles and his sexism in wanting to subject his female partner to risks he himself was not willing to assume» — y las dos cosas que ella le criticaba a la vez, la inconsecuencia y el sexismo.
«For many male proponents, the attraction of free love lay in its promise of freer sexual contact; for women, the doctrine might more accurately be defined as freedom not to love, except in very limited circumstances in which they exercised complete control of their own actions» — la definición doble con que Braude cierra: para muchos varones el amor libre prometía trato sexual más libre; para las mujeres se define mejor como libertad de NO amar.
«Spiritualists’ willingness to enter “the citadel of marriage” and criticize society’s most dearly held beliefs exacted stiff penalties from the advocates of free love» — el precio que se cobró entrar a la ciudadela del matrimonio.
«For Lois Waisbrooker, the price was repeated arrests, culminating in her prosecution at the age of seventy-six for publishing an article condemning “The Awful Fate of Fallen Women,” which a Washington State court judged obscene in 1902» — el precio en el caso de Waisbrooker: procesada a los setenta y seis por un artículo sobre la suerte de las mujeres caídas.
«Free love could exact a more personal toll from a woman whose husband’s interpretation of the doctrine differed from her own» — y el otro precio, más íntimo, que Braude anuncia antes de contarlo.
«Mary Fenn Davis ultimately fell victim to the same principles that liberated her from a loveless marriage years before» — la simetría con que cierra el capítulo, y que es la del comienzo: Mary Fenn Davis cayó víctima de los mismos principios que la liberaron.
«In 1885, her husband and coworker, Andrew Jackson Davis, informed her that he had misinterpreted the spirit messages of thirty years ago and that she was not in fact his spiritual affinity» — cómo se lo comunicó Andrew Jackson Davis en 1885: había interpretado mal los mensajes de espíritus de treinta años antes.
«His true affinity had appeared in a young woman who was his fellow student at the United States Medical College in New York» — y dónde había aparecido la afinidad verdadera.
«The announcement cost the founder of the Harmonial Philosophy much of his reputation in reform circles, where his wife was as highly esteemed as he» — lo que ese anuncio le costó al fundador de la Filosofía Harmonial en los círculos reformistas.
«But the sixty-year-old Mary Fenn Davis, true to her principles, received the news with apparent equanimity and did not fight the ensuing divorce» — y cómo lo recibió ella a los sesenta años, fiel a sus propios principios.
«However, she went into a physical decline from which she never recovered» — el *however* con que Braude marca lo que esa ecuanimidad aparente no impidió.
«She assumed her mother’s maiden name, Fenn, and died a year and a half later» — el final del caso, con el nombre que tomó al quedarse sola.
«When Spiritualists attempted to discover the meaning of equal rights by stringent application of the principle of individual sovereignty, they did not limit themselves to social or political concerns» — el paso que abre el capítulo sexto: aplicada con rigor, la soberanía individual no se quedaba en lo social ni en lo político.
«They found additional roadblocks to women’s autonomy in the physical conditions of their lives» — y dónde encontraron los estorbos siguientes.
«They proposed to free women from cumbersome clothing that restrained their limbs and organs, from medical theories that encouraged them to view themselves as weak, and from barriers to their participation in the healing professions» — las tres liberaciones que proponían: de la ropa que traba miembros y órganos, de las teorías médicas que la hacen verse débil y de las barreras al oficio de curar.
«Spiritualists joined reformers who focused on health in extending self-sovereignty to include what one ate, what one wore, and what sort of treatment one received when ill» — hasta dónde extendían la soberanía de sí junto con los reformadores de la salud: lo que se come, lo que se viste y el trato que se recibe estando enfermo.
«All these, they contended, must follow the laws of nature rather than the dictates of society» — y la regla única a que sometían las tres.
«The female body became one locus of the cultural debate about the role and capabilities of women» — el lugar que Braude le asigna al cuerpo femenino en el debate cultural del siglo.
«Most observers agreed that the health of American women was poor and getting worse» — el punto en que casi todos coincidían, cualquiera fuera su bando.
«Catherine Beecher’s 1855 survey of her acquaintances revealed a “terrible decay of female health all over the land.”» — el sondeo de Catherine Beecher de 1855, que halló un decaimiento terrible de la salud femenina en todo el país.
«Opponents of woman’s rights argued that women’s generative organs inclined them toward disease and debility, making it impossible for women to enter society on an equal footing with men» — la lectura que de ese hecho hacían los adversarios de los derechos de la mujer: los órganos generativos la inclinan a la enfermedad y le cierran la igualdad.
«Emancipation, in their view, was impossible because restrictions on woman’s role resulted directly from her physiology, especially from her reproductive system» — y el determinismo con que cerraban el argumento.
«In contrast, Spiritualists joined health reformers in arguing that women were naturally healthy but that ill health resulted from the artificial restrictions imposed by civilization on women’s natural physical abilities» — la lectura contraria: la mujer es sana por naturaleza y enferma por las restricciones artificiales de la civilización.
«They found the source of women’s debility in social conventions that dictated loveless marriages and repeated unwanted pregnancies as well as restrictive clothing, an un-healthful diet, and a lack of exercise» — y el censo de causas que ponían en su lugar, del matrimonio sin amor y los embarazos no queridos a la ropa, la dieta y la falta de ejercicio.
«The emancipation of women, for Spiritualists, was a health issue, providing the only remedy for physical suffering» — la consecuencia que Braude subraya: para los espiritistas la emancipación era asunto de salud.
«These two opposing views of women’s bodies reflected two different approaches to health in general» — y de qué eran síntoma esas dos visiones del cuerpo.
«Medical practice in nineteenth-century America included an array of techniques whose practitioners fell into two broad categories» — el estado de la medicina estadounidense del siglo XIX que Braude reconstruye antes de juzgar nada.
«“regular” or “orthodox” physicians, who based their treatments on the study of anatomy and on physical examinations, and “irregular” or “sectarian” physicians, who based their practice on a particular system of medicine ranging from homeopathy to botanical cures and patent medicines» — las dos categorías con sus criterios: los regulares u ortodoxos, apoyados en la anatomía y el examen físico, y los irregulares o sectarios, apoyados en un sistema.
«The ineffectiveness of regular therapeutics coupled with a general distrust of experts with elite education convinced state legislatures to repeal most laws favoring orthodox practitioners during the Jacksonian period» — las dos causas de la desregulación jacksoniana: la ineficacia de la terapéutica regular y la desconfianza general del experto de educación elitista.
«practitioners enjoyed the same lack of state regulation during the period before the Civil War» — el resultado en el periodo anterior a la Guerra Civil.
«But by the century’s close the regulars had secured a monopoly on medical therapeutics from the state, and the practice of competing systems of healing became illegal» — y el vuelco de fin de siglo, que es lo que el capítulo va a explicar: monopolio de los regulares y ilegalidad de los demás sistemas.
«In campaigning for their medical monopoly, regulars aimed one attack of their battle against sectarians at the presence of women as healers throughout the sectarian movements» — el frente de esa campaña que aquí le interesa: el ataque a la presencia de mujeres como curanderas en los movimientos sectarios.
«The two poles of opinion about women’s bodies had their roots in divergent views of nature that tied sectarian healing to heterodox religion and regular medicine to Protestant orthodoxy» — la raíz que Braude les encuentra a los dos polos: visiones divergentes de la naturaleza que emparejan curación sectaria con religión heterodoxa y medicina regular con ortodoxia protestante.
«While sectarians looked to nature as an ally in the healing process, regulars viewed nature as presenting problems that must be cured or controlled» — la diferencia en una línea: la naturaleza como aliada o como problema por controlar.
«Orthodox religion and orthodox medicine reinforced a similar world-view in which human beings in their natural state were seen as flawed from birth and in need of assistance from officially sanctioned authority figures trained in a specialized body of knowledge» — el paralelo que traza entre las dos ortodoxias: el ser humano en su estado natural viene fallado y necesita autoridades sancionadas.
«While orthodox clergy portrayed the human soul as inevitably prone to sin, orthodox physicians portrayed the human body, especially the female body, as inherently prone to disease» — y el paralelo estricto entre el alma inclinada al pecado y el cuerpo, sobre todo el femenino, inclinado a la enfermedad.
«Just as ministers traditionally found a tendency toward sin in woman’s moral anatomy because of Eve’s instrumental role in tempting Adam into disobedience in the Garden of Eden, so doctors associated woman’s physical anatomy with a tendency toward pathology» — el mismo paralelo llevado a su fuente: de Eva tentando a Adán se sacaba la anatomía moral, y de ahí la anatomía física patológica.
«The emerging male medical establishment alleged that a disease-prone reproductive system governed woman’s physiology, resulting in inevitable physical frailty that dictated a severely restricted sphere of action» — lo que el establecimiento médico masculino sostenía, con la esfera restringida por conclusión.
«Regular doctors joined the clergy in asserting the appropriateness of women remaining within their “sphere,” the clergy basing their arguments on the Bible, the doctors basing theirs on the body» — la alianza que Braude documenta, con su reparto de fundamentos: el clero desde la Biblia y los médicos desde el cuerpo.
«Doctors and ministers agreed that both physical and spiritual ill health in women resulted from disobedience» — y en qué coincidían unos y otros sobre la causa.
«They prescribed obedience to a male authority figure as a cure for the degenerative tendencies of body and soul» — y la receta única que se seguía de ahí.
«While all sectarian medical movements attacked the practices of regular doctors, Spiritualists incorporated heterodox healing into an integrated worldview that added a critique of the medical establishment to their critiques of the establishment in religion, politics, and society» — lo que distingue al espiritismo de los demás sectarios según Braude: integró la crítica del establecimiento médico a las que ya hacía en religión, política y sociedad.
«Spiritualists opposed orthodox medicine with the same fervor with which they opposed orthodox theology, and with some of the same arguments» — y con qué fervor y con qué argumentos.
«Because they viewed each individual as embodying the image of God and the laws of nature, they viewed health, like godliness, as the natural condition of human beings, which only misguided human intervention could destroy» — la premisa de la que salía todo: la salud es la condición natural del ser humano, como la piedad, y solo la intervención humana desatinada la destruye.
«Disease, according to Andrew Jackson Davis, reflected discord» — qué era la enfermedad para Andrew Jackson Davis.
«A cure would result from the restoration of harmony of the individual with the laws of nature» — y en qué consistía entonces la cura.
«Because harmony was a spiritual as well as a physical quality, it could be restored more effectively by the Harmonial Philosophy than by physical therapeutics» — la consecuencia que Davis sacaba a favor de la Filosofía Harmonial.
«“Atheism is not more destitute of the divine qualities of intuitive wisdom than are the various systems of medicine of that restorative principle which alone can summon the spirit of health,” Davis explained» — la sentencia con que Davis lo dijo, midiendo los sistemas de medicina por la vara del ateísmo.
«Because he located the source of disease in spiritual disharmony, he attributed most diseases to mental origins» — y a qué atribuía en consecuencia el origen de casi toda enfermedad.
«However, because mental disharmony resulted in real physical disease, he encouraged the use of trained, albeit irregular, physicians» — el *however* que impide leerlo como puro mentalismo: la desarmonía mental producía enfermedad física real, y Davis recomendaba médicos formados, aunque irregulares.
«Just as they insisted that individuals had direct access to religious truth without intervention by scripture, clergy, or sacrament, Spiritualists also insisted that individuals had direct access to health without the “heroic” interventions of regular physicians» — el paralelo exacto entre las dos vías de acceso directo, a la verdad religiosa y a la salud.
«Spiritualists equated laws designed to give» — el arranque de la equiparación que hacían, cortado por el troceo al cambiar de plana.
«regulars a monopoly on medical practice with laws regarding the establishment» — y su remate en la plana siguiente: las leyes del monopolio médico equiparadas a las del establecimiento de una religión.
«of religion. Thomas Hazard of Rhode Island compared the legislative campaign of the “old blood-letting, opium, and drugging school” with the contemporaneous campaign to amend the Constitution to declare the United» — el paralelo de Thomas Hazard, de Rhode Island, entre la campaña de la vieja escuela de la sangría, el opio y las drogas y la de enmendar la Constitución.
«Hazard devoted the first fifty pages of his Family Medical Instructor to descriptions of the pain and suffering caused by bloodletting and narcotics administered by regulars in contrast to the benign techniques of “unlettered” practitioners» — las cincuenta páginas con que Thomas Hazard abre su Family Medical Instructor, dedicadas al dolor causado por sangrías y narcóticos.
«He cautioned Spiritualists to beware of conspiracies of doctors and ministers to “incarcerate innocent healing mediums” in insane asylums, not an unwarranted concern given that regulars defined mediumship as a disease» — el aviso de Hazard sobre el encierro de médiums sanadoras en manicomios, que Braude no tiene por infundado porque los regulares definían la mediumnidad como enfermedad.
«In addition to insisting that women were naturally healthy, Spiritualists also asserted that women were better suited than men to act as healers» — el segundo paso del argumento espiritista, más allá de la salud natural de la mujer.
«They believed that spirit communication, through women’s mediumship, could cure the diseases of the physical body just as it healed rents in the social fabric and cured rifts between the living and the dead» — y el alcance que le daban a la comunicación espiritual, del cuerpo al tejido social y a la separación de vivos y muertos.
«In medicine as in religion, Spiritualists took the opposite extreme from the orthodox position, turning for healing not to men with training but to women with vision» — la fórmula con que Braude cierra el tramo: no varones con formación, sino mujeres con visión.
«The desire for relief from physical suffering joined the desire for relief from the emotional anguish of bereavement in drawing investigators to Spiritualism» — los dos deseos que traían investigadores al espiritismo.
«As the technological advances of the nineteenth century increased expectations about the ability of human beings to harness natural forces and control the physical world, the therapeutic capabilities of physicians made little progress» — el desfase que Braude señala: la técnica avanzaba y la terapéutica no.
«In part to fulfill their patients’ desires for therapy that would produce immediate observable results, orthodox physicians relied on “heroic” bleedings and purgings as well as narcotics and alcohol» — y a qué recurrían los médicos ortodoxos para dar resultados visibles: sangrías y purgas heroicas, narcóticos y alcohol.
«Although bloodletting was on the decline by mid-century, physicians continued to prescribe opium and alcohol and to subject even infants and children to toxic doses of mercury until well after the Civil War» — el matiz con que acota ese cuadro, y lo que sí duró: mercurio en dosis tóxicas a niños de pecho hasta bien pasada la Guerra Civil.
«The greatest challenge to regular doctors and their heroic treatments came from homeopathists, whose sweet-tasting medicines in “infinitesimal doses” provided a pleasant alternative to the regimen of poisons prescribed by regulars» — el rival mayor de esa medicina: la homeopatía, con sus dosis infinitesimales de sabor dulce.
«For those whose diseases proved no more susceptible to the sugar pills of the homeopathist than to the dangerous prescriptions of the regulars, physically benign religious or mental healing offered a rational alternative» — y para quién quedaba entonces la curación religiosa o mental, que Braude llama alternativa racional.
«For victims of disease like Achsa Sprague, who had exhausted the ineffective physical therapies available in nineteenth century America, only the hope of a cure by spirits remained» — el caso con que lo ejemplifica, ya conocido del capítulo cuarto.
«“Medical mediums” and “clairvoyant physicians,” most of them women, appeared throughout the country, offering an attractive choice of treatment for consumers of medical care» — las dos figuras que aparecieron por todo el país, mujeres en su mayoría.
«Some examined patients in trance, dispensing remedies prescribed by spirit doctors. Others healed through the laying on of hands charged with spirit forces, while still others used the clairvoyant state to see inside the diseased body» — y las tres técnicas que Braude distingue: examen en trance, imposición de manos cargadas de fuerzas espirituales y clarividencia para ver dentro del cuerpo.
«Spiritualism adopted from mesmerism the notion that entranced individuals could heal disease» — lo que el espiritismo tomó del mesmerismo.
«But while mesmerism attributed the healing agency enabled by trance to a universal» — y dónde empieza la diferencia; el troceo parte la frase entre planas.
«mesmeric fluid, Spiritualists transformed the healing trance into a form of» — y su remate en la plana siguiente: del fluido mesmérico universal a una forma de mediumnidad.
«Mediums offered a wide variety of medical services» — la variedad del servicio que Braude documenta enseguida.
«The clairvoyant physician Mrs. J. C. Dutton maintained two offices in Cleveland, one on the east side and one on the west» — el caso de la médica clarividente J. C. Dutton, con dos consultorios en Cleveland.
«while in clairvoyant state examines patients, discovers the nature of their disease, prescribes proper homeopathic, Botanical and Electro-magnetic remedies.”» — cómo describía Dutton su técnica, con los tres tipos de remedio que recetaba: homeopáticos, botánicos y electromagnéticos.
«In addition to office visits, she offered to send her own medicinal formula, which promised to cure fever or ague in one week» — y el remedio propio que despachaba a domicilio.
«Another Cleveland practitioner offered to treat disease through clairvoyance and through the laying on of hands» — la segunda practicante de Cleveland que censa.
«A Boston “midwife and ladies’ physician” announced in the Banner that she had engaged a trance medium to assist in her practice» — el anuncio en el Banner de una partera y médica de señoras de Boston, que había contratado a una médium en trance.
«She also announced that she accepted indigent cases» — y el detalle que Braude no se ahorra de ese mismo anuncio.
«In the advertising columns of Spiritualist newspapers, healing mediums offered consultations through the mail to those who enclosed one dollar and a lock of their hair» — la consulta por correo que se anunciaba en la prensa espiritista, con su precio y su requisito.
«While trance speakers relied on the free listing of lecturers in Spiritualist periodicals to apprise the public of their whereabouts, healing mediums paid for advertisements and listed themselves in city directories» — la diferencia económica entre las dos figuras: las oradoras usaban el listado gratuito y las sanadoras pagaban anuncio.
«Americans in need of medical treatment flocked to take advantage of the therapeutic alternatives offered by Spiritualists» — y cómo respondía el público.
«Dr. Main’s Institute “for healing under the guidance of spirits” announced that it treated ninety-eight inpatients as well as handling seven thousand office visits during its first year of operation in 1857» — las cifras del instituto del doctor Main en su primer año: noventa y ocho internos y siete mil consultas.
«Dr. Main proudly announced a net profit of two thousand dollars» — y la ganancia neta que anunciaba con orgullo.
«The author of the Plain Guide to Spiritualism advised the formation of healing circles in every community because, he said, there were not enough healing mediums to go around» — el consejo del Plain Guide to Spiritualism ante la escasez de médiums sanadoras.
«The midwestern activist Elmer Louden wrote to the Banner in the hope of convincing some healing medium to move from Boston to Illinois» — y el caso concreto de esa escasez.
«Noted trance speakers Cora Hatch and Melvina Townsend began as healing mediums» — el dato de carrera que enlaza las dos figuras.
«Mediums did prescribe medicines, but they avoided the purgatives, stimulants, and narcotics used by regular doctors» — la precisión que Braude hace: recetaban, pero no lo que recetaban los regulares.
«When Isaac Post was unwell, a clairvoyant who was an old family friend wrote that she had “felt inclined to look after him and his prospects and discovered a considerable debility, the result of billious derangement.”» — el ejemplo doméstico que trae, con el diagnóstico de la clarividente amiga de la familia Post.
«In her clairvoyant state, she “thought he needed some bitters prepared as follows, orange peel, cammomile, etc. and gin.”» — y la receta que salió de ese estado clarividente, con su lista de ingredientes.
«Mrs. Semantha Mettler patented and distributed nationally medicines bearing her name and made according to recipes revealed to her by spirits» — el caso de Semantha Mettler, que patentó y distribuyó por todo el país medicinas con su nombre y receta de espíritus.
«Her medicines and her practice with her husband as “Psycho-Magnetic Physicians” allowed Mettler to support her family and accumulate substantial real estate» — y lo que ese negocio le permitió: mantener a su familia y juntar bienes raíces.
«Mettler’s patent medicine success preceded that of the famous Lydia Pinkham by twenty years» — la prioridad cronológica que Braude le reconoce sobre Lydia Pinkham.
«Lydia Pinkham did not attribute her recipe to spirits, but her faith in the superiority of her own vegetable compound to the prescriptions of the regulars derived from the progressive Quaker heritage that led her into abolition and Spiritualism» — y el matiz que le pone al caso Pinkham: no atribuía su receta a espíritus, pero su confianza venía de la misma herencia cuáquera progresista.
«Sarah Danskin called herself a physician of the “New School” because she had been the “pupil and medium” of the spirit of Benjamin Rush» — cómo se titulaba Sarah Danskin, alumna y médium del espíritu de Benjamin Rush.
«States a Christian nation, the combined results of which would “consign as merchandise … the souls of men to one branch of the conspirators, and their bodies by mutual compact to the other.”» — y el resultado combinado que Hazard temía de las dos campañas: las almas de los hombres como mercancía para unos conspiradores y los cuerpos para los otros.
«She also offered for sale “the American Lung Healer, prepared and magnetized by Mrs. Danskin.”» — el producto que Sarah Danskin vendía, magnetizado por ella misma.
«Spiritualist practitioners emphasized the difference between their techniques and those of orthodox physicians» — lo que los practicantes espiritistas subrayaban en su propaganda.
«One ad in the Banner of Light offered the services of a husband and wife medical team who felt “no sympathy with the legalized medical institution” and offered to treat patients instead “with a store of Eclectic, Botanic, Thompsonian and Patent medicines.”» — un anuncio del Banner of Light que Braude transcribe: un matrimonio médico sin simpatía por la institución médica legalizada, con su surtido de remedios.
«wrote to Amy and Isaac of a medium who “extolled the virtues of her remedy and contrasted her cure with others who had been treated by the first rate doctors who almost invariably give calomel.”» — lo que Mary Robbins Post les escribió a Amy e Isaac sobre una médium que contrastaba su cura con la de los médicos de primera, que recetan calomel.
«Post expressed satisfaction that the medium “dwelt on the pernicious effects of calomel,” a purgative that caused mercury poisoning, but feared that a sick relative’s “faith in doctors prescriptions will remain though he order calomel every night for a week.”» — y el temor de Post, con la aclaración de Braude sobre el calomel: un purgante que envenenaba con mercurio.
«Another correspondent of Amy Post’s described how the prescriptions of a male doctor (tincture of opium and snuff) “dried my throat out so I could not swallow.”» — el testimonio de otra corresponsal de Amy Post sobre lo que le hicieron el opio y el rapé de un médico.
«She then went to a medium whose treatment was “mainly magnetic” and felt “much better in every way.”» — y adónde fue después.
«Spiritualist healers proudly described the medicines they administered as mild in comparison to the strong drugs used by regulars» — cómo describían las sanadoras espiritistas sus propias medicinas.
«While regular doctors relied on prescriptions as the basis of therapy, Spiritualists placed their faith in the laws of nature as the most potent therapeutic agent» — y dónde ponía cada bando su confianza terapéutica.
«Medicines cannot impart the principle of health any more than a book can convey the light of wisdom,” explained Andrew Jackson Davis» — la comparación con que Andrew Jackson Davis lo dijo: la medicina no da el principio de salud como el libro no da la luz de la sabiduría.
«He warned sufferers that there were no infallible remedies and urged them to place their confidence in the “Self-Healing Energies that impregnate every fiber … of the organism.”» — y en qué les pedía confiar en su lugar: en las energías autocurativas que impregnan cada fibra del organismo.
«Animosity between healing mediums and regular physicians pervades the biography of Mrs. J. H. Conant, medium of the Banner of Light free circle for seventeen years» — el caso que Braude usa para medir esa animosidad: la biografía de J. H. Conant, médium del círculo gratuito del Banner of Light durante diecisiete años.
«Her biographer describes the near death of the medium from an overdose of morphine prescribed by a physician who wrote the incorrect dose because he was himself “under the influence of stimulants.”» — lo que ese biógrafo cuenta: una sobredosis de morfina recetada por un médico que estaba él mismo bajo el efecto de estimulantes.
«The overdose was administered to the unconscious woman by her husband, who had faith in the doctor who prescribed it» — y quién se la administró, con el detalle que Braude no se ahorra.
«When apprised of the result of his prescription, the physician acknowledged his mistake and gave his patient up for dead» — cómo respondió el médico al enterarse.
«But Mrs. Conant prescribed for herself in trance, and, as soon as she received the medicine “of a simple nature” that she requested, she speedily recovered» — y cómo termina el relato: Conant se recetó a sí misma en trance y sanó pronto.
«Mrs. Conant continued to sit “for medical examinations only” each afternoon after her services as a test medium were engaged exclusively by the Banner» — el arreglo laboral que siguió, con el Banner llevándose en exclusiva sus servicios de médium de prueba.
«Medical mediums, like mediums in general, were predominantly female» — el dato de composición que sostiene el capítulo entero.
«Spiritualists viewed women as specially suited to the healing profession» — y la tesis que sacaban de ahí.
«Just as they found a warrant for women’s religious leadership in accepted stereotypes about women’s natural piety, they found a justification for the medical training of women in the common view that women had inherent nurturing qualities» — el paralelo de método que Braude señala: el mismo estereotipo que autorizaba el liderazgo religioso autorizaba la formación médica.
«In an address entitled “Woman the Physician,” Mary Nichols argued that woman was suited to healing because she was loving, whereas “man has had the strength to be a surgeon, poisoner, destroyer, hangman.”» — el argumento de Mary Nichols en su discurso *Woman the Physician*, con su lista de oficios masculinos por contraste.
«Who shall do this work better than woman? Woman, who has suffered most at the hands of materia medica,” editorialized the Spiritualist New Era on Marenda Randall’s receipt of the M.D. in 1855» — lo que el New Era espiritista editorializó cuando Marenda Randall recibió el título de médica en 1855.
«Randall viewed women as especially suited to medical practice because of their personal experience with the health consequences of a social system that forced women into marriages in which they could not control access to their own bodies» — y el fundamento que Randall le daba a esa aptitud, que enlaza con el capítulo del matrimonio.
«Every medical man knows— if he does not every medical woman does—that the penalty of God’s laws, which those human laws compel us to violate, directly kill ninety-nine hundredths of the female world.”» — la sentencia de Randall sobre las leyes humanas que obligan a violar las de Dios.
«In Randall’s view, women needed sound medical care more than men did because they suffered more harshly from the ills of society» — y por qué le parecía que la mujer necesitaba más atención médica que el varón.
«Spiritualists viewed the training of women as medical professionals as a step in progress toward living by the laws of nature» — el lugar que la formación médica de las mujeres ocupaba en su idea de progreso.
«Their hostility toward regular physicians and support for female practitioners made them supportive of any» — las dos actitudes de las que salía su apoyo; el troceo parte la frase entre planas.
«women who entered the medical field, whether orthodox or sectarian» — y el alcance que Braude le precisa en la plana siguiente: a cualquier mujer que entrara al campo, ortodoxa o sectaria.
«Notwithstanding the opposition of conservative scientists … [we] can see no limit to the power of woman to enter the chambers of knowledge.… Every institution should be opened to her,” wrote the Spiritualist eclectic Dr. Alcinda» — lo que escribió la ecléctica espiritista Alcinda Wilhelm: ningún límite al poder de la mujer para entrar a las cámaras del conocimiento.
«A number of Spiritualists were associated with the beginnings of the Woman’s Medical College of Philadelphia, the first woman’s medical school, founded in 1850» — el vínculo que documenta con la primera escuela de medicina para mujeres, fundada en 1850.
«The Longshores, a Philadelphia Quaker family, played a prominent role both in founding the college and in the rise of Spiritualism in Philadelphia» — la familia cuáquera que hace de bisagra entre las dos historias.
«The original impetus for the founding of the college was said to have resulted from the interest in medicine shown by the first president’s sister-in-law, Hannah Myers Longshore» — de dónde se decía que había salido el impulso fundador; Braude lo consigna en voz pasiva, sin adjudicarlo.
«Longshore, a member of the Woman’s Medical College’s first graduating class, became its first female faculty member in 1853, the same year she sat weekly in one of Philadelphia’s first séance circles» — la coincidencia de fechas que le interesa: Hannah Myers Longshore entró a la planta docente en 1853, el mismo año en que sesionaba cada semana en uno de los primeros círculos de Filadelfia.
«She was joined at the weekly séances by her husband, the vice-president of the college’s Board of Trustees, by her sister-in-law, Anna Longshore, another early graduate who would go on to become a world-renowned women’s health lecturer, and by one of her medical students, Rebecca B. Thomas» — quiénes se sentaban con ella en ese círculo, del vicepresidente del patronato a una alumna suya de medicina.
«As the Woman’s Medical College of Philadelphia struggled to increase its acceptance by the medical establishment, it expelled its unorthodox members, including its founders, the Longshores» — el precio de la respetabilidad que Braude registra: la escuela expulsó a sus miembros heterodoxos, fundadores incluidos.
«The Longshores went on to start another medical school, this time explicitly irregular: the Penn Medical University identified its approach as “eclectic,” indicating that it taught its students to utilize a variety of therapeutic approaches» — y lo que hicieron entonces: fundar la Penn Medical University, ecléctica por declaración.
«The interests of the new school’s students and faculty are indicated by the subjects of theses accepted for graduation. In addition to more conventional medical subjects, several theses address woman’s role as a physician, several focus on electricity as a therapeutic agent, and one discusses “Mind and Matter.”» — el indicio con que Braude mide los intereses de esa escuela: los temas de tesis, con la electricidad terapéutica y una sobre mente y materia.
«Spiritualists transferred their loyalty to the new school» — adónde se mudó la lealtad espiritista.
«At least seven active Spiritualists graduated from the Penn Medical University during its early years: Marenda Randall, Alcinda Wilhelm, Rebecca B. Thomas, Caroline Hinckley Spear, Annie Stambach, Samuel B. Britton, and Horace Dresser» — los siete espiritistas activos que se titularon ahí en sus primeros años; la fuente imprime *Britton*.
«All but Rebecca Thomas became well-known speakers on the Spiritualist platform» — y qué fue de ellos después, con su única excepción.
«Just as trance speakers swelled the ranks of America’s first group of women on the public platform, so medical mediums were well represented among the first women to receive formal medical training» — el paralelo con que Braude enlaza los capítulos cuarto y sexto.
«Marenda Randall, Achsa Sprague’s sister-in-law, had practiced “botanic obstetrics” in Woodstock, Vermont, for fifteen years» — la carrera previa de Marenda Randall, cuñada de Achsa Sprague: quince años de obstetricia botánica en Woodstock.
«Following the advent of her mediumship, she decided to travel to Philadelphia to attend the Penn Medical University» — y el orden de los hechos, que es lo que Braude subraya: primero la mediumnidad, después la escuela.
«After receiving the M.D., she set up a practice in Philadelphia in which she offered patients eclectic medical treatment in addition to healing “by magnetic or spiritual influence by touch.”» — la práctica que montó después, con las dos cosas juntas: tratamiento ecléctico y curación por influencia magnética o espiritual.
«Caroline Hinckley Spear also traveled to Philadelphia for medical education» — el segundo caso de ese camino.
«In 1858, she had accompanied the medium John Murray Spear to his community at Spirit Springs in upstate New York as his amanuensis and had borne his illegitimate child» — lo que Braude cuenta sin rodeos de esa biografía antes de la escuela.
«In 1863, Spear divorced his wife and married Caroline Hinckley» — y cómo se regularizó.
«A few years later, she graduated from the Penn Medical University and was appointed to its faculty» — el desenlace académico.
«By 1870, she and her husband had moved to California, where she joined in organizing the first woman suffrage organization» — y el desenlace político, que anticipa la conclusión del libro.
«Spiritualists joined the general health reform movement in arguing that disease could be prevented by living according to the laws of nature» — la tesis compartida con el movimiento general de reforma sanitaria.
«Spiritualists like Henry C. Wright, Mary Gove Nichols, Mary Tillotson, and» — los espiritistas que Braude nombra con papel en la reforma sanitaria; el troceo parte la lista entre planas.
«Paulina Wright Davis played a role in health reform beyond Spiritualist» — y el cuarto nombre de esa lista, con el alcance que les reconoce: más allá de los círculos espiritistas.
«Spiritualists acknowledged the kinship between their health reform goals and those of others who challenged the medical establishment» — el parentesco que ellos mismos reconocían.
«During the Civil War, Louisa Patterson, secretary of the Progressive Spiritualists of Cadiz, Indiana, offered a resolution to provide Union soldiers with an alternative to allopathic medical care» — la moción que Louisa Patterson llevó durante la Guerra Civil, en nombre de los Espiritistas Progresistas de Cadiz, Indiana.
«The convention drafted a statement asking President Lincoln to allow soldiers to return home to be nursed by wives and mothers rather than remaining in dangerous army hospitals under the care of regular physicians» — y lo que esa convención le pidió a Lincoln: que los soldados pudieran volver a casa a ser cuidados por sus esposas y madres.
«Even the first women regulars found themselves allied with heterodox practitioners against the male medical establishment, which tried to maintain a monopoly to the exclusion of both groups» — la alianza que la exclusión producía, aun entre bandos enfrentados.
«Dr. Marie Zakrzewska, pioneer regular physician, was refused office space because the landlord assumed that a female practitioner must be a medium» — el episodio con que lo ilustra: a la doctora Marie Zakrzewska le negaron consultorio porque el casero supuso que una médica sería médium.
«Female regulars sympathized with reformers’ opposition to the repressive orthodox view of women’s physiology, and Spiritualists returned the compliment» — y la reciprocidad de esa simpatía.
«We like to see these female doctors,” said a speaker at the annual festival of the Religio-Philosophical Society. “They prove the powers of woman to be equal to man.”» — lo que un orador dijo en el festival anual de la Religio-Philosophical Society sobre esas médicas.
«Although Spiritualism’s critique of orthodox medicine offered hope to patients of both sexes, Spiritualists focused their attention on overcoming barriers to women’s health» — el foco que Braude le reconoce a esa crítica, aunque sirviera a los dos sexos.
«They espoused a variety of reforms aimed at freeing women from socially constructed restrictions on their physical motion and development, including dress reform, gymnastics, temperance, vegetarianism, and water cure» — el censo de reformas que abrazaban: vestido, gimnasia, templanza, vegetarianismo y cura de agua.
«Health reform appealed to woman’s rights advocates because it contradicted the association of femininity with physical frailty and ill health» — y por qué la reforma sanitaria atraía a las defensoras de los derechos de la mujer.
«In order that the spirit may grow and develop properly,” argued Dr. Juliet Stillman, “it is necessary that the body should be kept in a healthy condition.”» — el argumento de la doctora Juliet Stillman, que hace de la salud del cuerpo condición del crecimiento del espíritu.
«She maintained that dress and health reform were necessary both to the advancement of women and to the advancement of Spiritualism» — y las dos causas a las que decía servir con eso.
«While mediums freed individuals from pain and disease, Spiritualist reformers proposed specific reformations of personal life that they believed would free the population generally from illness and suffering» — el reparto de tareas que Braude traza: las médiums liberan individuos y los reformadores proponen reformas de alcance general.
«Spiritualists appealed to the “Laws of Life,” as written in the “book of nature,” as guides to maintaining health as well as curing disease» — la autoridad a la que apelaban, escrita en el libro de la naturaleza.
«Americans read Spiritualist medical advice in Mrs. Lucina Tuttle’s The Clairvoyant’s Family Physician and in the Harbinger of Health by Andrew Jackson Davis» — los dos manuales por los que circulaba el consejo médico espiritista.
«Here they received advice on preventive medicine consistent with modern recommendations for the avoidance of America’s worst health hazards: cancer, heart disease, and alcoholism» — y el juicio retrospectivo que Braude se permite sobre ese consejo preventivo.
«Spiritualist health reformers, following an earlier generation of dietary reformers led by Sylvester Graham, advised vegetarianism as well as abstinence from tea, coffee, tobacco, and alcohol» — la genealogía dietética que les reconoce, de Sylvester Graham en adelante, con sus abstinencias.
«They decried the use of narcotics and advised regular exercise and fresh air» — y el resto del régimen.
«Andrew Jackson Davis’s Progressive Annual listed not only Spiritualist lecturers but also practicing women physicians, women instructors in light gymnastics, “practical dress reformers” who wore the “American costume” (composed, like the bloomer, of a short skirt over loose trousers), and speakers on the freedom and equality of the sexes» — el directorio del Progressive Annual de Davis, que juntaba conferencistas, médicas, instructoras de gimnasia ligera y reformadoras prácticas del vestido.
«Demonstrating Spiritualists’ faith in women’s physical strength, Mary Davis’s daughter provided instruction in “light» — la escena que Braude toma por prueba de esa fe en la fuerza física de la mujer; el troceo parte la frase entre planas.
«gymnastics,” following Dio Lewis, at the Spiritualist Belvidere Seminary run by» — y dónde daba esa gimnasia ligera la hija de Mary Davis: en el seminario espiritista de Belvidere, siguiendo a Dio Lewis.
«Davis defended women’s participation in gymnastics as an aid to health and fitness» — el argumento con que Davis defendía la gimnasia femenina.
«The Banner of Light printed a lively series of articles in which dress reformers advocated “Riding Astride” as a healthful and appropriate activity for women and discussed what women should wear when they did it» — la serie del Banner of Light sobre montar a horcajadas, con su cuestión de vestuario incluida.
«Dress reform will eradicate the worst slavery of American women,” claimed Andrew Jackson Davis’s Herald of Progress» — lo que el Herald of Progress de Davis reclamaba para la reforma del vestido.
«Dress reform applied only to women, no attempt being made to alter the standard male costume» — la asimetría que Braude registra sin comentario: la reforma del vestido no tocaba el traje masculino.
«Spiritualist lecturer Louise T. Whittier refused invitations to speak on Spiritualism in order to give priority to dress reform» — hasta dónde llegaba la prioridad para Louise T. Whittier.
«She apologized to the readers of the Banner of Light for refusing their many requests but insisted that “physical reform” must accompany spiritual emancipation» — y la razón que dio en el Banner of Light: la reforma física acompaña a la emancipación espiritual.
«As a plank of the Spiritualist woman’s rights platform, dress reform represented larger concerns than mere physical freedom» — lo que la reforma del vestido significaba dentro de esa plataforma.
«Dress reformers viewed women’s fashions as morally debasing because they distorted the female form in order to appeal to male sensuality» — el argumento moral con que la sostenían.
«Spiritualists hoped that dress reform, like marriage reform, would alleviate the devastating health effects of male lust» — y el paralelo que trazaban con la reforma del matrimonio.
«Trance speaker Miss A. S. Knox condemned the “false education of girls” because it led to “woman’s present condition of slavery to fashion.”» — lo que la oradora en trance A. S. Knox condenaba como causa de esa esclavitud a la moda.
«Confining clothes kept women in their “place” and restricted women’s movement so as to render them incapable of venturing outside their “sphere.”» — el mecanismo que Braude le atribuye a la ropa: mantener a la mujer en su lugar impidiéndole aventurarse fuera de su esfera.
«Replacing traditional attire with reform dress indicated independence of spirit as well as a desire for physical freedom» — y lo que significaba cambiarla, más allá de la comodidad.
«The editors of the Vanguard thought that an applicant’s decision to wear bloomers showed “evidence of sufficient intellectual capacity” to exceed the usual feminine role and succeed as a typesetter on their paper» — el ejemplo que lo prueba: los del Vanguard leían el uso de bloomers como prueba de capacidad intelectual para el oficio de tipógrafa.
«Displaying one’s radicalism so visibly required courage» — y lo que costaba exhibir así el radicalismo.
«Spiritualist William Denton recalled that, when he met his future wife, Elizabeth Foote, in the mid-1850s, he “had considerable trouble … shielding her from insult” because she wore the bloomer» — el recuerdo de William Denton sobre el trabajo que le daba proteger de insultos a su futura esposa, Elizabeth Foote.
«Foote, who worked as a compositor on the Type of the Times (a paper advocating phonetic spelling, one of the less urgent items on the Spiritualist reform agenda), expressed her progressive life» — el oficio de Foote, con el paréntesis irónico que Braude le dedica al periódico de ortografía fonética: uno de los renglones menos urgentes de la agenda reformista espiritista.
«Only a minority of mediums and lecturers actually donned the American costume» — la proporción real que Braude establece contra la impresión general.
«Most trance speakers preferred traditional feminine garb, more appealing to the public» — y qué prefería la mayoría, con su razón.
«Spiritualists and other reformers agreed in principle that women should be freed from the bonds of fashion, but the practitioners of dress reform found a more receptive audience among Spiritualists» — el acuerdo de principio y la diferencia de práctica que separaban a espiritistas de otros reformadores.
«The rejection of the reform dress was the first concession to expediency on the part of the non-Spiritualist reformers who would go on to lead the woman suffrage movement» — la lectura que Braude hace de ese abandono: la primera concesión a la conveniencia por parte de quienes dirigirían el sufragismo.
«Stanton and Anthony wore the bloomer briefly but soon gave up the new costume because it attracted ridicule, not because they no longer believed in the principles that caused them to adopt it» — y el matiz con que trata a Stanton y Anthony: lo dejaron por el ridículo, no por dejar de creer en sus principios.
«As always, the small cadre of Spiritualist dress reformers put principles before pragmatism» — el contraste con las espiritistas, dicho con su *as always*.
«They continued to wear and to advocate the reform dress long after most reformers abandoned it» — y cuánto duró esa insistencia.
«At one Spiritualist convention, the husband of a popular medium “heard it remarked that if diet and dress reform were discussed here, it would hurt the cause.”» — la objeción que se oía en las convenciones sobre discutir dieta y vestido.
«But,” he concluded, “if the cause were hurt so easily, let it die.”» — y la respuesta con que la despachó el marido de una médium popular.
«The Banner of Light and Spiritualist conventions provided forums for discussion of dress reform between the demise of the National Dress Reform Association in 1863 and the founding of the American Free Dress League by Spiritualist Mary» — el hueco institucional que el espiritismo llenó entre la muerte de la National Dress Reform Association en 1863 y la fundación de la American Free Dress League; el troceo parte el nombre entre planas.
«Tillotson in 1875» — y el nombre que queda del otro lado del corte, con la fecha: Mary Tillotson, en 1875.
«Spiritualists universally condemned “the baleful influence of tobacco and alcohol.”» — la condena en que no había disidencia.
«Although they objected to the intolerance and sectarianism of the evangelical temperance movement, they unanimously supported its goal» — y la distinción que hacían entre el fin del movimiento de templanza y su modo.
«Trance speaker Warren Chase participated in the temperance movement in the early 1850s but abandoned it because of its “religiously bigoted spirit.”» — el caso de Warren Chase, que entró y salió del movimiento por su espíritu de fanatismo religioso.
«He regretted the adoption of the movement by the Protestant churches because “whatever reform the clergy took hold of was poisoned to death, for their kid gloves soon crowded off the hardened hands of labor, without which there could be no success.”» — y la imagen con que Chase lo explicó: los guantes de cabritilla del clero desplazan las manos encallecidas del trabajo, sin las cuales no hay éxito.
«The quarterly conference of the Northwestern Association of Spiritualists resolved that “as our spiritual growth depends to a great extent upon the physical, that we should strive by living in accordance with natural laws to promote healthy conditions, and that the use of all stimulating drinks and tobacco should be discontinued by all lovers of purity and progress.”» — la resolución de la Asociación Espiritista del Noroeste, que hace depender el crecimiento espiritual del físico.
«Like other temperance advocates, they decried the victimization of wives and daughters legally subject to drunken husbands and fathers» — el argumento de templanza que compartían con los demás.
«Even vegetarianism could be seen as a women’s issue by health reformers who depicted meat eating as a form of male violence» — y hasta dónde llegaba el encuadre feminista: el vegetarianismo leído como asunto de mujeres.
«All kinds of brutes are eaten by man,” Juliet Stillman told a Spiritualist convention. “Even little singing birds do not escape his rapacity.”» — lo que Juliet Stillman le dijo a una convención espiritista sobre esa rapacidad.
«In water cure, Spiritualists found a medical system in sympathy with their reform orientation» — el sistema médico que les venía a la medida.
«Also called hydropathy, water cure was a therapeutic approach imported from Europe in 1843 that relied on the internal consumption and external application of cold water for the prevention and cure of all diseases» — qué era la hidropatía y de dónde vino.
«Spiritualists, as well as other antebellum reformers, embraced water cure because of its appeal to the laws of nature embodied in each human being as the source of healing and because of the reform principles of its leaders» — las dos razones por las que la abrazaron.
«Hydropathy relied on the natural curative tendencies of the individual rather than on intervention by an authoritative medical expert» — y el rasgo que la volvía compatible con su antiautoritarismo.
«The editor of the Spiritualist Vanguard commended the Cottage Grove water cure, where proprietors Dr. Routh and wife were “radical reformers and spiritualists.”» — la recomendación del Vanguard, con la credencial que importaba.
«Water cure establishments provided a fertile environment for the development of many of the ideas advocated by Spiritualist health reformers» — el papel de esos establecimientos en la difusión de las ideas reformistas.
«At water cures, reform dress, diet, and ideas were the norm rather than the exception» — y lo que ahí era norma y no excepción.
«Hydropathic retreats held special sympathy for unorthodox approaches to childbirth» — el terreno en que esa simpatía era mayor.
«Regular physicians and reformers agreed that the sedentary habits of middle-class women led to ill health and made pregnancy and childbirth more difficult» — el diagnóstico en que unos y otros coincidían.
«Orthodox doctors treated the resulting symptoms with heroic bleedings, purgings, and dosings, while hydropathists treated the cause with healthful living in order to make intervention unnecessary» — y la divergencia de tratamiento que Braude subraya: unos tratan el síntoma, otros la causa.
«The hydropathic regimen of fresh air, exercise, loose clothing, and cold water safeguarded the health of mother and child from intervention by “obstetrically ignorant” orthodox doctors who bled hemorrhaging women from the arm and dosed parturient mothers with toxic preparations» — el régimen hidropático y de qué protegía, con la fórmula que Braude toma de la época: médicos obstétricamente ignorantes.
«Andrew Jackson Davis claimed that the majority of married women suffered from the results of malpractice during confinement» — lo que Davis sostenía sobre la mala práctica en los partos.
«He blamed their misfortune on the practice of employing male doctors» — y a qué le achacaba esa desgracia.
«Beautiful souls,” wrote Davis, “always shrink from the wretched practice of ‘doctoring’ a child into existence.”» — la fórmula con que Davis lo dijo, con su verbo entrecomillado para el oficio médico.
«While regular doctors waged war against the employment of female midwives, Davis agreed with many sectarians that female birth attendants were necessary to preserve the health of mother and child» — el frente en que Davis coincidía con los sectarios: las parteras mujeres.
«harmful both because of their gender and because their Calvinist perspective portrayed pain in childbirth as inevitable» — las dos razones por las que Davis rechazaba a los médicos regulares, la del sexo y la de la teología; la frase arranca en la plana anterior, que el troceo corta en *He viewed the employment of regular physicians as*.
«Our ‘Orthodox Brethren’ teach that woman’s physiological sufferings are unavoidable … that woman’s menstruational and childbearing pains are the result of an ‘original sin.’” Davis explained» — la doctrina que Davis le atribuía a sus hermanos ortodoxos: los dolores de la menstruación y el parto como resultado de un pecado original.
«We,” he told his renders, “read the Book of Nature with a different light.”» — y con qué la contestaba, leyendo el Libro de la Naturaleza a otra luz; la fuente imprime *renders* por *readers*.
«Regulars insisted on weeks or months of bedrest following childbirth, leaving previously healthy women severely depleted» — el reposo que los regulares imponían después del parto, y lo que dejaba.
«The refusal to give up their bodies to the heroic treatments and months of confinement prescribed by regular doctors was one more way in which Spiritualist women insisted on individual sovereignty» — y cómo lee Braude esa negativa: una forma más de la soberanía individual.
«Water cures contradicted convention by encouraging women to focus on their own needs rather than the needs of others» — lo que las curas de agua contradecían por su sola existencia.
«Often located in picturesque pastoral settings, water cure establishments freed women from domestic cares and from the watchful eye of “tyrant custom.”» — de qué liberaban, incluido el ojo vigilante de la costumbre tirana.
«Such conditions proved ideal for the discovery of talents incompatible with domestic duties, such as mediumship» — y para qué resultaban ideales esas condiciones, según el ejemplo que Braude elige.
«A quarterly convention of speakers and mediums met at the Avon Spring Water Cure in New York State in 1869, where the proprietor made arrangements for participants to board at the cost of one dollar per day» — la convención de 1869 en la cura de agua de Avon Spring, con su tarifa de pensión.
«The assembled mediums recommended the Avon cure as providing “favorable surroundings and conditions” for “the unfoldment of all phases of mediumship.”» — y lo que las médiums reunidas recomendaron de ese lugar.
«Miss Marrieta Munson was sent to a water cure to be treated for “lung fever” in 1854. There she met a medium who said she would recover and become a medium herself» — el caso de Marrieta Munson, mandada a una cura de agua en 1854 y anunciada como médium por otra médium.
«They remained at the cure together for six months» — cuánto duró ese aprendizaje.
«Spirits informed Munson that she had been cured on condition that she become a public medium» — la condición con que los espíritus decían haberla curado.
«When she returned home and forgot the terms under which she had been cured, she was reminded by an attack of typhoid fever» — y qué pasó cuando la olvidó.
«She then joined in practice with a healing medium» — el desenlace del caso.
«The medium Mrs. Bushnel made a living by exercising her clairvoyant powers at a water cure» — el segundo caso, con su dato económico.
«One of Spiritualism’s most avid advocates of both health reform and woman’s rights was the hydropathic doctor Juliet Stillman Severance» — la figura en que confluyen las dos causas del capítulo.
«In 1857, she enrolled in the Hygeo-Therapeutic College in New York City, run by R. T. Trall, who introduced hydropathy in America» — dónde se formó y con quién.
«A Baptist in good standing when she began medical school, Stillman soon attended her first séance and received convincing evidence of spirit communication» — el orden de su conversión, que Braude fecha en la escuela de medicina.
«The spirits quickly empowered her to espouse controversial positions» — y el efecto inmediato que le atribuía a los espíritus.
«In the college debate society, she and one other argued a position opposed by the whole society» — el episodio con que lo ilustra.
«When I rose to speak I was positively controlled,” Stillman recalled. “And, to show the power that was used through me, I will state that, not withstanding the professors and students were all opposed to my argument, I received the vote of the house.”» — y cómo lo contaba ella: controlada al levantarse a hablar, se llevó el voto de la sala contra todos los profesores y estudiantes.
«On her graduation, Juliet Stillman embarked on a career of constant controversy as a “Hydropathic and Magnetic Physician and Accoucheur,” Spiritualist lecturer, and woman’s rights and health reform radical» — los títulos con que salió de ahí, todos a la vez: médica hidropática y magnética, partera, conferencista espiritista y radical.
«She adopted the reform dress in 1852 and wore it throughout the 1850s and 1860s while practicing medicine in Wisconsin and Iowa and lecturing throughout the Midwest» — cuánto le duró el vestido de reforma, y dónde ejerció.
«When she first practiced in De Witt, Iowa, the local regular doctors launched a campaign against her» — la reacción de los médicos regulares de De Witt.
«In 1865, she created a stir at a Minneapolis medical convention, where, as chair of the committee on resolutions, she introduced a clause “favoring magnetism as a therapeutical agent.”» — y el revuelo que armó en una convención médica de Minneapolis desde la presidencia de la comisión de resoluciones.
«Stillman bore three children by her first husband» — el dato familiar que Braude consigna.
«There is no record of whether this first marriage and family occurred before or after her graduation from medical school at the age of twenty-five and the beginning of her lengthy» — y la abstención que le sigue: no hay registro de si ese matrimonio fue antes o después de la carrera; el troceo parte la frase entre planas.
«In 1869, she married her Spiritualist coworker A. B. Severance, without interrupting her tireless service as organizer and speaker at Spiritualist conventions» — el segundo matrimonio, sin interrupción del trabajo.
«The Religio-Philosophical Journal noted that her marriage was accompanied by a shift “from bloomers and boots, to short dresses and shoes,” implying that she still shunned conventional clothing» — el detalle de vestuario que el Religio-Philosophical Journal registró, y lo que Braude infiere de él.
«Even among her coreligionists, her consistent reform views generated contention» — hasta dónde llegaba la fricción, aun entre los suyos.
«Called “a radical of the radicals” by a contemporary source, Juliet Stillman Severance championed Victoria Woodhull in 1872 as an agent of “social freedom” and continued to advocate radical sexual ideals long after Woodhull had abandoned them» — el mote que le puso una fuente contemporánea y la fidelidad que Braude le reconoce: siguió con los ideales sexuales radicales después de que Woodhull los abandonara.
«An occasional investigator objected to the amount of time devoted to woman’s rights and health reform at Spiritualist conventions» — la objeción interna que Braude no oculta.
«After one of Juliet Stillman Severance’s more graphic health reform lectures, a Mr. Kellogg protested that they ought to be discussing Spirits, not social issues» — el caso concreto de esa objeción.
«I suppose the majority … came here … to hear about Spiritualism, not about bloomerism, sweetbreads, and potatoes,” he complained» — y cómo la formuló el señor Kellogg, con su enumeración despectiva.
«Apparently Mr. Kellogg was incorrect, for he was then treated to a trance lecture by Miss Knox, who “spoke at length of the laws of life, birth and death, and the necessity of woman being elevated to a position equal with man.”» — cómo le contestó la convención misma, con una conferencia en trance de la señorita Knox.
«Next, the convention heard a letter from Mrs. Daniel, editor of the Rising Tide, in which she expressed her hope that the conference would discuss woman’s rights and marriage “and every social wrong … probing to the very center, at whatever cost it may be to the sensitive feelings of those present.”» — y la carta de la directora del Rising Tide, que pedía discutirlo todo al precio que fuera.
«Spiritualists’ advocacy of health reform may seem inconsistent with Andrew Jackson Davis’s claim that all disease originated in the mind» — la objeción que Braude se hace a sí misma antes de responderla.
«If disease was mental in origin and could be cured by adopting a harmonious mental outlook, why should one be concerned with the physical conditions of life?» — y la pregunta en que la formula.
«The Spiritualist vision of a harmonious natural order depicted the union of mind and body» — el primer tramo de su respuesta.
«Because Spiritualists believed that spirits had bodies and that those bodies were perfected versions of the bodies we have while living, they gave the body greater ultimate importance than religious outlooks that viewed physical life as fleeting and unimportant» — y el segundo, que invierte la expectativa: dar cuerpo a los espíritus le da al cuerpo más importancia última, no menos.
«But placing such importance on the body presented other problems for a religion that maintained that spirits could pass through walls and mysteriously transport themselves from one sphere of the universe to another» — el problema que esa misma posición le creaba a una religión de espíritus que atraviesan muros.
«As the century wore on, these hazier regions of Spiritualist cosmology would draw criticism from other metaphysical movements» — y lo que Braude anuncia con eso para el capítulo séptimo.
«Spiritualist involvement in health reform may be difficult to explain from the point of view of their beliefs about the nature of the body, but it is easy to explain in terms of their commitment to woman’s rights, their antiauthoritarianism, and their anti-Calvinism» — el balance con que cierra: difícil de explicar por sus creencias sobre el cuerpo, fácil por su compromiso con los derechos de la mujer, su antiautoritarismo y su anticalvinismo.
«benign and harmonious natural world, in which sin, evil, and disease had no» — el mundo natural que la reforma sanitaria debía dejar reflejar, sin lugar para el pecado, el mal ni la enfermedad; el troceo parte la frase entre planas.
«Spiritualism’s attack on orthodox medicine and the worldview of which it was a part did not go unanswered» — el aviso con que Braude abre el último tramo del capítulo.
«Regularly trained physicians fighting to bar a host of sectarian medical systems from practice took Spiritualism seriously both as a source of competition and as a manifestation of disease» — las dos maneras en que los médicos formados tomaron en serio al espiritismo: como competencia y como manifestación de enfermedad.
«women in general during this period as unfit to practice medicine, or any other profession, because of an anatomical proclivity to hysteria» — el ataque general del que este es un caso: las mujeres declaradas inaptas para la medicina y para toda profesión por una propensión anatómica a la histeria.
«The medical attack on mediums was a special case, and an especially vehement one, of the medical attack on women in general» — y el lugar exacto que el ataque a las médiums ocupa dentro de aquel.
«Doctors who viewed the female organization as inherently pathological saw mediums, who exemplified so many feminine qualities, as prime examples of pathology» — la lógica del argumento médico: si la organización femenina es patológica de suyo, la médium es su ejemplo mayor.
«Not coincidentally, mediums also constituted a highly visible and vocal case of the assertion of the rights and the wisdom of women practicing healing and using heterodox methods in their practice» — y la razón que Braude añade, con su *not coincidentally*: las médiums eran el caso más visible de mujeres que curaban con métodos heterodoxos.
«Mrs. A. T. Harris wrote to the Banner of Light that, when she returned to Northfield, Vermont, in 1859 after a two-year absence, healing mediums had replaced regular physicians» — el testimonio de A. T. Harris sobre Northfield, Vermont, donde en dos años las médiums sanadoras desplazaron a los médicos.
«Previously, attempts were made to “banish them from town.… Now, among 6 allopathics, are one reformer and 5 healing mediums.”» — y la cuenta que Harris hacía del pueblo, después de que se intentara expulsarlas.
«Whether Spiritualists actually threatened the dominance of regular doctors is unclear, but they voiced competitive ambitions» — la abstención de Braude sobre la amenaza real, con lo que sí da por establecido.
«The well-known neurologist William Alexander Hammond, a professor at New York’s City University and at Belleview Hospital, addressed the pathology of mediumship in the North American Review in 1870» — quién abre el expediente médico contra la mediumnidad y dónde.
«He revised this article into a monograph, The Physics and Physiology of Spiritualism, in which he denied the reality of Spiritualist phenomena, attributing its appearance to suggestion and sleight of hand» — y a qué atribuía Hammond los fenómenos que negaba: sugestión y prestidigitación.
«He explained the behavior of mediums as symptoms of “hypnosis … hysteria, catalepsy, and ecstasy.”» — el cuadro clínico con que explicaba la conducta de las médiums.
«Hammond gave examples from ancient history in which men manifested these conditions» — los ejemplos antiguos que ponía, todos de varones.
«But all the cases he presented from his own practice described female patients and strongly associated mediumship with hysteria—believed by doctors of the period to be a disease of the female reproductive organs (“womb-disease”)» — y el *but* con que Braude lo objeta: los casos de su propia práctica eran todos de mujeres, y la histeria pasaba entonces por enfermedad del útero.
«Thus, he believed in the abstract that men could “suffer” from mediumship, but in his own practice he could identify the disease only in females» — la conclusión que saca de esa asimetría entre la teoría y la clínica de Hammond.
«In 1876, Hammond took “the opportunity presented by the demand for a new edition” of The Physics and Physiology of Spiritualism to enlarge it into Spiritualism and Allied Causes of Nervous Derangement, a work of 366 pages, including chapters devoted to each phase of mediumship (speaking, healing, physical, etc.) and a chapter on fasting girls, who attributed their ability to survive without food to spirit agency» — cómo creció el libro de Hammond hasta las 366 páginas, con un capítulo por fase de mediumnidad y otro sobre las muchachas ayunadoras.
«The book upheld the same arguments advanced in the earlier volume but showed Hammond’s continued interest in the subject» — lo que la ampliación cambió y lo que no.
«The new edition showed familiarity with a wide range of mediumistic behavior, apparently gathered from personal observation» — el conocimiento de primera mano que Braude le reconoce, dicho con *apparently*.
«But investigation did not alter Hammond’s views» — y lo que ese conocimiento no cambió.
«At most of the spiritualistic meetings which I have attended,” he wrote, “there have been hysterical phenomena manifested.”» — lo que Hammond decía haber visto en casi todas las reuniones a las que asistió.
«William B. Carpenter, registrar of the University of London, devoted a chapter to Spiritualism and mesmerism in his popular Principles of Mental Physiology in 1874» — el segundo del expediente, y desde qué cargo escribía.
«In 1876, Alfred Russel Wallace’s defense of Spiritualism from the chair of the Anthropological Section of the British Association made it an issue in the transatlantic scientific community» — el hecho que volvió el asunto materia de la comunidad científica trasatlántica: la defensa de Alfred Russel Wallace desde la presidencia de la sección antropológica.
«In the wake of the well-publicized fraud trial of medium Henry Slade in London and increased concern about Spiritualism among scientists, Carpenter treated the subject further in Mesmerism, Spiritualism &c. Historically and Scientifically Considered» — y las dos circunstancias tras las que Carpenter volvió sobre el asunto: el juicio por fraude del médium Henry Slade en Londres y la inquietud creciente entre los científicos.
«Carpenter attended séances with Alfred Russel Wallace but did not share Wallace’s enthusiasm for what he saw» — el desacuerdo entre dos hombres que vieron lo mismo, que Braude consigna sin arbitrar.
«Like Hammond, he attributed public demonstrations to fraud» — en qué coincidían Carpenter y Hammond.
«In place of hysteria, Carpenter found the motivation for fraud in “the fostering influence of pecuniary temptations” in paid mediums» — y en qué no: Carpenter reemplazaba la histeria por la tentación pecuniaria en las médiums pagadas; el troceo parte la frase entre planas.
«and in malice in unpaid mediums» — y el otro motivo que ponía en la plana siguiente, para las que no cobraban.
«For it is well known to those who have had adequate opportunities of observation,” he wrote, “that there is a class of persons (especially, I am sorry to have to say, of the female sex) who have an extraordinary proclivity to deceit … and who enjoy nothing better than ‘taking-in’ older and wiser people.”» — la clase de personas que Carpenter decía conocer, con el paréntesis en que lamenta que sean del sexo femenino.
«Although Carpenter’s claim that Spiritualism resulted from women’s deceptiveness provided a less complex explanation than Hammond’s for mediumistic behavior, he joined in associating it closely with femininity» — la comparación que Braude hace entre las dos explicaciones, y en qué acaban coincidiendo.
«Every medical practitioner … has met with cases in which young ladies have imposed in this way, by feigning disease, not only upon their families, but upon their previous doctors.”» — el ejemplo con que Carpenter lo generalizaba.
«R. Frederic Marvin, “Professor of psychological medicine and medical jurisprudence in the New York Free Medical College for women,” finally named the disease of which Spiritualism was the symptom» — el tercero del expediente, que le puso nombre a la enfermedad.
«He identified a form of insanity that he labeled “mediomania, or the insanity of mediums.”» — el nombre que le puso.
«He found that “mediomania” was a “very ancient form of derangement—the name is modern, the phenomena ancient.”» — y la antigüedad que le atribuía al fenómeno, con el nombre por única novedad.
«Relying heavily on Hammond, Marvin associated mediumship with the natural pathology of female organs» — de dónde sacaba Marvin su argumento.
«Because the female reproductive system was “more complex” than the male, “those forms of insanity which are associated with derangements of that system are more frequent among women than among men.”» — y el silogismo con que lo sostenía.
«Marvin found that “mediomania, while it often attacks men … more frequently assails women, and is generally preceded by a genito or venerio-pathological history.”» — la historia previa que Marvin le atribuía al mal.
«The word mediomania,” he concluded, “though not actually synonymous with the word utromania, is very closely allied with it in meaning.”» — y con qué otra palabra lo emparentaba.
«Both Hammond and Marvin associated disease of the female reproductive system, and so mediumship, with women’s willful departure from traditional roles» — lo que los dos médicos ligaban a la enfermedad del aparato reproductor: el apartarse voluntariamente de los papeles tradicionales.
«Hammond attributed the appearance of mediumistic hysteria in one case to his patient’s “excessive mental exertion, she having contracted a taste for philosophy, in the study of which she indulged to a great extent.”» — el caso en que Hammond achacó la histeria a un exceso de esfuerzo mental, por haber contraído la paciente gusto por la filosofía.
«Following the influential work of Dr. Edward H. Clarke, these doctors asserted that, if women used their brains to attempt the mental exertion required for higher education, they would overtax their systems and suffer gynecological disease» — la doctrina que seguían, salida de la obra influyente de Edward H. Clarke: usar el cerebro para la educación superior enferma los órganos.
«Marvin, taking this reasoning a step further, claimed that departure from traditional feminine roles was not the cause but rather the symptom of reproductive disease» — y el paso más que dio Marvin: no la causa, sino el síntoma.
«He viewed mediumship as a manifestation of a medical disorder causing rebellion against gender roles» — el resultado de ese paso.
«Utromania frequently results in mediomania.… The angle at which the womb is suspended in the pelvis frequently settles the whole question of sanity or insanity» — la tesis anatómica de Marvin: el ángulo con que el útero pende en la pelvis decide la cordura.
«Tilt the organ a little forward—introvert it, and immediately the patient forsakes her home, embraces some strong ultraism—Mormonism, Mesmerism, Fourierism, Socialism, oftener Spiritualism» — y la lista de ultraísmos que según él se abrazan al inclinarse el órgano, del mormonismo al espiritismo.
«She becomes possessed by the idea that she has some startling mission in the world. She forsakes her home, her children, her duty, to mount the rostrum and proclaim the peculiar virtues of free-love, elective affinity, or the reincarnation of souls.» — y el cuadro de conducta que remata esa lista: abandonar casa, hijos y deber para subir a la tribuna.
«In the angle of the uterus, Marvin discovered the source of sympathy between religious and political radicalism that has eluded so many historians» — la ironía con que Braude cierra el pasaje, midiendo a Marvin contra el problema que su propio libro persigue.
«The Banner of Light responded to his novel theory by hurling back at the doctors all the charges made in the medical “War Against Spiritualism.”» — cómo respondió el Banner of Light a esa teoría.
«It found the scientists “guilty of the grossest charlatanry and humbug in their ‘toe-joint,’ ‘utero-maniac’ and ‘epileptic’ theories.”» — y de qué acusó a los científicos, con sus tres teorías por nombre.
«And, true to form, the Banner accused the doctors of being unscientific: “The fraudulent medium—if such exists—who» — el reproche que Braude califica de fiel a su estilo: acusarlos de poco científicos; el troceo parte la frase entre planas.
«ekes out a subsistence by imitating veritable facts in a deceptive way is less a criminal than the malicious sociologist who denies the facts that others, of unquestionable veracity and intelligence, have tested and witnessed.”» — y el remate de esa acusación en la plana siguiente: menos criminal el médium fraudulento que el sociólogo malicioso que niega hechos atestiguados.
«Much of what was at stake in the debate between mediums and medical men concerned the appropriateness of women exercising will» — lo que Braude ve de veras en juego en toda la disputa.
«Marvin makes it clear that for a woman to believe that she can exercise her will in order to accomplish a “mission in the world” is a symptom of disease» — y cómo lo dejaba claro Marvin.
«Many therapeutic innovations in the treatment of diseases of women during this period, like Weir Mitchell’s “Rest Cure,” involved the subjugation of the will of the female patient to that of her male doctor» — la forma que esa doctrina tomaba en la terapéutica, con la cura de reposo de Weir Mitchell por ejemplo.
«Spiritualists envisioned a more egalitarian relationship between patient and practitioner in which the patient was encouraged to exercise the self-healing properties of her own nature» — la relación contraria que los espiritistas imaginaban entre paciente y practicante.
«In his discussion of gynecological disease, Andrew Jackson Davis presents the will as the most important element in women’s recovery of health» — el lugar que Davis le da a la voluntad en la curación.
«Interestingly, he prescribes the use of the will to cure the very disease that Marvin thought caused mediumship: prolapsis uteri» — y la coincidencia de objeto que Braude subraya: Davis receta voluntad justo para el mal que Marvin tenía por causa de la mediumnidad.
«The way he states his advice suggests that he knew it contradicted conventional wisdom: “The Treatment we propose is radical and positive … the paragon of all remedies, the faultless curative power within the pharmacy of immortal mind, is the Will. Let every Sister, whether daughter or mother … diseased or healthy … exercise this immaculate energy.”» — la fórmula de Davis, que llama a la voluntad el paragón de todos los remedios y la manda ejercer a toda hermana, enferma o sana.
«Spiritualists and physicians both associated the physical characteristics leading to mediumship with the female body» — el acuerdo de fondo entre los dos bandos.
«Spiritualists, however, viewed these characteristics as fostering revelation, while doctors viewed them as pathology» — y el desacuerdo entero, que cabe en una línea: revelación o patología.
«One Spiritualist described nineteenth-century women as “physically inactive, sedentary, and non-manifestational” yet found that the resulting weakness made them good vehicles for spirit communication» — el caso que lo muestra: la misma debilidad descrita se vuelve aptitud.
«Two competing schools of healing voiced competing interpretations of the physical nature of mediumship» — la fórmula con que Braude ordena la disputa.
«The view of mediumship espoused by regular doctors was an extension of their view of female physiology as inherently pathological» — de qué era extensión la posición de los médicos regulares.
«In contrast, a columnist in the American Spiritualist explained, “We are not to consider the negative condition a manifestation of disease.… Without susceptibility and impressibleness, control by spirit power would be impossible.”» — y la posición contraria en el American Spiritualist: sin susceptibilidad e impresionabilidad no habría control por poder espiritual.
«How could Spiritualists reconcile this celebration of female weakness and passivity with their assertions that women were naturally strong and healthy?» — la contradicción que Braude se plantea sin disimularla.
«As Spiritualists struggled with the cultural vocabulary of Victorian ideas about gender and stretched them to their limits, they bumped up against the contradictions inherent within them» — y dónde localiza la respuesta: en las contradicciones del vocabulario mismo que estiraban.
«After all, nineteenth-century norms portrayed women both as paragons of virtue who had the moral power to influence men to resist evil and simultaneously as weak, will-less hysterics in need of protection both from the world and from the pathological tendencies of their own physiology» — las dos imágenes simultáneas que la norma decimonónica sostenía de la mujer, virtud moral y histérica sin voluntad.
«Spiritualists made virtues out of both feminine stereotypes, salvaging a moral role for women out of either activity or passivity» — y lo que el espiritismo hizo con las dos a la vez, que es la conclusión del capítulo.
«The paradoxes and tensions within Spiritualism began to undermine its significance for woman’s rights and reform during the 1870s and 1880s» — la tesis con que abre el capítulo séptimo: son las paradojas internas, no un ataque de fuera, las que erosionan el peso reformista del espiritismo.
«The movement that had played such a dramatic role in encouraging women’s leadership saw the suppression of women within its own ranks» — y la inversión que Braude formula sin atenuarla.
«Spiritualists felt the same pulls that drew other postwar reformers away from their radical past toward a more moderate application of individualist principles» — el contexto general en que la sitúa.
«Instead of calling for a restructuring of society based on the sovereignty of each individual, many reformers now campaigned for government control of personal behavior to eliminate specific vices» — y el vuelco de la reforma de posguerra: del reordenamiento de la sociedad al control estatal de la conducta privada.
«As the century advanced, the distinctiveness of Spiritualism’s social program faded, owing in part to its success, however limited, in several areas» — la explicación que Braude ofrece primero, y que es la menos esperada: el programa perdió singularidad en parte por haber triunfado.
«The spread of liberal theology and the loosening of some restrictions on appropriate activities for women reduced the distance between Spiritualism and other visions of society» — los dos cambios que acortaron esa distancia.
«The increase in reform women speaking in public after the Civil War diminished the social significance of trance speaking» — y el efecto que tuvo sobre el trance hablado que ya hubiera muchas oradoras.
«Although still controversial, a woman’s appearance on the public platform no longer attracted interest in and of itself» — la medida exacta de ese cambio, con su *although still controversial*.
«Meanwhile, within Spiritualism, a variety of attacks on mediumship evinced a devaluing of the feminine qualities so prized in the movement’s early years» — lo que pasaba a la vez dentro del movimiento.
«Sensational mediums replaced trance speakers as Spiritualism’s biggest attraction, and mediumship itself therefore ceased to challenge accepted gender roles» — el relevo que Braude fecha aquí y su consecuencia: la mediumnidad dejó de desafiar los papeles de género.
«The new sensationalism attracted figures anxious to gain personal benefit from its newsworthiness, including Victoria Woodhull and Helena Blavatsky» — a quiénes atrajo ese sensacionalismo, con los dos nombres que el capítulo va a seguir.
«Sensationalism and self-agrandizement generated a reaction against mediumship that contributed to the founding of the new religion of Christian Science» — y la reacción que produjo, que Braude enlaza con la fundación de la Ciencia Cristiana; la fuente imprime *self-agrandizement*.
«The Spiritualism of the last quarter of the century lacked the radical thrust of the early movement» — el saldo del cuarto final del siglo.
«Striking changes in Spiritualist attitudes appeared in the debate over organization» — dónde se ven mejor esos cambios.
«In its first decades, Spiritualism’s insistence on individual freedom in all things prevented its adherents from establishing formal structure, organization, or leadership of any kind» — el punto de partida: la insistencia en la libertad individual impedía estructura, organización o liderazgo de ninguna especie.
«Faith alone bound believers together» — y lo único que los ataba.
«Spiritualists feared that organization would routinize their faith just as it had that of so many groups before» — el temor concreto que tenían.
«They recalled the active presence of spirit in the» — el arranque del recuerdo que invocaban; el troceo parte la frase entre planas.
«early years of Methodism and Quakerism and lamented how institutionalization stilled the spirit and restricted freedom of conscience in these bodies» — y su remate en la plana siguiente: los dos precedentes son el metodismo y el cuaquerismo, y lo que la institucionalización les hizo.
«Other religions have succeeded in forming popular organizations,” they complained, “and the results have been priestcraft and slavish adherence to the tyrant St. Custom.”» — la queja con que lo decían, con su santo tirano por figura.
«Spiritualists avoided such pitfalls by shunning organization altogether» — y cómo evitaban esa trampa.
«Advancing a nationwide movement without formal association generated obvious difficulties» — el costo de esa negativa.
«A loosely affiliated group of believers could not construct buildings, conduct schools, or support speakers» — y en qué consistía ese costo.
«The cry rose frequently, most often from men with leadership ambitions, that the cause required an organization capable of unified action» — de dónde venía sobre todo el reclamo de organizarse, según Braude.
«As early as 1851, the editor of the Spirit Messenger advocated organization in his newspaper» — y qué tan pronto empezó.
«The spiritual freedom that appealed to so many Americans conflicted with the ambitions of zealous leaders who advocated any measure that would promote the cause» — el conflicto de fondo, entre la libertad que atraía y la ambición que quería resultados.
«Spiritualism’s inherent antinomianism predisposed believers against all structures of authority» — el nombre que Braude le da a esa disposición.
«Mediums’ objections to organization were part of the anarchist heritage they shared with other antebellum radicals» — y la herencia en que la inscribe.
«Opposition to organization produced its own “ism” within abolition in the 1840s (“No-organizationism”)» — el antecedente abolicionista, que hasta tuvo su ismo.
«In 1852, the National Woman’s Rights Convention, still dominated by radicals, debated and defeated a proposal for a national organization» — el antecedente en el movimiento de mujeres, con su desenlace.
«What organization in the world’s history has not encumbered the unfettered actions of those who created it?” Angelina Grimké Weld inquired of the convention» — la pregunta con que Angelina Grimké Weld lo zanjó en aquella convención.
«She opposed formal association in the same language that advocates of free love used to oppose marriage» — el paralelo de lenguaje que Braude señala, y que enlaza este capítulo con el quinto.
«We are bound together by the natural ties of spiritual affinity…. We need no external bonds to bind us together, no cumbrous machinery to keep our minds and hearts in unity of purpose and effort.”» — la fórmula de Grimké Weld, con las afinidades espirituales por único vínculo.
«Ernestine Rose compared organizations to Chinese foot binding, and Lucy Stone said she “had had enough of thumb-screws and soul screws never to wish to be placed under them again.”» — las dos figuras con que Ernestine Rose y Lucy Stone dijeron lo mismo: el vendaje de pies chino y los tornillos de pulgar.
«They all used religious associations as examples of the oppression resulting from organization» — y de dónde tomaban todas su ejemplo.
«Most reform activists accepted the expediency of organizations after the Civil War, but the legacy of free conventions made it difficult for many Spiritualists to participate in pro-organization postwar reform movements» — el vuelco de posguerra y lo que le costó a los espiritistas seguirlo.
«In 1869, Lucy Stone abandoned her antiorganization position and shocked the die-hard nonresistant Amy Post by asking her to serve as a delegate to the first convention of the American Woman Suffrage Association» — el episodio con que lo ilustra: Lucy Stone, ya convertida, invitando a Amy Post de delegada.
«Post replied that she could not in good conscience participate in a convention composed of invited or elected delegates, one that therefore lacked a free platform» — y la negativa de Post, con su razón de principio: una convención de delegados no tiene plataforma libre.
«I think dear friend that the spirit of freedom and equality has taken root and grown too tall with the mass of the people, for them to accept any outside position,” she wrote to Stone» — la carta de Post a Stone, con su argumento sobre lo que la gente ya no aceptará.
«They surely will soon grow weary of being seated out oneside, admitted as mere listeners—no rights—no vote—no voice.”» — y el remate de esa carta, en la enumeración de lo que se les niega a los meros oyentes.
«Post clearly protested as a matter of principle, not of personal desire, as she herself would unquestionably have been elected as a delegate representing her own Rochester Equal Suffrage Association» — la precisión con que Braude descarta el interés propio: Post habría sido electa delegada sin problema.
«Post’s commitment to the values of pre-Civil War radical reform alienated her from younger, more goal-oriented suffragists» — y el corte generacional que ese episodio deja ver.
«Oh! I do not want to be an outsider in this glorious cause, I want to be folded and sheltered in your beneficent arms and hearts, but how can I go back into the bondage of exclusiveness?” Post asked Stone» — la pregunta con que Post cerró, sin resolver la tensión entre pertenecer y no volver a la servidumbre.
«The conflict between ardent individualism and longing for fellowship plagued Post in the woman’s rights movement just as it had within Quaker meetings» — el conflicto que Braude le reconoce a Post, ya visto en las juntas cuáqueras.
«Proposals for organization generated heated debates at Spiritualist conventions and often resulted in adoption of equivocal resolutions» — cómo terminaban esos debates en las convenciones espiritistas.
«The 1859 Vermont State Spiritual Convention tried to reconcile contradictory positions by resolving to “carefully avoid combinations for any improper purpose such as limiting individual freedom, controlling each other’s opinions, or avoiding personal responsibility.”» — el intento de la convención de Vermont de 1859, con la lista de combinaciones impropias que se comprometía a evitar.
«However, the convention found that organization, carefully controlled, had its place» — y el *however* con que la misma convención se contradecía.
«Its resolution affirmed “the propriety and desirableness of association for … mutual aid and encouragement in true life, promoting friendly and fraternal intercourse and interest in each other’s welfare, and co-operating in the support of public meetings.”» — lo que esa resolución sí admitía: ayuda mutua, trato fraternal y sostén de las reuniones públicas.
«Spiritualists’ commitment to individualist principles clashed with their earnest desire to advance their cause» — la fórmula con que Braude resume el choque.
«In spite of ideological reservations, Spiritualists mustered enough sentiment in favor of united action to gather in their first national convention in Chicago in 1864» — la primera convención nacional, en Chicago en 1864.
«The convention endorsed the usual spectrum of reform causes, but debate over the formation of a national organization dominated the five-day meeting» — y qué se llevó los cinco días.
«The topic evoked so much controversy that little other business could be conducted» — la medida de esa controversia.
«Initially, men contributed most to the discussion» — quiénes hablaron al principio.
«Only one woman participated in the early debates, opposing organization in trance» — y la única mujer que intervino, en trance.
«Medium Lizzie Doten, vice-president of the convention, was not sure how she felt» — la indecisión de Lizzie Doten, que Braude consigna antes de contar su viraje.
«But on the final day of the convention, which was completely devoted to the topic, Amanda Britt Spence made an argument that united mediums against organization» — el argumento que unió a las médiums en el último día.
«She identified organization with “positive,” that is, masculine, characteristics, applying the view that “positive” qualities were inconducive to spirit communication to groups as well as to individuals» — el argumento de Amanda Britt Spence, que traslada a los grupos la doctrina de lo positivo y lo negativo.
«She warned mediums that “she had ever found that spirits were averse to organization of any kind; even a positive mind will often prevent spiritual manifestations.”» — y el aviso con que lo cerró: una mente positiva estorba las manifestaciones.
«Finally, the convention appointed a committee to consider the formation of an organization and report to another national convention in one year’s time» — cómo se aplazó el asunto.
«When the Second National Convention assembled at Philadelphia in 1865, the pro-organization forces immediately moved to form a permanent association, a clear challenge to the leadership of mediums» — lo que pasó al año siguiente en Filadelfia, y contra quiénes iba.
«In contrast to the free conventions and open platforms characteristic of Spiritualism’s first fifteen years, the Second National Convention was limited to delegates, officially designated by local groups to represent their views» — el cambio de forma que Braude subraya: de la plataforma abierta a la convención de delegados.
«Eighteen officers, seventeen men and non-medium lecturer Mary Fenn Davis, presided over the convention» — la mesa de esa convención, contada por cabezas.
«The assembly excluded mediums from committees because of their “want of practicality.”» — y el motivo con que se excluyó a las médiums de las comisiones.
«In response, mediums reasserted the antiauthoritarian values that justified their leadership and united against organization» — la respuesta de las médiums.
«The Banner of Light reported that Cora Hatch “trusted the attempt at organization would be a failure, and her purpose in attending the Convention was to make it a failure.”» — lo que el Banner of Light reportó de Cora Hatch, que declaró venir a hacer fracasar el intento.
«I am bitterly opposed to religious organizations of any kind—to anything that fetters or binds the human mind,” she told the convention» — y lo que Hatch dijo desde la tribuna.
«Medium Melvina Townsend concurred. “Just so sure as we have an organization of faith we shall have despotism, and not be allowed to speak what is objectionable to others,” she warned» — el aviso de Melvina Townsend: organización de fe es despotismo, y no se podrá decir lo que a otros moleste.
«Mediums understood that formal association threatened their role because it recognized masculine leadership qualifications rather than the passive characteristics that linked mediumship and femininity» — la razón que Braude les reconoce para temerla: la asociación formal premia cualidades masculinas de liderazgo.
«This plan is man’s work, the production of men’s brains.… I see nothing of woman about this plan,” complained Lizzie Doten» — lo que Doten vio en el plan.
«Your organization will be a dead thing next year. It is said, we shall have creeds if we adopt this plan» — y su profecía, con la objeción de los credos por delante; el troceo parte la frase entre planas.
«have creeds than this. We are acting from policy, not principle» — y el remate de Doten en la plana siguiente, con la distinción que lo ordena: obran por política y no por principio.
«Finally, the trance speakers lost the debate, and the American Association of Spiritualists was voted into existence» — el desenlace del debate.
«In spite of mediums’ impassioned opposition, the motion to form a permanent organization carried, although many abstained from voting» — y la aritmética con que se ganó, con su abstención masiva.
«Not surprisingly, the pro-organization forces were better organized and had the votes to pass the motion» — la ironía que Braude no se ahorra.
«The debate took place in the men’s arena, and their position triumphed» — y su lectura del terreno en que se dio.
«Although Lizzie Doten recounted antiorganization visions and a medium from Baltimore was influenced by her control to “assail very severely the order of the convention,” men dominated as delegates, and they voted for organization» — lo que las visiones y los controles no alcanzaron a torcer.
«Lizzie Doten withdrew from the convention» — lo que hizo Doten entonces.
«In spite of her refusal to participate in a permanent organization, Lizzie Doten returned to the national convention the following year to argue for the rights of mediums» — y lo que hizo al año siguiente.
«She felt that the newly formed American Association of Spiritualists was incompatible with the full freedom of conscience necessary to permit individuals to act on information received from spirits» — el argumento con que volvió.
«No organization can hold me,” she told the 1866 convention» — la frase de Doten que da título al capítulo.
«Although she refused to be a delegate to the convention because delegates represented other people, not themselves, the trance speaker was so popular that she was invited to address the convention anyway» — la contradicción práctica que Braude registra: rechazó la delegación y la invitaron igual.
«The decision on the part of the convention organizers to invite her to speak even though she opposed the convention itself and would surely say so from the platform suggests that her views were shared by a sizable antiorganization constituency that a national organization could not afford to alienate» — y lo que de ahí infiere sobre el tamaño de la corriente antiorganización.
«Lizzie Doten’s arguments against organization explicitly linked it with the suppression of female leadership» — el nudo del capítulo, dicho por la propia Doten.
«She portrayed the movement toward organization as a shift away from the Spiritualist understanding of what attributes qualified religious leaders» — y cómo lo formulaba: un cambio en los atributos que califican para dirigir.
«She reminded her audience of the Philadelphia convention at which women and mediums were excluded from the business committee because they were not practical» — el precedente que les recordó.
«Doten complained that “the tendency throughout the whole of that convention was to exclude women from the Committees.”» — la tendencia que denunciaba en aquella convención.
«She viewed this as a step backward that contradicted the progressive goals of Spiritualism» — y cómo la calificaba.
«Oh, women of the nineteenth century, think of that from a Spiritualist Platform!” the shocked Doten cried out» — la exclamación con que lo dijo, midiendo el hecho contra la tribuna desde la que hablaba.
«Her criticism of the convention met with universal applause» — y cómo la recibió la sala.
«She was especially incensed by the “Committee on the Address,” charged to produce an address on Spiritualism for general distribution» — la comisión que más la indignó.
«Editor Mrs. M. M. Daniel wrote the address, but it was published over the names of the entire committee» — y por qué: la directora M. M. Daniel escribió el texto y se publicó a nombre de toda la comisión.
«Laughter and applause greeted Doten’s accusation that “that address, which has gone out to the whole world, arose from a woman’s inspiration, though the world does not know it, for a man’s name stands first among the signatures to that Address.”» — la acusación que arrancó risas y aplausos: la inspiración fue de una mujer y la firma primera, de un hombre.
«The breakdown for and against organization divided normal speakers from trance speakers more fully than it divided men from women» — la precisión con que Braude corrige la lectura fácil: la línea separaba oradoras normales de oradoras en trance más que a hombres de mujeres.
«Women who had the same leadership qualities as men joined men in advocating a system of organization that rewarded assertiveness over passivity» — y qué mujeres estaban del otro lado.
«and Annie Longshore Potts claimed professional or educational qualifications» — las credenciales con que las oradoras normales se ponían del lado de la organización; el troceo parte la lista entre planas.
«Lois Waisbrooker, a normal speaker who favored organization, applauded the delegate system because “individuals, having ‘especial missions,’ axes of their own to grind, will not be permitted to mar the action of the convention.”» — lo que Lois Waisbrooker aplaudía del sistema de delegados: que nadie con misión especial ni hacha propia que afilar estorbe la acción.
«Accustomed to public derision, normal speakers knew they could make it in a» — la razón que Braude les reconoce para no temerle a la organización; el troceo parte la frase entre planas.
«man’s world. Trance speakers were less certain» — y el remate en la plana siguiente, con la diferencia entre unas y otras.
«They were not sure whether they would find adequate freedom for their spirits inside an organization» — la duda concreta de las oradoras en trance.
«They depended on the trance state to liberate their voices and justly feared that they would be silenced in an organization that elevated traditional leadership skills» — y el temor que Braude califica de justo.
«The third national convention in 1866, the first of the American Association of Spiritualists, included no trance speakers on its program» — el dato con que lo confirma: la primera convención de la asociación no puso una sola oradora en trance en el programa.
«Three men gave lectures in the normal state, and Miss Susie Johnson spoke in favor of “practical work,” urging Spiritualists to come out from Unitarian churches and build their own halls» — lo que sí hubo en ese programa, y lo que pedía Susie Johnson: salir de las iglesias unitarias y levantar salas propias.
«Veteran J. M. Peebles criticized the absence of trance speakers from the program. “We would like to see at future conventions … certain times set apart for the immortals to entrance their mediums. It would be just to the invisible world.”» — la objeción del veterano J. M. Peebles, con su argumento de justicia hacia el mundo invisible.
«Instead of giving mediums space on the program, the convention questioned their integrity in a long discussion of the legitimacy of “dark circles.”» — lo que la convención hizo en cambio.
«The convention debated a motion to require the Banner of Light and the Religio-Philosophical Journal to report both sides when such a manifestation caused controversy» — la moción concreta que discutió sobre la prensa espiritista.
«After the convention, Melvina Townsend gave the medium’s perspective in the Banner of Light» — quién dio después la versión de las médiums.
«She felt that the problems that created a need for scrutiny of dark circles resulted not from women’s dishonesty but rather from men’s greed» — y dónde ponía Townsend la causa del fraude: no en la deshonestidad de las mujeres, sino en la codicia de los hombres.
«She said that if she were a medium for physical manifestations (rather than a trance speaker and healing medium) she would want them to be investigated» — la salvedad con que abría, y que Braude no le recorta.
«However, she reminded Spiritualists that mediums could be more easily “psychologized” than other people; that is, they possessed unusual sensitivity to the influence of thoughts of other people, living or dead» — el argumento técnico de Townsend: la médium es más *psicologizable* que cualquiera, sensible a los pensamientos ajenos de vivos y muertos.
«She blamed the existence of fraudulent manifestations on men’s attempts to exploit mediums for their own profit» — y a quién le cargaba entonces el fraude.
«On behalf of her sister mediums, she described the psychological vulnerability of the women on whom the Spiritualist faith depended» — en nombre de quiénes hablaba.
«We go before the public; we stand before a great cloud of psychological influences that rolls in upon us. We go with our earnest natures strong for the right, determined to do everything that is for the best, and that will add to our reputation and the reputation of Spiritualism; but coming into contact with those strong psychological influences that you, my brothers, are in the habit of dealing out to us, we lose our position before the world for a time» — el pasaje de Townsend sobre lo que le ocurre a la médium bajo la nube de influencias psicológicas que los hermanos le echan encima.
«I call upon men everywhere to make a nobler use of their psychological powers than they have done. Do not drag us down to destruction any more» — y el llamado con que lo cerró.
«Townsend explained that either an investigator’s desire to witness a particular manifestation or a manager’s desire for the financial benefits of satisfying investigators could be strong enough to influence a medium psychologically» — los dos deseos ajenos que según ella bastan para torcer a una médium.
«But,” Townsend insisted, “there is no real consciousness to do wrong.”» — y el punto en que insistía, que es el de la responsabilidad.
«Townsend viewed the debate over mediumship at the national meeting as an explicit attack on women» — cómo leía Townsend ese debate.
«Advocates of organization made some attempts to assure the equality of women within the new association» — lo que los partidarios de la organización sí intentaron, que Braude no omite.
«At the 1864 convention, the organizing committee recommended that the nominating committee be composed of one man and one woman from each state» — la medida concreta de 1864.
«But, as modern affirmative action efforts have shown, the decision to appoint equal numbers of men and women cannot work unless the prejudices embedded within the required qualifications are reassessed» — y por qué no bastaba, dicho con una comparación contemporánea: nombrar por mitades no sirve si no se revisan los prejuicios metidos en los requisitos.
«Recognition of mediumship equalized the presence of men and women in Spiritualist leadership; decreasing respect for mediums threw the balance off again» — la fórmula con que Braude explica todo el arco del libro en una línea.
«Twenty men and eleven women sat on the nominating» — las cifras de la comisión de candidaturas; el troceo parte la frase entre planas.
«committee in 1864, and female participation in leadership of the organization continued to decline as it became more structured» — y la tendencia que siguió, en el remate de la plana siguiente: a más estructura, menos mujeres en la dirección.
«While Spiritualism continued to prosper as a popular movement, attendance at national conventions dwindled, rarely exceeding two hundred» — la desproporción que Braude subraya: el movimiento prosperaba y las convenciones nacionales se vaciaban.
«The Fourth National Convention in Cleveland was uneventful, featuring typical lectures by H. C. Wright on nonresistance and by Juliet Stillman on health reform» — el programa previsible de la cuarta convención.
«The year 1868 produced a similarly predictable convention, notable only for its location —Rochester’s Corinthian Hall—the site of the Fox sisters’ first public demonstration» — y lo único notable de la de 1868, que era el lugar: el Corinthian Hall de Rochester.
«Arguments over internal organization once again dominated the Sixth National Convention at Buffalo, at which normal speaker Mrs. H. F. M. Brown was the only female officer for the second year in succession» — la sexta convención, con su dato de composición: H. F. M. Brown, única mujer en la mesa por segundo año.
«The convention focused on the apportionment of delegates and debated the founding of a college, the pet project of a few leaders» — los dos asuntos de esa convención.
«This new proposal was yet another attack on women’s leadership, as it valued education over inspiration» — y cómo lee Braude el proyecto del colegio: educación por encima de inspiración.
«A Mrs. Parkhurst observed, “The best speeches were made by those who were taught from the spirit-world—persons who never had a college education.”» — la observación de una señora Parkhurst contra ese proyecto.
«Sarah Horton gave the convention’s single trance lecture, in which she objected to portrayals of Spiritualism as a “religion of the head” and characterized it instead as a “religion of the heart.”» — la única conferencia en trance de esa convención, con la distinción que propone Sarah Horton entre religión de la cabeza y del corazón.
«Both Horton and Parkhust objected to the organization’s attempt to adopt values that would exclude women from leadership: education, organization, and hierarchy» — y los tres valores que las dos objetaban; la fuente imprime *Parkhust* aquí y *Parkhurst* unas líneas antes.
«Mediums lost the battle over the formation of a national organization, but they and their followers won the war» — la fórmula con que Braude resume el desenlace.
«After six national conventions, it was clear that the fledgling American Association of Spiritualists would never become a representative body of American Spiritualists» — y en qué consistió esa victoria.
«It simply lacked the allegiance of the majority of believers» — la razón, dicha sin adorno.
«The Banner of Light expressed faith in the good-will of the association’s officers but skepticism about their ability to generate enthusiasm for a national organization» — la posición del Banner of Light, con su reparto de fe y escepticismo.
«The editors complained that, while the association’s conventions should attract thousands of investigators, they drew only a few speakers and mediums instead, whom the paper dubbed “impractical but useful persons.”» — y a quiénes atraían de hecho esas convenciones, según el mote que el diario les puso.
«In 1870, the Seventh Annual Convention occurred without the Banner’s support and merited only a brief report in its pages» — el estado de cosas en 1870.
«One delegate proclaimed it a success in the efforts of those who went but a failure because of poor attendance» — y el balance partido de un delegado.
«Under these demoralized conditions, Spiritualists first saw the fresh face of Victoria Woodhull» — el estado en que la irrupción de Woodhull encuentra al movimiento.
«The 1871 Eighth National Convention of the American Association of Spiritualists did not get the attendance hoped for, but it did hear a paper by a previously unknown speaker that generated much interest» — la convención de 1871 y su única novedad.
«The notorious Woodhull was an unconventional reformer and sometime revolutionary, best known for her flamboyant life-style, her physical beauty, and her Wall Street brokerage house» — quién era Woodhull antes de aparecer ahí, según los tres rasgos que Braude enumera.
«Woodhull’s decision to run for president of the United States in 1871 brought to her attention a number of existing movements for which she felt sympathy and that had the potential to advance her candidacy» — el cálculo que Braude le atribuye, dicho sin rodeos.
«These included woman suffrage, socialism, and Spiritualism» — y los tres movimientos que ese cálculo abarcaba.
«Following her surprise appearance and victory at the Woman Suffrage Convention in Washington, Woodhull received an invitation to the Spiritualist convention because a recent biographical sketch emphasized her youthful mediumistic experiences» — por qué la invitaron a la convención espiritista.
«The convention forthwith elected her president, much to the surprise of all present» — y lo que hizo la convención acto seguido.
«Woodhull’s unexpected election to the presidency of the only representative body of American Spiritualists drew the ire of veteran leaders» — la reacción de los veteranos.
«part, they condemned her not for the radicalism that had gained her national notoriety but for opportunism» — y la precisión con que Braude describe esa reacción: la condenaban por oportunista, no por radical.
«Hudson Tuttle charged that Woodhull took advantage of the convention, that she was not a delegate, had never attended a convention before, and came for the sole purpose of being elected president» — los cargos concretos de Hudson Tuttle.
«He claimed that her election was illegal because she received a bare plurality but was declared president with forty-three votes» — y el cargo de forma, con la cifra.
«It is difficult to dispute Tuttle’s account of Woodhull’s election» — el juicio que Braude se permite sobre ese relato.
«Her appearance followed close on the heels of the National Woman Suffrage Association Convention in Washington, D.C., at which she upstaged the regular program, and her participation in the formation of Section 12 of the socialist International Workingman’s Association (commonly known as the First International), both of which offered great potential for Woodhull’s self-promotion» — y el calendario con que lo respalda: la convención sufragista de Washington y la Sección 12 de la Primera Internacional.
«Tuttle charged that “the Troy convention was used as the means whereby to prostitute spiritualism to the support of unparalleled selfishness” and that Woodhull had tried to identify all Spiritualists as her personal supporters at the woman suffrage convention» — el cargo mayor de Tuttle: haber prostituido el espiritismo al sostén de un egoísmo sin paralelo.
«A few months later, Woodhull issued a call for a “People’s Convention” to start a new political party and formally nominate her for president» — el siguiente paso de Woodhull.
«She scheduled her convention to coincide with the upcoming annual meeting of the National Woman Suffrage Association» — y la fecha que le puso.
«The call took two forms, one attributed to the National Woman Suffrage Association, signed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Isabella Beecher Hooker, and Matilda Joslyn Gage, the other from Victoria Woodhull, and sixty individuals» — las dos versiones de esa convocatoria y quiénes las firmaban.
«The signers of the second call included popular mediums and leading Spiritualists, apparently most of the forty-three who voted for Woodhull at the Troy convention, as well as her cohorts in Section 12 of the First International» — la composición de la segunda firma, que Braude cruza con los cuarenta y tres votos de Troy.
«Susan B. Anthony immediately repudiated Woodhull’s call and Woodhull’s unauthorized use of her name» — la reacción inmediata de Susan B. Anthony.
«Stanton and Hooker still supported Woodhull, but the single-minded suffragist Anthony stymied Woodhull’s intention of usurping the suffrage platform by having the gas lights turned off when Woodhull took the podium» — el reparto de lealtades que quedó, y el método expeditivo de Anthony: apagar el gas cuando Woodhull tomó el podio.
«Woodhull rented a nearby hall, where the “People’s Convention” promptly nominated her for president of the United States» — lo que Woodhull hizo entonces.
«She claimed support for her nomination from all three groups she had-courted during the previous year: suffragists, socialists, and Spiritualists» — los tres apoyos que reclamó; la fuente imprime *had-courted* con guion.
«Both suffragists and socialists severed connections with her after this, but the American Association of Spiritualists, tiny and troubled, continued to reelect her» — el desenlace desigual: sufragistas y socialistas cortaron y los espiritistas la reeligieron.
«Woodhull’s election to the presidency of the decrepit American Association of Spiritualists by forty-three votes did not make her a leader in the movement» — el correctivo con que Braude mide esa presidencia.
«Among Spiritualists in New York for the competing conventions, Mary Fenn Davis, Andrew Jackson Davis, and Laura de Force Gordon remained loyal to Susan B. Anthony and the National Woman Suffrage Association» — y quiénes de los espiritistas se quedaron con Anthony.
«However, Woodhull’s office in the Spiritualist association, combined with her extreme social radicalism, did make her a heroine to some Spiritualists» — el *however* con que reconoce el otro lado.
«Spiritualist suffragists Laura Cuppy Smith, Addie Ballou, and Moses Hull gave full allegiance to Woodhull and her candidacy for president of the United States» — quiénes le dieron lealtad entera.
«In 1872, the American Association of Spiritualists reelected Woodhull with thirty-one votes. She declined, but her declination was not accepted» — la reelección de 1872, con la cifra menguada y la renuncia rechazada.
«She then gave a powerful speech, her third in the three-day conference» — y lo que hizo entonces.
«To illustrate the hypocrisy of a society that preached conventional morality but practiced free love, she described the extramarital affair between the extraordinarily popular minister Henry Ward Beecher and his parishioner Mrs. Elizabeth Tilton» — el ejemplo con que ilustró esa hipocresía: el trato de Henry Ward Beecher con su feligresa Elizabeth Tilton.
«This revelation ultimately gained Woodhull greater infamy than her social» — lo que esa revelación acabaría costándole; el troceo parte la frase entre planas.
«radicalism, but her initial mention of it drew little attention beyond the convention» — y lo poco que se notó al principio, en el remate de la plana siguiente.
«Following her address, she proposed a resolution designed to identify the organization with her views» — la resolución que propuso enseguida.
«That the American Association of Spiritualists hereby declare that religious, political and social freedoms are the fundamental principles of all improvement of human life.”» — el texto de esa resolución, que Braude califica de suave.
«This mild resolution would never before have generated controversy, but, when tied to Victoria Woodhull, it frightened usually bold Spiritualists» — y el efecto que el nombre de Woodhull le imprimía a un texto que antes no habría inquietado a nadie.
«Moderate medium Emma Hardinge objected that “Mrs. Woodhull’s election as president of the American Association of Spiritualists therefore involves a supposed recognition of her principle and procedures by every American Spiritualist.”» — la objeción de Emma Hardinge, que Braude llama médium moderada: la presidencia supone un reconocimiento de sus principios por cada espiritista.
«Hudson Tuttle agreed with Hardinge because Woodhull had been elected by a delegate convention based on the principle that elected leaders represented the views of those who elected them; therefore, by electing Woodhull, they had bound themselves to be represented by her views» — y el argumento de Tuttle, que le da la vuelta al sistema de delegados en contra de sus propios partidarios.
«Woodhull supporter Anna Middlebrook argued both that the election did not commit all other Spiritualists to Woodhull’s views and that those views should be accepted» — las dos cosas que Anna Middlebrook sostuvo a la vez en defensa de Woodhull.
«I do not understand that kind of Spiritualism that ignores woman suffrage, social reform, labor reform, and kindred topics; and I should be ashamed to be identified with a cause that did not mean to work for suffering humanity through these channels.”» — la fórmula de Middlebrook, que enumera lo que un espiritismo digno no puede ignorar.
«communion of the saints, keep the masses in ignorance.” Woodhull’s election also drew charges of ballot fraud» — el remate de la comparación de Middlebrook con los católicos, y el cargo añadido contra la elección de Woodhull.
«Dissatisfied by the lack of attention to her charges against Beecher, Woodhull published them in her own newspaper, Woodhull and Claflin’s Weekly» — el paso siguiente de Woodhull ante la falta de eco.
«This began a six-year spectacle of church councils, criminal trials, and excommunications, which ultimately showed that the public would rather live with hypocrisy than live without Henry Ward Beecher» — los seis años de espectáculo que siguieron y la conclusión que Braude les saca: el público prefería vivir con la hipocresía que sin Beecher.
«By the end of it all, Victoria Woodhull relinquished both her free love views and her thirst for publicity» — y lo que Woodhull dejó al cabo, las dos cosas juntas.
«A few Spiritualists remained loyal to her throughout» — quiénes le quedaron.
«Laura Cuppy Smith testified as a character witness when Woodhull was tried under the Comstock Antiobscenity Act for printing the Beecher-Tilton exposé» — el gesto concreto de Laura Cuppy Smith en el juicio bajo la ley Comstock.
«But the infamy that accrued to Woodhull for her role in the Beecher-Tilton scandal further reduced her small base of support among Spiritualists» — y el efecto general del escándalo sobre su base espiritista.
«When the American Association of Spiritualists reelected her in 1873, one leader proposed to split the organization between the “free love allies of Woodhull and Hull and the True or religious or practical Spiritualists.”» — la escisión que se propuso en 1873, con los dos nombres que se daba a cada bando.
«Spiritualist groups across the country voted to condemn both Woodhull and the association and wrote to the Banner of Light to disassociate themselves publicly» — y lo que hicieron los grupos locales.
«Victoria Woodhull’s election marked the demise of the American Association of Spiritualists» — el saldo que Braude le pone a esa presidencia.
«By the time she resigned the presidency in 1875, no one thought of trying to keep the association alive» — y el estado del cadáver en 1875.
«State and local organizations persisted, but as a nationwide movement Spiritualism reverted to the loose networks more consistent with its religious beliefs» — lo que quedó en pie, y la coherencia que Braude le reconoce a ese regreso a las redes sueltas.
«Woodhull’s initial election resulted from the lack of interest in the organization, and her subsequent reelections doomed the association to failure because her notoriety exceeded her popularity» — la doble causalidad que traza: la eligieron por desinterés y la reelección la hundió porque su notoriedad excedía su popularidad.
«The antiauthoritarian pull of Spiritualist manifestations proved stronger than the ideological anarchism articulated by Victoria Woodhull» — y qué antiautoritarismo resultó más fuerte, el de las manifestaciones o el doctrinario.
«The apparent success of Spiritualist advocates of organization notwithstanding, the women who opposed it were eventually vindicated» — el juicio con que Braude cierra el debate.
«Lizzie Doten was right that organization would lead to the exclusion of women from leadership in the movement» — en qué le da la razón a Lizzie Doten.
«Lists of convention officers, delegates, and committee members show a marked decline» — y con qué lo mide; el troceo parte la frase entre planas.
«in female leadership with the advent of organization» — y el remate en la plana siguiente, que dice qué es lo que decae.
«Ohio, for example, sent one woman in its twenty-one member delegation to the 1869 meeting of the American Association of Spiritualists» — el dato que lo ilustra: una mujer en veintiún delegados de Ohio en 1869.
«Women trance speakers were also right that organization was inconsistent with the spirit of the movement and that Spiritualists espoused too many varied ideas and beliefs to be adequately represented by delegates in a national convention» — y en qué más les da la razón a las oradoras en trance.
«Spiritualism proved insusceptible to institutionalization» — la conclusión, en cuatro palabras.
«Although efforts to organize Spiritualists floundered, believers voted with their feet, flocking to picnics and camp meetings while they boycotted the American Association of Spiritualists» — el contraste que abre el tramo siguiente: los creyentes votaban con los pies.
«A few weeks before the poorly attended Sixth National Convention in 1869, twelve thousand people reportedly turned out for a two-day grove meeting in Abington, Massachusetts» — la desproporción medida en cabezas: doce mil en una reunión de arboleda semanas antes de una convención desierta.
«The annual five-day camp meeting at Melrose, Massachusetts, claimed eight thousand in attendance» — y la cifra del campamento de Melrose.
«But the crowds who thronged camp meetings at Walden Pond, Lake Pleasant, and Cape Cod were not introduced to a comprehensive program of universal spiritual and social reform» — el *but* con que Braude corrige la lectura de esas cifras.
«Rather, they enjoyed a festive entertainment that might include communication with departed loved ones but that had few implications for the conduct of the living» — y lo que sí encontraban ahí, con la fórmula que resume la pérdida.
«Located on scenic lakes or beaches, camp meetings featured more entertainment and less serious discussion than the conventions of the 1850s and 1860s» — el cambio de proporción entre entretenimiento y discusión.
«Normally lasting two weeks, Spiritualist camp meetings multiplied until one was in progress somewhere in New England all summer long by the end of the 1870s» — y la densidad a la que llegaron en Nueva Inglaterra.
«Frequently attracting five to ten thousand people on a summer Sunday, several of the camps gave rise to permanent facilities with cottages, hotels, and assembly halls» — las cifras dominicales y las instalaciones permanentes que salieron de ellas.
«Henry F. Gardner, who lost the presidency of the American Association of Spiritualists to Victoria Woodhull, enjoyed a lucrative career as a camp meeting organizer much more profitable than any benefits Woodhull reaped from her presidency» — la ironía económica que Braude registra: al que perdió la presidencia frente a Woodhull le fue mejor organizando campamentos.
«Gracefully mingling sensationalism and sentimentalism, camp meetings attracted large crowds» — la mezcla con que atraían.
«A typical excursion might include a private sitting with a medium, a picnic at the lake front or sea shore, a concert by one or more “musical mediums,” and a reform lecture by a “veteran” speaker» — el programa típico de una excursión, con la conferencia reformista relegada al final y a cargo de un veterano.
«The free platform that formed the central attraction of Spiritualist conventions in the 1850s and 1860s became a minor feature of the camp meeting» — y lo que pasó con la plataforma libre, que había sido la atracción central.
«One was more likely to go home carrying a “spirit portrait” of a departed loved one painted by a medium who had never seen a likeness of the subject than a subscription to a reform periodical» — la comparación con que Braude mide el cambio: se volvía a casa con un retrato espiritual antes que con una suscripción reformista.
«By 1874, Massachusetts hosted a three-week camp meeting at Silver Lake back to back with the two-week Lake Pleasant Camp Meeting, preceded by a two-day picnic near Salem, featuring trance speaker Laura Cuppy Smith, a merry-go-round, and a full band» — el calendario de 1874 en Massachusetts, con su carrusel y su banda completa.
«In addition to their own camp meeting sites, Spiritualists met at Walden Pond and at Silver Lake, where a railroad company had erected a tent accommodating three thousand people» — la carpa de tres mil que una compañía de ferrocarril levantó en Silver Lake.
«According to the Boston Globe, twenty-five hundred traveled to Silver Lake on Friday and ten thousand on Sunday, both believers and young people simply looking for a pleasant excursion» — las cifras del Boston Globe, con la composición del público: creyentes y jóvenes de paseo.
«The restaurants could not accommodate the throngs» — y el detalle logístico que Braude añade.
«Many of the popular lecturers from the convention circuit welcomed the large audiences gathered by camp meetings» — lo que las viejas conferencistas sacaban de esos campamentos.
«Trance speaker Lizzie Doten and William» — las dos figuras del circuito antiguo que seguían hablando ahí; el troceo parte el nombre entre planas.
«Denton, former editor of the Social Revolutionist» — y el apellido que queda del otro lado del corte, con el cargo que había tenido.
«But the Spiritualist public recognized them as part of a past era» — cómo los veía ya el público.
«The Banner of Light reported that the appearance of trance speaker Melvina Townsend, briefly using the married name Wood, “illustrates with old-time eloquence the power of present inspiration.”» — la fórmula con que el Banner of Light los saludaba, con su elocuencia de otros tiempos.
«Some prewar reformers objected to the festival atmosphere» — quiénes objetaban ese ambiente.
«Samuel B. Brittan expressed disappointment that an appeal to endow the Spiritualist Belvidere Seminary as a college netted only forty dollars at the Lake Pleasant Camp Meeting» — la cifra con que Samuel B. Brittan midió su decepción: cuarenta dólares para dotar el seminario de Belvidere.
«He complained “It appears to me a very easy matter to gather … five to ten thousand persons in some pleasant place, to enjoy something like a holiday entertainment, but no one is prepared for any serious work, or any self-sacrifice.”» — y la queja con que lo dijo: es fácil juntar diez mil personas para algo parecido a un día de fiesta, y nadie está dispuesto a un trabajo serio.
«The triumph of the camp meetings over organization marked a triumph for mediumship» — la victoria que los campamentos representaban.
«At the core of the carnival atmosphere lay the appeal of spirit manifestations, without which the event could not have occurred» — y lo que sostenía todo el carnaval.
«But the mediums won a hollow victory, for the type of phenomena that drew huge crowds to camp meetings in the 1870s differed in important ways from the inspired trance speeches of the 1850s and 1860s» — el *but* que hace hueca esa victoria.
«The new manifestations emphasized women’s dumb passivity rather than their former role as articulate vehicles for divine truth» — y en qué consiste el cambio, dicho sin atenuantes: pasividad muda en lugar de vehículo articulado de la verdad divina.
«Although many of the trance speakers who rose to prominence in the 1850s and 1860s remained popular for several decades, the women who embarked on careers as mediums in the 1870s and 1880s did not speak in public» — el corte generacional que lo mide: las que empezaron en los setenta y ochenta ya no hablaban en público.
About the work
589 entries — what the apparatus and scholarship say about it«This book is a publication of Indiana University Press 601 North Morton Street Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA» — el pie de imprenta de esta edición: Indiana University Press, en Bloomington.
«First edition published 1989 by Beacon Press © 1989, 2001 by Ann Deborah Braude All rights reserved» — la línea que fecha las dos ediciones y registra el copyright a nombre de Ann Deborah Braude; la primera edición la publicó Beacon Press en 1989.
«Braude, Ann. Radical spirits : spiritualism and women’s rights in nineteenth-century America / Ann Braude.—2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index.» — la ficha de catalogación de la Library of Congress, que da el título completo y la marca de segunda edición.
«ISBN 978-0-253-34039-9 (alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-253-21502-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Women’s rights and spiritualism—United States—History—19th century. I. Title. BF1275.W65 B73 2001» — los dos ISBN y la materia con que la Library of Congress clasifica el volumen: derechos de la mujer y espiritismo en los Estados Unidos del siglo XIX.
«No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.» — la reserva de derechos de la editorial.
«The Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.» — la única excepción que la editorial admite a esa reserva.
«The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.» — la declaración de permanencia del papel.
«LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Introduction to the Second Edition Introduction: “My Soul’s Thraldom and Its Deliverance” 1. “Unbroken Communication between the Infinite and All Beings” 2. “The Blessedness of Sinless Childhood in the World Beyond” 3. “Thine for Agitation” 4. The Meaning of Mediumship 5. “The Body and Soul Destroying Marriage Institution” 6. Mediums versus Medical Men 7. “No Organization Can Hold Me” Conclusion: “The Same Hand that Guided Me Here Will Hold Me There” ABBREVIATIONS NOTES REFERENCES INDEX» — el índice del volumen: dos introducciones —la de la segunda edición y la original—, siete capítulos titulados casi siempre con una frase de las fuentes decimonónicas, conclusión y aparato.
«Illustrations follow page 114 1. The Sisters Fox. From BALLOU’S PICTORIAL DRAWING ROOM COMPANION, 14 June 1856. Courtesy of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts.» — la lista de ilustraciones abre declarando dónde se encartan y da la primera: las hermanas Fox en un grabado del BALLOU’S PICTORIAL DRAWING ROOM COMPANION de 1856.
«Amy Kirby Post and Isaac Post. Courtesy of the University of Rochester Department of Rare Books and Special Collections.» — la segunda lámina, los cuáqueros de Rochester por quienes el libro entra al espiritismo, prestada por la Universidad de Rochester.
«Margaret and Catherine Fox and Leah Fox Fish. Lithograph by Currier and Ives, 1852.» — la tercera lámina: las tres hermanas Fox en litografía de Currier and Ives de 1852.
«Fannie Davis. From M. T. Shelhamer, LIFE AND LABORS IN THE SPIRIT WORLD. Courtesy of the Mary Evans Picture Library, London.» — la lámina de Fannie Davis, tomada del LIFE AND LABORS IN THE SPIRIT WORLD de M. T. Shelhamer.
«Andrew Jackson Davis and Mary Fenn (Love) Davis. From A. J. Davis, THE MAGIC STAFF» — la lámina de la pareja Davis, tomada de la autobiografía de Andrew Jackson Davis.
«Emma Hardinge. From Emma Hardinge Britten, NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES. Courtesy of the Watkinson Library, Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut.» — la lámina de Emma Hardinge, tomada de su propio NINETEENTH CENTURY MIRACLES, ya firmado Britten.
«Cora L. V. Hatch. From H. D. Barret, LIFE WORK OF MRS. CORA L. V. RICHMOND. Courtesy of the Watkinson Library, Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut.» — la lámina de Cora L. V. Hatch, tomada de la biografía que H. D. Barret le dedicó bajo su último apellido, Richmond.
«Spirit of “Lightheart”. From DAILY GRAPHIC, 30 October 1874. Courtesy of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts.» — la lámina del espíritu materializado que el DAILY GRAPHIC publicó en 1874.
«The séance table. Courtesy of the Bettmann Archive, New York. 5. The Boston Planchette.» — las dos láminas de objeto: la mesa de sesión y la planchette de Boston.
«Achsa White Sprague. Courtesy of the University of Vermont Department of Special Collections. 11. Achsa Sprague Handbill.» — las dos láminas de Achsa Sprague: su retrato y el volante con que anunciaba sus conferencias.
«“Katie King,” with portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Holmes. From DAILY GRAPHIC, 5 August 1874.» — la lámina de Katie King con los retratos del matrimonio Holmes, del DAILY GRAPHIC de agosto de 1874.
«Laura de Force Gordon. From Stanton and Anthony, HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE, vol. 3.» — la última lámina: Laura de Force Gordon, tomada de la HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE de Stanton y Anthony.
«A historian is a bit like a spirit medium: one’s goal is to allow the dead to speak as clearly as possible. Many people have assisted me in the attempt.» — abre los agradecimientos con el símil que da la clave de su método: el historiador se parece a una médium en que su meta es dejar hablar a los muertos con la mayor claridad posible.
«This book began as a doctoral dissertation supervised by Sydney Ahlstrom and Nancy F. Cott.» — declara el origen del libro: una tesis doctoral dirigida por Sydney Ahlstrom y Nancy F. Cott.
«Although Sydney Ahlstrom’s untimely death prevented his participation beyond the initial stages of this project, I hope that the final product reflects the model of humane scholarship he tried to impart to a sometimes unwilling student.» — sobre Ahlstrom, muerto antes de que el proyecto avanzara, y con la reserva a cuenta propia de haber sido a veces una estudiante poco dispuesta.
«In his absence, Nancy Cott served as an exemplary adviser.» — sobre Nancy Cott, que quedó al frente de la dirección.
«Always a thoughtful reader, she took my work seriously, but not too seriously, providing an ideal blend of criticism and encouragement.» — la fórmula con que describe esa dirección, con su gradación: la tomó en serio, pero no demasiado en serio.
«My early teachers, Virgene Bollens, H. Patrick Sullivan, Martin Marty, and Rosemary Ruether set me on the path that led to this study.» — los maestros a quienes atribuye haberla puesto en esta ruta, entre ellos Martin Marty y Rosemary Ruether.
«The project received financial support from a faculty development grant from Carleton College.» — el financiamiento declarado: una beca de desarrollo docente de Carleton College.
«The American Antiquarian Society supported it with the Francis Hyatt Fellowship and provided an extraordinarily productive research home.» — la segunda fuente de apoyo, la Francis Hyatt Fellowship de la American Antiquarian Society.
«Thanks to Richard Fyffe for locating the stereograph reproduced on the cover.» — el crédito de la estereografía de la portada, que ella atribuye a Richard Fyffe.
«The project benefited greatly from the unusual personal interest shown by a few librarians and archivists, including Mary Huth and Karl Kabelac of the University of Rochester and the staff of the Vermont Historical Society.» — los archivistas que nombra uno por uno, entre ellos el personal de la Vermont Historical Society, donde están los papeles de Achsa Sprague.
«The following institutions graciously extended to me the use of their collections» — abre el censo de las instituciones cuyas colecciones consultó, que es a la vez el mapa de sus fuentes.
«It might have been unbearably so if not for the many people who shared with me their enthusiasm for historical inquiry, whether in libraries, in conference sessions, or while following me through damp nineteenth-century graveyards.» — sobre la soledad de la investigación de archivo, atemperada por quienes la acompañaron hasta a los cementerios del siglo XIX.
«Mark Greene, the Carleton College archivist, rendered tireless assistance at the final stages of writing. His keen editorial eye was invaluable in transforming the dissertation into a book.» — a quién atribuye la conversión de la tesis en libro: el archivista de Carleton College, Mark Greene.
«At that point, the manuscript also benefited from the comments of Liza Braude and R. Laurence Moore.» — los dos lectores del manuscrito ya hecho libro, entre ellos el historiador del espiritismo R. Laurence Moore.
«I am grateful to Steve Seibert of Dragonfly Software, the designer of the computer program Nota Bene, on which this book was written, for his commitment to academic computing in the humanities.» — el dato material de la escritura: el libro se escribió en el programa Nota Bene, de Dragonfly Software.
«I feel deeply indebted to the women and men who form the subject of this study. I am grateful to them for their commitment to their own convictions and for entering their lives, hopes, and dreams into the historical record.» — la deuda que declara con los sujetos mismos del estudio, por haber dejado sus vidas y sus esperanzas en el registro histórico.
«This work is for my grandfather, Ben Braude, who wanted the best for me.» — la dedicatoria, a su abuelo Ben Braude.
«Every religious worldview must participate in the construction of gender if it is to provide a comprehensive vocabulary of meanings and actions for managing experience and interpreting reality.» — el principio con que Braude explica por qué el cruce no debería sorprender: toda visión religiosa del mundo construye género si aspira a dar un vocabulario completo de sentidos y acciones.
«We should not be surprised, then, that a reform movement aimed at altering the roles and relations of men and women should find allies—sometimes unwelcome—within a religious movement committed to critiquing basic theological principles and religious structures.» — y la consecuencia: un movimiento que quiere cambiar los papeles de hombres y mujeres encuentra aliados —a veces indeseados— en un movimiento religioso que critica los principios teológicos básicos.
«While it should not be surprising to find a political movement and a religious movement sharing leaders, concepts, participants, and platforms, the coalescence of this particular political movement with this particular religion is in some ways surprising.» — el límite que ella misma le pone a ese principio: que estos dos en particular coincidieran sí resulta sorprendente.
«The nineteenth-century women’s movement eventually succeeded in some (though not all) of its central goals. Although often ridiculed in its own day, it is now regarded with respect for advancing universal suffrage and civil rights, key components of America’s identity as a democratic nation.» — la asimetría de suerte entre los dos movimientos: el de la mujer logró parte de sus metas y hoy se le respeta por el sufragio universal y los derechos civiles.
«Spiritualism, in contrast, still attracts controversy and ill repute among critics who view it as a deception of the credulous.» — y el otro lado de esa asimetría: al espiritismo se le sigue teniendo por engaño de crédulos.
«It is a testimony to the radicalism of the call for women’s rights in the 1840s and 1850s that the religious movement with which it found most sympathy was one so much at odds with conventional beliefs.» — de esa desproporción saca un argumento: que el movimiento religioso más afín fuera el más reñido con las creencias convencionales mide lo radical que era pedir derechos para la mujer en los años cuarenta y cincuenta del siglo XIX.
«When I embarked on the research that eventually became Radical Spirits, more than one person asked whether I really wanted to tar women’s rights with the taint of Spiritualism. Wouldn’t that be bad for the movement?» — la objeción que le hicieron al empezar la investigación, y que ella reproduce sin suavizarla: que asociar los derechos de la mujer con el espiritismo perjudicaría al movimiento.
«All historians, I believed, were committed to the quest for truth, whether or not they liked where it led.» — la premisa desde la que rechazó esa objeción en su momento, dicha en pasado y en primera persona.
«Historians of women, in particular, needed to restore what had been excluded from the historical record, not to impose new sets of blinders.» — y lo que le pedía en particular a la historia de las mujeres: restituir lo excluido del registro, no poner anteojeras nuevas.
«Students of religion aspired not to judge specific faiths but rather to understand and interpret them.» — la tercera premisa, la del estudio de la religión: no juzgar fes, sino entenderlas e interpretarlas.
«Ten years later, it is clear that just such contemporary issues shaped both the book and its reception.» — la corrección que se hace a sí misma diez años después: esas cuestiones contemporáneas sí moldearon el libro y su recepción.
«The choice of the subject was prompted by the desire to study a religious group in which women were visible as leaders.» — el motivo declarado de la elección del tema: estudiar un grupo religioso donde las mujeres se vieran como dirigentes.
«upon the Achsa Sprague Papers at the Vermont Historical Society. Here was an unmarried woman from a small town who traveled the country as a public speaker in the 1850s—and she was a Spiritualist medium.» — el hallazgo de archivo que fijó el tema: los papeles de Achsa Sprague, mujer soltera de pueblo que recorría el país como oradora pública en los años cincuenta y era médium espiritista.
«Hundreds of letters from her admirers demonstrate that the trance lectures she delivered under spirit inspiration were experienced by many as a transformative source of religious teaching.» — lo que esas cartas le muestran: los oyentes vivían sus conferencias en trance como enseñanza religiosa transformadora.
«Her personal papers revealed beyond the shadow of a doubt that she was absolutely sincere, that she resented and rejected any attempts to use her spiritual gifts for profit or deception, and that she viewed her religious teachings as part of advancing the reform agenda championed at the abolitionist and women’s rights conventions she attended, as well as at Spiritualist conferences and meetings.» — la lectura que hace de los papeles privados de Sprague: sinceridad sin sombra de duda, rechazo a usar sus dones para lucro o engaño, y su enseñanza entendida como parte de la agenda reformista.
«Further investigation showed that Sprague was not an isolated figure, but was one of a substantial group of women who traveled as trance speakers during the 1850s.» — y el paso del caso al grupo: Sprague no era una figura aislada sino una de muchas mujeres que viajaban como oradoras en trance.
«Simultaneously, and unknown to me, a British historian concluded that the study of nineteenth-century spirit mediums afforded fruitful unexploited opportunities to explore the construction of gender in Victorian England.» — la coincidencia que consigna sin nombrar a la historiadora en el cuerpo: en Inglaterra alguien llegaba a la vez a la misma idea de estudiar a las médiums para entender la construcción del género victoriano.
«The publication of Radical Spirits in 1989 occurred in the midst of increased efforts in the humanities and social sciences to incorporate the experience of previously excluded groups.» — sitúa la aparición del libro en 1989 dentro del empuje por incorporar a las humanidades la experiencia de los grupos antes excluidos.
«Something of a sea-change occurred in 1992, when the Columbus Quincentennial focused attention on issues of contact and colonialism, raising new questions about the most fundamental assumptions of both American and world history.» — el corte que fecha en 1992: el quinto centenario colombino puso en cuestión los supuestos más básicos de la historia americana y mundial.
«In the reorientation of the study of American culture along pluralistic lines, the place of religion remains ambiguous.» — y el hueco que ese giro dejó: en la relectura pluralista de la cultura estadounidense el lugar de la religión sigue siendo ambiguo.
«Is religious affiliation akin to ethnicity in defining community identities and institutions? Or is it more like other voluntary associations, like belonging to a political party or a soccer league?» — las dos analogías entre las que la pregunta oscila, planteadas como pregunta y no resueltas.
«While students of religion find that our subject partakes of elements of each model, we are consistently challenged to find ways to communicate this insight to those beyond the field of religious studies.» — su respuesta parcial: el objeto participa de los dos modelos, y el problema es comunicarlo fuera del campo.
«An important goal of Radical Spirits was to suggest the importance of religion as a factor in women’s history, and, therefore, in the project of writing a more inclusive and accurate account of America’s past.» — el tercer objetivo que le adjudica al libro visto en retrospectiva: hacer valer la religión como factor de la historia de las mujeres.
«It seemed to me then, and does now, that a certain squeamishness about religious faith on the part of some scholars (many feminists among them) obscured important aspects of women’s cultures.» — lo que imputa a cierta erudición, feministas incluidas: un remilgo ante la fe religiosa que oscurece partes importantes de las culturas de las mujeres.
«The rejection of religious belief and practice as analytic categories seemed, in some sense, to presuppose an opposition between faith and reason and to privilege the side of the binary historically associated with masculinity.» — el mecanismo que le atribuye a ese rechazo: presupone una oposición entre fe y razón y privilegia el lado del binomio asociado históricamente con lo masculino.
«By ignoring or downplaying the role of religious motivations, experiences, and meaning-systems, it seemed to me, historians downplayed arenas of American culture in which women might be more important than in—say—politics, business, or international affairs.» — y el costo que le calcula: se deja fuera justo el terreno donde las mujeres podían pesar más que en la política o los negocios.
«I hoped that by demonstrating the religious motivations of historical actors who would appeal to contemporary readers, I might convince my colleagues to take religion more seriously.» — la estrategia que declara haber seguido, en modo de esperanza y no de logro.
«My goal was not that readers should take spirit communication more seriously, but rather that they should take those who spoke to spirits more seriously, and that they should accept the belief in spirit communication as an aspect of those people’s worldview.» — la distinción que ordena todo el libro y que ella subraya: no pide que el lector tome más en serio la comunicación con los espíritus, sino a quienes hablaban con ellos.
«Bret Carroll locates Spiritualism among the primitivist and restorationist movements (Mormons, Shakers, Baptists, Disciples of Christ, and of course, Puritans) that sought to recapture Christianity’s original order by eliminating later institutional and doctrinal developments.» — de la bibliografía posterior recoge a Bret Carroll, que sitúa al espiritismo entre los movimientos primitivistas y restauracionistas empeñados en recobrar el orden original del cristianismo.
«Stephen Prothero depicts Spiritualism as a stage in Olcott’s journey toward Buddhism.» — y a Stephen Prothero, para quien el espiritismo es una etapa del camino de Olcott hacia el budismo.
«The photographer Bill McDowell has documented the community of Lilydale, creating haunting images evoking universal longings for immortality and harmony.» — el trabajo fotográfico de Bill McDowell sobre la comunidad espiritista de Lilydale.
«David Hall and Jon Butler pioneered this approach in seventeenth-and eighteenth-century studies.» — atribuye a David Hall y Jon Butler la apertura de ese enfoque para los siglos XVII y XVIII.
«Ann Taves and Leigh Schmidt have extended it into the study of the nineteenth century, with important repercussions for the study of Spiritualism.» — y a Ann Taves y Leigh Schmidt su extensión al siglo XIX, con consecuencias para el estudio del espiritismo.
«The question of women’s religious leadership, its relation to theological innovation and to worship style has been deepened and strengthened by a number of subsequent studies.» — el balance que hace de la investigación posterior sobre el liderazgo religioso femenino y su relación con la innovación teológica y el estilo de culto.
«Judith Butler has pioneered a new approach to the discussion of gender, portraying it as a “performance” that constitutes an ongoing and contested process of cultural construction.» — recoge de Judith Butler la lectura del género como actuación, proceso de construcción cultural continuo y disputado.
«Among the more audacious claims in Radical Spirits is the assertion that spirit mediums formed the first large group of American women to speak in public or to exercise religious leadership.» — califica ella misma de audaz la tesis del libro: las médiums fueron el primer grupo grande de mujeres estadounidenses que hablaron en público o ejercieron liderazgo religioso.
«Rebecca Larson’s study of eighteenth-century Quaker women preachers asserts that “Never before had so many women spoken in public before audiences composed of both sexes.”» — y consigna la objeción que le hace el estudio de Rebecca Larson sobre las predicadoras cuáqueras del siglo XVIII.
«Catherine Brekus also took up the challenge, and located 200 women preachers over the hundred years prior to the advent of Spiritualism, in a study that excluded Quakers.» — junto con el recuento de Catherine Brekus: doscientas predicadoras en el siglo previo al espiritismo, y eso dejando fuera a las cuáqueras.
«Perhaps instead of looking for the first women religious leaders, historians need to analyze the cyclical rise and fall of women’s leadership.» — de esas dos objeciones saca una propuesta, en modo hipotético: en vez de buscar a las primeras, analizar el ascenso y la caída cíclicos del liderazgo femenino.
«One of the most striking features of this cyclical pattern is the extent to which women’s religious leadership is obliterated from historical memory, so that each subsequent emergence appears as something unprecedented, and indeed, ungodly.» — el rasgo que le parece más notable del patrón cíclico: el liderazgo religioso femenino se borra de la memoria histórica, de modo que cada nueva aparición parece sin precedente e impía.
«Perhaps Radical Spirits’s least explored contention is that Spiritualism formed a major—if not the major —vehicle for the spread of women’s rights ideas in the mid-nineteenth century.» — señala cuál es, a su juicio, la tesis menos explorada del libro: el espiritismo fue un vehículo mayor —si no el mayor— de difusión de las ideas de derechos de la mujer.
«Spiritualist mass meetings and lectures provided frequent, appreciative audiences for advocates of women’s rights throughout the 1850s, while women’s rights conventions were rare events, continuing into the 1860s, when the Civil War and the abolitionist cause placed those conventions in abeyance.» — el argumento material de esa tesis: los mítines y conferencias espiritistas daban público frecuente y receptivo mientras las convenciones de derechos de la mujer eran raras y la Guerra Civil las suspendió.
«This broad acceptance of women’s public moral role by Protestant church women laid the groundwork for the passage of woman suffrage in 1920.» — la línea larga que traza: la aceptación protestante del papel moral público de la mujer preparó el terreno del sufragio de 1920.
«The work of Beryl Satter demonstrates that as the twentieth century dawned, radical religious views continued to inspire and support new forms of feminism.» — atribuye a Beryl Satter la demostración de que las visiones religiosas radicales siguieron alimentando formas nuevas de feminismo al abrirse el siglo XX.
«When this overlap is mentioned, I am frequently asked for the names of women’s rights activists who became adherents.» — consigna la pregunta con que se le responde siempre que menciona la superposición: nombres.
«Upon learning that the Spiritualists were not among the handful of well-known suffrage leaders, many dismiss the overlap as insignificant.» — y el efecto de esa pregunta: al no aparecer entre el puñado de líderes sufragistas conocidas, se da la superposición por insignificante.
«They are disappointed to learn that among those in the vanguard of women’s rights it was Lucy Stone’s sister-in-law (Anna Blackwell), Susan B. Anthony’s cousin (Sarah Anthony Burtis), Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s neighbors (Mary Ann and Thomas McClintock), and Lucretia Mott’s dinner guests (too numerous to name), not the famous leaders themselves, who espoused Spiritualism.» — la lista con que responde, que es su argumento de que el criterio de fama no sirve: la cuñada de Lucy Stone, la prima de Susan B. Anthony, los vecinos de Elizabeth Cady Stanton y los comensales de Lucretia Mott.
«What distinguished those who adopted the new faith from those who did not? Often—not always—it was their radicalism.» — el rasgo que separa a los que adoptaron la fe nueva de los que no, dicho con su acotación: casi siempre, no siempre, el radicalismo.
«Here Frances Willard, who led the largest nineteenth-century organization to support woman suffrage, is described as an enemy of freedom who hoped to use the vote to enforce Christian morality.» — cómo queda Frances Willard en un relato reciente del sufragio: enemiga de la libertad que esperaba usar el voto para imponer la moral cristiana.
«Barbara Goldsmith’s book, Other Powers, worse than ignoring religion, holds up the involvement of suffragists with Spiritualism as a source of shock and sensationalism, exactly what Radical Spirits hoped to prevent.» — la objeción que le hace al Other Powers de Barbara Goldsmith: presentar el trato de las sufragistas con el espiritismo como escándalo es justo lo que este libro quería evitar.
«After 30 years, the history of the “second wave” is being written.» — sitúa el paralelo en el presente: a treinta años, se está escribiendo la historia de la segunda ola.
«This literature suggests that the squeamishness about religious faith evident in the nineteenth-century historiography likewise pervades these accounts, and perhaps for the same reason.» — y lo que ve repetirse ahí: el mismo remilgo ante la fe religiosa que halló en la historiografía del siglo XIX, y quizá por la misma razón.
«First, it can help dispel the idea that religion and feminism are opposing forces in American culture.» — lo primero que ganaría la historia del feminismo al incluir la religión: deshacer la idea de que religión y feminismo son fuerzas opuestas en la cultura estadounidense.
«However, religious hierarchies often discourage or prohibit women’s public leadership and assume that those who work to improve women’s status lack authentic faith.» — y lo que sostiene esa idea del otro lado: las jerarquías religiosas desalientan el liderazgo público de las mujeres y dan por supuesto que quien trabaja por su condición carece de fe auténtica.
«Both assumptions are based on misconceptions about the relationship between religion and feminism.» — el juicio con que cierra ese par: ambos supuestos descansan en un malentendido de la relación entre religión y feminismo.
«Even the history of NOW itself suggests problems with the characterization of feminism as an exclusively secular movement.» — el contraejemplo que ofrece: la historia de la propia NOW estorba la caracterización del feminismo como movimiento exclusivamente secular.
«While many feminists chose their religious communities as their sphere of feminist activism, others became convinced that their faith traditions could not be cleansed of sexism, and left them behind.» — la bifurcación que describe entre feministas: unas hicieron de su comunidad religiosa el terreno de su activismo, otras la dejaron por creerla inseparable del sexismo.
«But even among this group, religion was often a focus of feminist activity.» — y la matización que le sigue: aun entre las que se fueron, la religión siguió siendo foco de la actividad feminista.
«The feminist spirituality movement emerged as an alternative for those who hoped to abandon patriarchal traditions without abandoning religious experience.» — el lugar que le da al movimiento de espiritualidad feminista: la alternativa para quien quería dejar las tradiciones patriarcales sin dejar la experiencia religiosa.
«Moreover, the assertion that the potential children of terminated pregnancies are not lost but are in heaven with Jesus has become a staple of evangelical post-abortion counseling, as has the advice to name and mourn aborted fetuses.» — el uso contemporáneo que consigna: en la consejería evangélica posterior al aborto se afirma que los hijos posibles están en el cielo y se aconseja nombrarlos y llorarlos.
«She said that she had named each of her own three aborted fetuses, and that she was glad that she had been able to be their mother even for the few months she carried them, although she was estranged from her three adult children.» — el testimonio concreto de esa consejera que ella reproduce sin comentario, con la divergencia interna a la vista.
«I did not know whether to be more shocked that a conservative Presbyterian would use a book filled with heterodoxy in her ministry, or that an anti-abortion activist would find kinship with the radical feminists who populate this book.» — su propia reacción ante ese uso, dicha como perplejidad y no como juicio.
«Indeed, the expectation that spirit communication might be possible following pregnancies that only lasted a few weeks seems to reflect the heightened expectations of modern medicine that very premature infants might in fact grow to maturity, as well as new technologies permitting much more knowledge of early pregnancy.» — la lectura histórica que hace de esa expectativa: esperar comunicación con espíritus tras embarazos de pocas semanas refleja las expectativas de la medicina y de las tecnologías modernas.
«But the experience of separation and loss, apparently, reaches across religious and political divides, and across the centuries.» — y el límite que le pone a esa lectura, con su *apparently* a cuestas: la experiencia de la separación y la pérdida cruza divisiones religiosas, políticas y siglos.
«I do not know, now, if I could write about the loss of Annie Denton Cridge’s baby in the unadorned fashion that I did ten years ago.» — la revisión que hace de su propia escritura tras el nacimiento de su hija: duda de poder narrar hoy la muerte del bebé de Annie Denton Cridge tan escuetamente como entonces.
«I suspect that were I to broach this subject anew I would feel compelled to comment on the universality and tragedy of her grief, on the difference between losing an elder relative whose passing in some sense marks the progress of one’s own maturation, and of losing a baby, “the fond great hope of my life,” as Annie Denton Cridge called her son, the forward-looking promise of one’s own legacy into the future.» — lo que sospecha que hoy se sentiría obligada a comentar: la diferencia entre perder a un pariente mayor y perder a un bebé.
«While a lively literature documents the similar religious treatment of aborted fetuses and infants who have died in Japan, this is highly unusual in the American context.» — el contraste que traza con Japón, donde el trato religioso de los fetos abortados sí está documentado, frente a lo inusual del caso estadounidense.
«I wonder daily how a parent could find the new life lying in their arms anything but good to the core, and what it meant for Calvinists to believe that infants were born with a Fallen nature, that a little baby who gladdens so many hearts could have a will inclined toward evil.» — la pregunta que dice hacerse a diario desde que es madre, y que le devuelve en concreto la doctrina calvinista de la naturaleza caída del recién nacido.
«I wonder how the incomparable serenity of my sleeping child could appear anything but innocent, and what effort it would take for a parent to convince herself otherwise.» — la segunda mitad de esa pregunta, que mide el esfuerzo que costaría a una madre convencerse de lo contrario.
«While the book opens with a young mother’s loss, it concludes with the aging reformers who worked for women’s rights contemplating their own passage from the scene at the end of the nineteenth century.» — describe el arco del libro: abre con la pérdida de una madre joven y cierra con reformadoras ya viejas contemplando su propia salida de escena.
«For some the principles that motivated reformers to work for a better world proved more enduring, and more consoling, than any human connections.» — la primera de las dos salidas que consigna, sin arbitrar entre ellas: para unas, los principios resultaron más duraderos y consoladores que cualquier lazo humano.
«But for others the desire to continue contact with loving companions who had given meaning to their lives by sharing their missions and their journeys superseded all.» — y la segunda: para otras, el deseo de seguir en contacto con quienes habían dado sentido a su vida pasó por encima de todo.
«If this desire cancels out the words and deeds of those who experience it as significant, much will be erased from history.» — la advertencia con que cierra la introducción a la segunda edición: si ese deseo anula las palabras y los hechos de quienes lo vivieron como significativo, se borrará mucho de la historia.
«Alex Owen, The Darkened Room: Women, Power, and Spiritualism in Late Nineteenth Century England (London: Virago, 1989). Reprinted 1990 by University of Pennsylvania Press as The Darkened Room: Women, Power and Spiritualism in Late Victorian England.» — la nota que identifica a la historiadora británica aludida en el cuerpo: Alex Owen y su The Darkened Room, de 1989.
«Ann Taves, Fits, Trances, and Visions: Experiencing Religion and Explaining Experience from Wesley to James (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999). Leigh Eric Schmidt, Hearing Things: Religion, Illusion, and the American Enlightenment» — las dos obras con que documenta la extensión del enfoque al siglo XIX: Taves y Schmidt.
«Judith P. Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity» — la referencia del Gender Trouble de Judith Butler, de 1990.
«Rebecca Larson, Daughters of Light: Quaker Women Preaching and Prophesying in the Colonies and Abroad, 1700–1775» — la referencia del Daughters of Light de Rebecca Larson, sobre las predicadoras cuáqueras de 1700 a 1775.
«Catherine A. Brekus, Strangers and Pilgrims: Female Preaching in America, 1740–1845» — la referencia del Strangers and Pilgrims de Catherine Brekus, sobre la predicación femenina de 1740 a 1845.
«Beryl Satter, Each Mind a Kingdom: American Women, Sexual Purity, and the New Thought Movement, 1875–1920» — la referencia del Each Mind a Kingdom de Beryl Satter, sobre el New Thought entre 1875 y 1920.
«Barbara Goldsmith, Other Powers: The Age of Suffrage, Spiritualism, and the Scandalous Victoria Woodhull» — la referencia del Other Powers de Barbara Goldsmith, cuyo tratamiento del asunto objeta en el cuerpo.
«Bret E. Carroll, Spiritualism in Antebellum America (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997). Stephen R. Prothero, The White Buddhist: The Asian Odyssey of Henry Steel Olcott» — las referencias de Carroll y Prothero, los dos publicados por la misma casa que reedita este libro.
«Sydna Massé worked with James Dobson as Manager of Focus on the Family’s Crisis Pregnancy Ministry before founding Ramah International Inc., a ministry aimed at helping individuals heal from the experience of abortion by reaching out to those considering abortion.» — la nota que sitúa a una de esas autoras: Sydna Massé, antes en Focus on the Family y luego fundadora de Ramah International.
«Helen Hardacre, Marketing the Menacing Fetus in Japan (Berkeley: University of California Press,» — la referencia japonesa con que documenta el contraste: el Marketing the Menacing Fetus de Helen Hardacre.
«Linda Cochrane, Forgiven and Set Free: A Post-Abortion Bible Study for Women (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 1996)» — la primera de las guías de consejería evangélica posterior al aborto que documenta la nota.
«1. “The Sisters Fox, the Original Spirit Rappers.”» — el pie de la primera lámina del encarte.
«Amy Kirby Post (1802–89) and Isaac Post (1798–1872) of Rochester, New York, Quaker abolitionists, early supporters of the Fox sisters, and advocates of Spiritualism.» — el pie de la segunda, con las fechas de los Post.
«Margaret Fox (1833?–93), Catherine Fox (1839?–92), and Leah Fox Fish (1818?–90).» — el pie de la tercera, con las fechas de nacimiento de las Fox marcadas como inciertas.
«Fannie Davis, guided by spirit, plays organ and sings to comfort dying boy, though she has never played before.» — el pie de la sexta, que narra la escena representada.
«Andrew Jackson Davis (1826–1910), prophet of the Harmonial Philosophy, and Mary Fenn (Love) Davis (1824–86), advocate of Spiritualism and woman’s rights.» — el pie de la séptima, que titula a Davis profeta de la Filosofía Harmonial.
«Emma Hardinge, medium and musician who became the historian of Spiritualism.» — el pie de la octava, que nombra a Emma Hardinge historiadora del espiritismo.
«Cora L. V. Hatch, the seventeen-year-old trance speaker who enchanted American audiences in the 1850s.» — el pie de la novena.
«Achsa White Sprague (1827–62), trance lecturer, whose mediumship ended five years of invalidism.» — el pie de la décima, que resume el caso del capítulo.
«Handbill announcing lecture by Achsa Sprague, 1856.» — el pie de la undécima.
«Spirit of “Lightheart,” dissolving at the Eddy homestead.» — el pie de la duodécima.
«Materialized spirit of “Katie King,” with portraits of mediums Mr. and Mrs. Holmes, who deceived Robert Dale Owen.» — el pie de la decimotercera, que anticipa el episodio del capítulo séptimo.
«Laura de Force Gordon (1838–1907), trance medium who became a well-known woman suffrage speaker.» — y el pie de la última, que anticipa la conclusión del libro.
«As Linda Gordon has observed, a broad spectrum of nineteenth-century women’s groups advocated voluntary motherhood» — el apoyo bibliográfico que Braude toma de Linda Gordon: un abanico amplio de grupos de mujeres del siglo XIX defendía la maternidad voluntaria.
«Cridge has been identified by a historian of free love as an opponent of the movement because he believed that marriage was the symptom, not the cause, of social oppression» — la corrección que Braude le hace a un historiador del amor libre, que tenía a Cridge por adversario del movimiento.
«Yet he clearly advocates free love in this passage» — y el fundamento de esa corrección, leído en el pasaje mismo.
«As Hal Sears has observed, her short-lived but widely publicized free love agitation in the early 1870s marked a watershed in the widespread discussion of sexual alternatives in nineteenth-century America, after which the topic’s respectability greatly diminished» — el apoyo que toma de Hal Sears: la agitación de Woodhull marcó la divisoria tras la cual el tema perdió respetabilidad.
«One biographer has suggested that it was the popularity of Spiritualism in the United States that led her to New York in 1873» — lo que un biógrafo sugiere sobre el motivo del viaje a Nueva York; Braude lo consigna como sugerencia ajena.
«The historian Sydney Ahlstrom coined the term harmonialism to describe a cosmological outlook that can be traced from Swedenborgianism through Spiritualism to Christian Science and New Thought» — el término que Braude toma de su propio director de tesis para nombrar la serie.
«The Christian Scientist historian Stephen Gottschalk takes issue with Ahlstrom’s inclusion of Christian Science in the category harmonialism, arguing that Christian Science should be seen as a more orthodox Christian expression that acknowledges the need for salvation through Christ, although understood in a distinctive way» — y la objeción del historiador cientista cristiano Stephen Gottschalk a esa clasificación.
«This disagreement is important for a discussion of Spiritualism because it bears on the extent to which Christian Science should be seen as growing out of Spiritualism and the extent to which it should be seen as a departure from the cosmological context in which it developed» — por qué le importa a Braude ese desacuerdo entre estudiosos.
«In my view, both interpretations provide valuable insights for understanding the relation between Christian Science and Spiritualism» — y cómo lo resuelve: no arbitrando, sino tomando de las dos.
«I concur with Ahlstrom in locating the origins of Christian Science in the same line of historical development that stretched from Swedenborgianism through Spiritualism to New Thought» — en qué le da la razón a Ahlstrom.
«These aspects of Eddy’s teaching suggest that it should be seen as a development that followed directly from Spiritualism» — la conclusión de ese primer tramo.
«More support for Ahlstrom’s interpretation comes from the difficulty Eddy had in convincing her followers that Spiritualism and Christian Science were utterly incompatible» — el segundo argumento a favor de Ahlstrom, sacado de la resistencia de los propios discípulos de Eddy.
«On the other hand, Gottschalk’s interpretation of Christian Science as stemming from Protestant orthodoxy is helpful in emphasizing the focus on evil» — en qué le da la razón a Gottschalk, que es en el asunto del mal; el troceo parte la frase entre planas.
«present in Christian Science but absent from other harmonial groups» — y el remate en la plana siguiente: el mal está en la Ciencia Cristiana y falta en los demás grupos armoniales.
«“Imposition and Demonstration” was retitled first “Christian Science and Spiritualism” and eventually “Christian Science Versus Spiritualism,” under which name it constitutes chapter 4 of the current authorized edition of Science and Health» — la nota al pie que sigue el rastro del capítulo de Eddy hasta su título actual.
«Historians have judged nineteenth-century reformers harshly for bowing to expediency in order to gain implementation of the measures they proposed» — el juicio historiográfico que Braude pone sobre la mesa antes de discutirlo.
«The woman suffrage movement, especially, has been criticized for making the ideological concessions necessary to create the broad coalition that led to its eventual victory» — y a quién apunta sobre todo ese juicio.
«Because of these factors, Spiritualism provides a test case of the probable fate of the suffrage movement if it had not made the compromises it did» — el uso contrafáctico que Braude le da al espiritismo.
«The leaders of the suffrage movement have been criticized by twentieth-century historians for straying from the comprehensive radicalism that characterized the early years of woman’s rights agitation» — el reproche historiográfico que examina.
«Historians have been most critical of suffragists’ compromises of principle regarding issues of class and race» — y en qué se ha centrado ese reproche.
«Had the suffragists followed a similar course, their movement might have met with a similar fate at the hands of historians: instead of being criticized, Spiritualists have been either ridiculed or ignored» — el remate del contrafáctico, con su ironía: a las sufragistas se las critica, a los espiritistas se los ridiculiza o se los ignora.
«Some authors, most notably Ann Douglas, have argued that the “feminization of American culture” reflected in Spiritualism perpetuated women’s restricted role and produced a morally impotent sentimental culture» — la tesis contraria que discute, la de Ann Douglas.
«The history of Spiritualism suggests, on the contrary, that the identification of piety with femininity could aid in the expansion of women’s options and contribute to the potency of a comprehensive moral idealism» — y su réplica, dicha como sugerencia y no como demostración.
«Amy and Isaac Post Family Papers, University of Rochester Department of Rare Books and Special Collections» — la primera abreviatura de la tabla, que nombra el fondo de los Post en Rochester.
«Achsa W. Sprague Papers, Vermont Historical Society, Montpelier» — el fondo de Achsa Sprague, en la Vermont Historical Society, que es la fuente única del capítulo cuarto.
«Banner of Light (Boston, Mass.)» — el periódico que la tabla abrevia BL, y que es la fuente periodística mayor del libro.
«History of Woman Suffrage, ed. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Matilda Joslyn Gage, 4 vols. (New York: Fowler & Wells, 1881–1902)» — la History of Woman Suffrage en cuatro tomos, con sus tres editoras y sus fechas de publicación.
«The Collected Correspondence of Lydia Maria Child, 1817–1880, ed. Patricia Holland and Milton Meltzer, microfiche ed. (Millwood, N.Y.: Krause Microform, 1980)» — la correspondencia de Lydia Maria Child en microficha, con sus editores.
«Mary and Joseph Post Papers, private collection» — el segundo fondo Post, que la tabla declara colección privada.
«Notable American Women, ed. Edward T. James, Janet Wilson James, and Paul Boyer, 3 vols. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1975)» — la obra de referencia biográfica que abrevia NAW.
«Journal,” Proceedings of the Vermont Historical Society 9 (1941): 131–84» — la edición impresa del diario de Sprague, publicada por Leonard Twynham en 1941, de la que el libro depende.
«Anne Denton Cridge, “Obituary of Denton Cridge,” Vanguard 1 (1857): 222» — la primera nota del libro, que es la fuente del caso con que abre: el obituario que la propia Cridge publicó en el Vanguard.
«Anne Denton Cridge, “Experiences of a Skeptical Medium,” Vanguard 1 (1857): 260» — y la segunda, con el título en que Cridge contó su propia conversión.
«The best modern account of Spiritualism is R. Laurence Moore, In Search of White Crows (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977)» — el juicio bibliográfico con que Braude ordena el campo: para ella la mejor exposición moderna es la de R. Laurence Moore.
«Although Spiritualism dated its origins to 1848, it did not settle on its name until 1852» — la precisión que separa el origen del nombre, con cuatro años de por medio.
«From the United States, the movement spread to England, Western Europe, and throughout the British colonies» — el itinerario de difusión que la nota traza desde los Estados Unidos.
«In many parts of the world, it merged with spiritualistic practices of African origin» — y la mezcla que registra en muchas partes del mundo, con prácticas de origen africano.
«The statement about female leadership appears in the chapter on Michigan compiled by Spiritualist Catharine A. F. Stebbins» — el dato que Braude rastrea hasta su autora: la frase de la History of Woman Suffrage sobre el liderazgo femenino sale del capítulo de Michigan, compilado por una espiritista.
«Fred Folio (pseud.), Lucy Boston: or, Women’s Rights and Spiritualism, Illustrating the Follies and Delusions of the Nineteenth Century (Auburn, N.Y.: Alden & Beardsley, 1855)» — la fuente del lado contrario, publicada bajo seudónimo, que junta los dos nombres para ilustrar las locuras del siglo.
«Robert Darnton, Mesmerism and the End of the Enlightenment in France (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1968)» — el estudio de Darnton sobre el mesmerismo francés, del que el libro toma el trasfondo.
«Rosemary R. Ruether and Eleanor McLaughlin, introduction to Women of Spirit: Female Leadership in the Jewish and Christian Traditions, ed. Rosemary R. Ruether and Eleanor McLaughlin (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1979)» — la introducción de Ruether y McLaughlin a Women of Spirit, de donde sale el marco de liderazgo religioso femenino.
«Shirley MacLaine, Out on a Limb (New York: Bantam Books, 1984), 163» — la referencia contemporánea con que Braude enlaza el espiritismo decimonónico y la cultura New Age.
«Ken Wilber, “There Is No New Age,” One Earth, the Findhorn Foundation Magazine 8 (Summer 1988): 12–15; and Dennis Stillings, “Channels: Strip-miners of the Psyche,” Utne Reader 21 (May-June 1987): 104–7» — las dos piezas de crítica interna a la New Age que la nota registra, una de ellas contra el canalizado.
«The title of this chapter is taken from Waterloo Friends, Proceedings of the Yearly Meeting of Congregational Friends (Auburn, N.Y.: Henry Oliphant, 1850), 9, 20» — de dónde sale el título del capítulo primero: las actas de los Congregational Friends de Waterloo.
«Ann Leah Fox Fish Brown Underhill went by the name of Leah» — la nota que resuelve el problema de nombre de la mayor de las Fox, con sus cuatro apellidos sucesivos.
«Both Douglas and Amy Post deeply regretted the rift in their friendship that resulted from their disparate responses to the rappings» — el dato que la nota rescata de la correspondencia: la amistad de Frederick Douglass y Amy Post se resintió por los golpes; la fuente imprime *Douglas*.
«For early accounts of the Hydesville rappings, see Eliab Wilkinson Capron, Singular Revelations: Explanation and History of the Mysterous Communion with Spirits (Auburn, N.Y.: Finn & Rockwell, 1850)» — la primera de las crónicas tempranas de los golpes de Hydesville que la nota censa; la fuente imprime *Mysterous*.
«On the Fox sisters, see Ernest Isaacs, “Fox, Ann Leah, Margaret, and Catherine,” in Notable American Women (hereafter cited as NAW), ed. Edward T. James, Janet Wilson James, and Paul Boyer, 3 vols. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1975), 1:655–57; and William George Langworthy Taylor, Katie Fox, Epoch Making Medium and the Making of the Fox-Taylor Record (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1933)» — y la bibliografía sobre las Fox que remite a Notable American Women y al registro Fox-Taylor.
«Garrison’s Liberator account of the séance was reprinted as a pamphlet: William Lloyd Garrison, Modern Phenomena (Boston: Liberal Tract Society, 1854)» — la nota que documenta la crónica de sesión que Garrison publicó en el Liberator y luego como folleto.
«He continued to sit with Leah periodically after she left public life» — y la constancia de Garrison, que siguió sentándose con Leah Fox después de que ella dejó la vida pública.
«The spirit of Isaac Hopper, the first to appear at Garrison’s 1854 sitting, also guided the hand of Isaac Post and communicated at Leah’s séance table in 1863 when Garrison and Amy and Isaac Post were present» — el detalle que enlaza las dos redes: el mismo espíritu que apareció en la sesión de Garrison de 1854 guiaba la mano de Isaac Post.
«Garrison’s regular attendance at séances throughout the 1850s, 1860s, and 1870s may be followed in the William Lloyd Garrison Papers» — dónde puede seguirse esa asistencia, que Braude declara regular durante tres décadas.
«Samuel May accused Garrison of “a ready credulity on all subjects pertaining to Spiritualism”» — y el juicio que un correligionario suyo dejó por escrito.
«On Kate Fox’s alcoholism, see Taylor, Katie Fox, 154–58» — la nota que remite al alcoholismo de Kate Fox, dato que el capítulo primero da sin adornos.
«Emma Hardinge to Amy Post, 26 March [186–?], AIPFP. The book that resulted was Hardinge’s Modern American Spiritualism» — la carta de la que salió, según esta nota, la historia del espiritismo de Emma Hardinge.
«Another hymnal appeared the same year: J. B. Packard and J. S. Loveland, Spirit Minstrel (Boston: Bella Marsh, 1853)» — el segundo himnario espiritista de 1853, que la nota registra junto al primero.
«Greeley quote is from New York Tribune clipping in séance notebook» — de dónde sale la cita de Horace Greeley: un recorte pegado en el cuaderno de sesiones de Charlotte Fowler Wells.
«This scenario transpired in the Quincy family of Boston. A teen-aged granddaughter of Harvard University president Josiah Quincy proved to be a gifted medium, whose manifestations commanded serious attention from family and friends» — el caso concreto que la nota documenta: una nieta adolescente del presidente de Harvard resultó médium dotada.
«The National Association of Spiritualists was founded in 1893 and continues today» — la fecha de la primera organización espiritista duradera, que la nota da como todavía viva.
«Historians have also contributed estimates, but I see little basis for those» — la reserva que Braude opone en primera persona a las estimaciones de población que dan otros historiadores; el troceo parte la frase al final del chunk.
«(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1940), 380; or in George Lawton, The Drama of Life after Death: A Study of the Spiritualist Religion (New York: Henry Holt, 1932), 156» — las dos estimaciones de población espiritista que Braude declara sin fundamento suficiente, la de Leopold sobre Owen y la de Lawton.
«I am currently compiling a checklist of nineteenth-century American Spiritualist periodicals» — la nota en que Braude anuncia un trabajo propio en curso: un censo de las publicaciones periódicas espiritistas del siglo XIX.
«For a thorough discussion of Spiritualism in American fiction, see Howard Kerr, Mediums, Spirit-Rappers, and Roaring Radicals: Spiritualism in American Literature, 1850– 1900 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1972)» — la bibliografía a la que remite para el espiritismo en la literatura estadounidense.
«Louisa May Alcott, Little Women (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1947), 302» — la referencia a Mujercitas, que la nota pone junto a una carta de Harriet Beecher Stowe.
«Abby Ann Judson, Why She Became a Spiritualist: Twelve Lectures Delivered Before the Minneapolis Association of Spiritualists (Boston: Colby & Rich, 1882)» — el testimonio de conversión que la nota cita entre la bibliografía sobre las familias Blackwell y Beecher.
«Warren Chase claimed Sojourner Truth had become a Spiritualist in BL, 2 May 1863, 4» — el dato que Braude consigna como afirmación de Warren Chase y no como hecho propio.
«She spoke at the National Spiritualist Convention in 1868 (Rochester Daily Union and Advertiser, 26 August 1868, 2) and enjoyed the friendship of popular medium Cora L. V. Scott (Hatch) Daniels» — y los dos hechos que sí documenta sobre Sojourner Truth: habló en la convención nacional de 1868 y era amiga de Cora Hatch.
«A recent study sees Spiritualism in northern England as dominated by “skilled working- and lower-middle-class people.” Logie Barrow, Independent Spirits: Spiritualism and English Plebians, 1850–1910 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986), 97» — el estudio de Logie Barrow sobre el norte de Inglaterra, que Braude cita para la composición de clase del espiritismo inglés.
«For a discussion of Lydia Maria Child’s interest in Spiritualism, see Ann D. Braude, “Spiritualism, Reform, and Woman’s Rights in Nineteenth-Century America” (Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1987), 184–201» — la nota en que Braude remite a su propia tesis doctoral de Yale, que es el origen de este libro.
«On Wilburn’s Jewish upbringing, see Agitator, 1 April 1860, 97» — la fuente de la crianza judía de Cora Wilburn.
«The records, in French, of the White Star church, 1876–1901, founded by Jean Baptiste Evarerts in Door County, Wisconsin, and a copy of their hymnal are in» — la iglesia espiritista de habla francesa de Door County, Wisconsin, cuyos registros y himnario Braude localiza; el troceo parte la frase entre planas.
«John Konrad Meidenhauer’s letters in German describing the mediumship of a twelve-year-old girl in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, are held by the Wisconsin State Historical Society» — y las cartas en alemán sobre la mediumnidad de una niña de doce años en el condado de Waukesha.
«The syncretistic relation between Spiritualism and twentieth-century Afro-American spiritual churches is well treated in Hans A. Baer, The Black Spiritual Movement: A Religious Response to Racism (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1984), 110–20» — la bibliografía con que Braude trata el vínculo sincrético entre el espiritismo y las iglesias espirituales afroamericanas del siglo XX.
«The growing black membership in the National Spiritualist Association of America withdrew to form the National Colored Spiritualist Association in 1922» — la escisión racial que la nota fecha en 1922.
«For examples of black mediums, see “Mediumship Among the Contrabands,” BL, 20 August 1864, 3; “The Spiritual Contraband,” American Spiritualist, 26 June 1869; Hardinge, Modern American Spiritualism, 205; and William Cooper Nell to Amy Post, 15 Januay 1851, and 25 October 1857, AIPFP» — los ejemplos de médiums negros que la nota reúne, con los títulos de época a la vista.
«Jean McMahon Humez, ed., Gifts of Power: The Writings of Rebecca Jackson, Black Visionary, Shaker Eldress (Boston: University of Massachusetts Press, 1981), 33» — la edición de los escritos de Rebecca Jackson, visionaria negra y anciana shaker, que la nota cita.
«William Cooper Nell’s involvement with Spiritualism may be followed through his correspondence with Amy Post» — por dónde puede seguirse el espiritismo de William Cooper Nell.
«Louisiana Spiritualists held a statewide convention in 1868» — la convención estatal que la nota fecha en Luisiana.
«Thomas Gales Forster and J. Rollin M. Squire of New Orleans joined the BL editorial staff in 1857. BL, 14 November 1857, 4» — los dos redactores de Nueva Orleans que entraron al Banner of Light en 1857; la nota escribe *Gales* y una línea después *Gale*.
«In Tennessee, the Spiritual Magazine was succeeded first by the American Spiritual Magazine and then by the Voice of Truth, edited by Mary Dana Shindler and Annie C. Torrey Hawks» — la sucesión de cabeceras espiritistas en Tennessee, con las dos mujeres que dirigieron la última.
«Rev. Samuel Watson, The Clock Struck One (Louisville, Ky.: John P. Morton, 1873)» — el libro del reverendo Samuel Watson, metodista sureño que abrazó el espiritismo.
«Mary Dana Shindler, A Southerner Among the Spirits (Memphis, Tenn.: Southern Baptist Publication Society, 1877)» — y el testimonio de Mary Dana Shindler, publicado por una casa bautista del sur.
«On Southern intellectuals, see Drew Gilpin Faust, A Sacred Circle: The Dilemma of the Intellectual in the Old South, 1840–1860 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977), 66–67» — el estudio de Drew Gilpin Faust sobre los intelectuales del viejo sur, del que Braude toma el marco.
«His copy of Thomas Lake Harris, Epic of the Starry Heaven (New York: Partridge & Brittan, 1854), is now in the possession of his great-great-granddaughter Dana Lee Robert» — el rastro material que la nota sigue hasta hoy: el ejemplar de Thomas Lake Harris que perteneció a Thomas Moore Fort.
«The title of this chapter is taken from Cora Wilburn, “My Religion,” Agitator, 15» — de dónde sale el título del capítulo segundo: un artículo de Cora Wilburn en el Agitator.
«Andrew Jackson Davis, The Principles of Nature, Her Divine Revelations, and a Voice to Mankind, (1847), 8th ed.(New York:S.S. Lyon & Wm. Fish-bough, 1851). Univerccelum and Spiritual Philosopher, 1847–49. Robert W. Delp, “Andrew Jackson Davis: Prophet of American Spiritualism,” Journal of American History 54 (1967): 43–56» — la ficha del libro fundacional de Andrew Jackson Davis, con el estudio de Robert W. Delp que Braude usa; la nota imprime *Univerccelum* y *Fish-bough*.
«On Protestant theology in America at the beginning of the nineteenth century, see Sydney E. Ahlstrom, A Religious History of the American People (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1972), chap. 25; and Joseph Haroutunian, Piety versus Moralism: The Passing of the New England Theology (New York: Henry Holt, 1932). For a fictional portrayal of the lay view of turn-of-the-century Calvinism, see Harriet Beecher Stowe, The Minister’s Wooing (New York: Derby & Jackson, 1859)» — la bibliografía teológica del capítulo segundo, que remite a la historia religiosa de Ahlstrom y, para la vista lega del calvinismo, a una novela de Stowe.
«Barbara Welter, “The Cult of True Womanhood,” in Dimnity Convictions (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1976), 21. Nancy F. Cott, “Passionlessness: An Interpetation of Victorian Sexual Ideology, 1790–1850,” Signs 4 (1978): 219–36, and The Bonds of Womanhood (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1977), chap. 4. Rosemary Radford Ruether, “The Cult of True Womanhood,” Commonweal 94 (1973): 127–32» — las fuentes del concepto de *true womanhood* que el libro usa, de Welter a Cott y Ruether; la nota imprime *Dimnity* y *Interpetation*.
«Spiritualists read and endorsed the work of these authors. “To our mind the argument against endless misery was never more powerfully presented than in the following extract from The Minister’s Wooing,”» — el dato de recepción que la nota rescata: los espiritistas leían y respaldaban a Stowe y a Phelps.
«For other references to spheres, see Rev. C. Hammond, The Pilgrimage of Thomas Paine, and Others, to the Seventh Circle in the Spirit World (Rochester, N.Y.: D. M. Dewey, 1852); for other references to messages, see Robert Hare, M.D., Experimental Investigation of the Spirit Manifestations (New York: Partridge & Brittan, 1855)» — las remisiones que la nota da para las esferas del más allá y para los mensajes, entre ellas el peregrinaje de Thomas Paine al séptimo círculo.
«For other accounts of excommunications, including one from Charles Grandison Finney’s church in Oberlin, Ohio, see BL, 14 November 1863, 3; 23 July 1859, 7; and 3 March 1860, 1» — las excomuniones que la nota censa, incluida una en la iglesia de Charles Grandison Finney.
«For a discussion of the reaction of the orthodox clergy to Spiritualism, see Moore, In Search of White Crows, chap. 2» — adónde remite Braude para la reacción del clero ortodoxo.
«James Freeman Clarke, Manual of Unitarian Belief (1884), 13th ed. (Boston: Unitarian Sunday-School Society, 1889), 57–62, quoted in James J. Farrell, Inventing the American Way of Death (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1980), 28» — el manual unitario de James Freeman Clarke que la nota cita de segunda mano, por la obra de Farrell sobre la muerte en los Estados Unidos.
«Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Compensation,” Spirit Messenger, 11 January 1851, 177» — el dato de recepción que la nota rescata: la prensa espiritista reimprimía a Emerson.
«Lizzie Doten, A Review of a Lecture by James Freeman Clarke on the Religious Philosophy of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Boston: William White & Co., 1865)» — y la réplica que Lizzie Doten le publicó a Clarke sobre la filosofía religiosa de Emerson.
«John B. Wilson, “Emerson and the ‘Rochester Rappings,’” New England Quarterly 41 (June 1968): 248–58, 249, quoting The Correspondence of Henry David Thoreau, ed. Walter Harding and Carl Bode (New York: New York University Press, 1958), 284» — el artículo sobre Emerson y los golpes de Rochester, citado a través de la correspondencia de Thoreau.
«Anne C. Rose, Transcendentalism as a Social Movement, 1830–1850 (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1981), 225» — el estudio de Anne C. Rose sobre el trascendentalismo como movimiento social.
«Clarence L. F. Gohdes, The Periodicals of American Transcendentalism (1931; reprint, New York: AMS Press, 1970), 133–34» — el catálogo de publicaciones trascendentalistas que la nota usa.
«See also the responses to a questionnaire sent to Universalist clergy by the Religio-Philosophical Journal, 9» — la encuesta que un periódico espiritista mandó al clero universalista, que Braude usa como fuente de la penetración del espiritismo.
«William J. Broadway, “Universalist Participation in the Spiritualist Movement of the Nineteenth Century,” Proceedings of the Unitarian Universalist Historical Society 19, pt. 1 (1980–81): 1–15» — el estudio dedicado justamente a la participación universalista en el movimiento espiritista.
«The Fourth Annual Festival of the Religio-Philosophical Society, e.g., was held at the Universalist Meeting House in St. Charles, Illinois. American Spiritualist, 6 February» — el dato con que la nota documenta el uso de locales universalistas: el cuarto festival anual espiritista se celebró en una casa de reunión universalista de Illinois.
«Herman Snow, Interesting Experiences while travelling as a colporteur with the writings of Dr. Channing in the year 1848 ([Cambridge, Mass.:] n.p., [1899]), and Spirit-Intercourse (Boston: Crosby & Nichols & Co., 1848)» — los dos títulos de Herman Snow, el unitario que la nota sigue hasta el espiritismo.
«Andrew Jackson Davis, Beyond the Valley (Boston: Colby & Rich, 1885), 129» — el libro tardío de Davis del que sale una de las citas del capítulo segundo.
«Karen Halttunen, Confidence Men and Painted Women: A Study of Middle-Class Culture in America, 1830–1870 (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1982), 146» — el estudio de Halttunen sobre la cultura de clase media, del que el libro toma el duelo como práctica social.
«Ann Douglas, “Heaven Our Home,” and Stanley French, “The Cemetery as a Cultural Institution,” both in Death in America, ed. David Stannard (Philadephia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1975), 49–68, 69–91» — los dos ensayos del volumen Death in America en que se apoya el tramo del cementerio rural; la nota imprime *Philadephia*.
«Map of Oak Dale Cemetery, Urbana, Ohio, surveyed by John Shoebridge Williams, 1856, John Shoebridge Williams Papers, Wisconsin State Historical Society» — la fuente material del cementerio espiritista: un plano levantado en 1856 por un converso de las hermanas Fox.
«Williams was converted by the Fox sisters in 1851 and became a Spiritualist and reform lecturer» — y quién era ese agrimensor.
«Barbara Dod Hillerman, “Chrysallis of Gloom: Nineteenth Century American Mourning Costume,” in A Time to Mourn: Expressions of Grief in Nineteenth Century America, ed. Martha V. Pike and Janice Gray Armstrong (Stony Brook, N.Y.: The Museums at Stony Brook, 1980), 101» — el estudio del vestido de luto decimonónico que la nota cita; imprime *Chrysallis*.
«At Hopedale Cemetery in Milford, Massachusetts, see the stones of Adin Augustus Ballou, 1852; Hannah B. Chapman, 1865; Hannah Amelia Chapman, 1867; Willie E. Heywood, 1866; Sarah Beal, 1867; Stella W. Heywood, 1871; Anna Thwing Draper, 1870; James A. Whipple, 1864; Mrs. Sarah M. Whipple, 1874; Justus Soule, 1859; Eliza Walker, 1869; Dr. Emily Gay, 1883; James M. and Sarah Emma Morey, 1913, 1902, respectively; Charlie Morey, 1857; and Wm. R. Lewers, 1865» — el censo de lápidas espiritistas del cementerio de Hopedale que Braude levantó nombre por nombre y año por año, y que es trabajo de campo propio.
«For other examples, see the stones of Achsa W. Sprague, Plymouth, Vermont, 1862; Ebenezer, Adeline, and Nancy Eaton, Indian Mound Cemetery, Moravia, New York; and George B. Davis and Maria Houtz, Etna, New York» — y las lápidas de otros cementerios que añade, empezando por la de Achsa Sprague.
«For a discussion of Spiritualist funerals and gravestones, see Braude, “Spiritualism, Reform, and Woman’s Rights,” 63–71» — y adónde remite para el tratamiento largo del asunto: su propia tesis.
«The title of this chapter is taken from the Agitator (15 November 1858, 29). Letters to the editor of this feminist Spiritualist periodical were frequently signed with this closing» — de dónde sale el título del capítulo tercero: una fórmula de despedida con que se firmaban las cartas a un periódico espiritista feminista.
«Nancy Hewitt, “Feminist Friends: Agrarian Quakers and the Emergence of Woman’s Rights in America,” Feminist Studies 12 (1986): 27–48» — el artículo de Nancy Hewitt sobre las cuáqueras agrarias, del que el capítulo tercero toma su marco.
«On the fiftieth anniversary of Seneca Falls in 1898, the McClintock’s parlor table was displayed on the stage of the Woman Suffrage Convention» — el dato ceremonial que la nota rescata: en 1898 se exhibió en escena la mesa de sala de los McClintock.
«The raps were reported in George Willets to Isaac Post, 23 October 1848, AIPFP» — y la carta en que se reportaron los golpes de esa misma mesa.
«The catalogers of the Amy and Isaac Post Family Papers opine that Sarah D. (Bills) Fish, mother of Mary Ann Fish McClintock, was probably a relative by marriage of Ann Leah Fox Fish Underhill’s first husband» — el parentesco que Braude consigna como opinión de los catalogadores del fondo, y no como hecho propio.
«Amy and Isaac Post attributed spirit messages to Sarah Fish after her death» — y lo que los Post hicieron con ella una vez muerta.
«On the Motts’ investigations of Spiritualism, see Joseph Post to Isaac Post, 21 March 1868, AIPFP; Magaret Hope Bacon, Valiant Friend (New York: Walker & Co., 1980), 234; and Spiritual Instructions Received at the Meetings of One of the Circles Formed in Philadelphia, 127» — las tres fuentes con que documenta las investigaciones espiritistas del matrimonio Mott; la nota imprime *Magaret*.
«Ray Allen Billington, ed., The Journal of Charlotte Forten: A Free Negro in the Slave Era (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1981), 57, 93» — el diario de Charlotte Forten, que la nota usa para la presencia negra en los círculos.
«To identify and interpret radical abolitionists, I have relied on Lewis Perry, Radical Abolition: Anarchy and the Government of God in Antislavery Thought (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1973)» — la declaración de método en primera persona: para identificar e interpretar a los abolicionistas radicales, Braude se apoya en Lewis Perry.
«Lawrence J. Friedman has identified an overlapping group as the “insurgent Boston clique.” Of the twenty members of this “intimacy circle,” eight adopted Spiritualism, four may have, one died before 1848, and seven rejected it» — el recuento que Braude hace sobre el grupo de Friedman, con las cifras exactas de los que abrazaron el espiritismo, los que quizá, el que murió antes y los que lo rechazaron.
«Coleman, originally a Universalist, was a Spiritualist for a number of years but eventually lost her faith, partly because she believed Spiritualism detracted from the antislavery cause» — el caso de Lucy Coleman, que perdió la fe en parte por creer que el espiritismo restaba a la causa antiesclavista.
«Brock views the desire of radical abolitionists to resist the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 as a major reason for the decline of nonresistance» — la explicación que la nota atribuye a Peter Brock para el declive de la no resistencia.
«Wright’s career as a Spiritualist lecturer and author may be followed throughout the Spiritualist press, beginning with the Spiritual Philosopher, 28 December 1850, and ending with “Good as a Woman,” BL, 4 June 1870, 2, followed by an account of his funeral three months later» — por dónde puede seguirse la carrera espiritista de Henry C. Wright, de un extremo a otro de la prensa del movimiento.
«Spear left Hopedale to exercise his mediumship more fully» — y por qué John Murray Spear dejó Hopedale.
«Andrews published the Christian Spiritualist (Macon, Ga.). On his Universalist career, see Russell E. Miller, The Larger Hope: The First Century of the Universalist Church in America, 1770–1870 (Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, 1979), 312–15» — el periódico que L. F. W. Andrews publicaba en Macon, Georgia, y la fuente de su carrera universalista.
«John Murray Spear, The Educator: Being Sugestions, Theoretical and Practical, Designed to Promote Man-Culture and Integral Reform, with a View to the Ultimate Establishment of a Divine Social State on Earth, ed. Alonzo E. Newton (Boston: Office of Practical Spiritualists, 1857)» — el título entero del libro de John Murray Spear, con su programa de estado social divino en la tierra; la nota imprime *Sugestions*.
«Madeleine B. Stern, The Pantarch: A Biography of Stephen Pearl Andrews (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1986), 78» — la biografía de Stephen Pearl Andrews que la nota cita.
«Albert J. Wahl, “The Progressive Friends of Longwood,” Bulletin of the Friends Historical Society 42 (1953): 14–15» — el estudio sobre los Amigos Progresistas de Longwood.
«Only the Pennsylvania meeting, although it endorsed investigation, failed to accept the manifestations unequivocally» — la excepción que Braude registra entre las juntas cuáqueras progresistas: la de Pensilvania avaló investigar y no aceptó las manifestaciones sin reservas.
«Charlotte Beebe (Wilbour) married and moved to New York in 1860, where she became a founder of Sorosis along with Mary Davis» — la nota que enlaza a Charlotte Beebe Wilbour con la fundación de Sorosis, que reaparece en la conclusión.
«Allen C. Thomas, “Congregational or Progressive Friends: A Forgotten Episode in Quaker History,” Bulletin of Friends’ Historical Society of Pennsylvania 10 (1920): 29–30» — el artículo que llama episodio olvidado a los Amigos Congregacionales o Progresistas.
«Thomas Powers, another important “conductor” on the underground railroad in Vermont, may have been a Spiritualist» — la atribución que Braude deja en condicional, con el indicio en que se apoya.
«His son, John D. Powers, began keeping scrapbooks of clippings from Spiritualist newspapers around 1868, eight years before his father’s death» — y el indicio mismo, con su aritmética de fechas.
«Elizabeth Buffum Chace was a member of the New England Non-Resistance Society» — el dato de pertenencia que la nota añade sobre Elizabeth Buffum Chace.
«Rutland Free Convention, Proceedings of the Free Convention held at Rutland, Vt., June 25th, 26th, 27th, 1858 (Boston: J. B. Yerrington & Son, 1858), 9–10» — las actas de la Convención Libre de Rutland, fuente del tramo más polémico del capítulo tercero.
«Garrison, Coleman, Higginson, Nell, and the Grimkés are discussed elsewhere in the text» — la nota que reparte el trabajo entre el cuerpo y el aparato, nombrando a los que ya trató en el texto.
«Thomas Wentworth Higginson, The Rationale of Spiritualism (New York: T.J. Ellinwood, 1859), and The Results of Spiritualism (New York: S. T. Munson, 1859)» — los dos folletos de Thomas Wentworth Higginson sobre el espiritismo.
«E. R. Place, “Spiritualism and Anti-Slavery,” Liberator, 23 July 1858, 119» — el artículo del Liberator que da nombre a la disputa entre espiritismo y antiesclavismo.
«For example, at the 1851 Woman’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, Spiritualists included President Frances Dana Gage, Vice-President Lucius A. Hine, Secretary Marius Robinson, and Business Committee members Betsey Mix Cowles and Mrs. E. R. Coe» — la mesa de la convención de Akron de 1851 nombre por nombre, para mostrar cuántos de sus cargos eran espiritistas.
«Ellen Dubois views the woman’s rights movement as ancillary to the abolition movement until 1869, when the founding of an independent woman’s movement was marked by the creation of the National Woman Suffrage Association» — la tesis de Ellen DuBois que Braude consigna como suya y no como propia.
«Emma Hardinge, Six Lectures On Theology and Nature ([Chicago?]: n.p., 1860), 154» — las conferencias de Emma Hardinge sobre teología y naturaleza, con el lugar de edición puesto en duda por la propia nota.
«Steven M. Buechler, The Transformation of the Woman Suffrage Movement: The Case of Illinois, 1850–1920 (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1986), 57–60» — el estudio de Buechler sobre el sufragismo de Illinois, que Braude usa para el pleito entre radicales y moderadas.
«On Lois Waisbrooker, see Hal D. Sears, The Sex Radicals (Lawrence: Regents Press of Kansas, 1977), 231–34» — la fuente principal sobre Lois Waisbrooker, el libro de Hal Sears sobre los radicales sexuales.
«The exception was Mary Fenn (Love) Davis, whose woman’s rights activities may be followed in HWS, under both her first and second married names» — la excepción que Braude anota al silencio de la History of Woman Suffrage sobre las espiritistas, con la advertencia práctica de buscarla por sus dos apellidos de casada.
«Pam McAllister, “Women in the Lead: Waisbrooker’s Way to Peace,” introduction to A Sex Revolution, by Lois Waisbrooker (1893; reprint, Philadelphia: New Society Publications, 1985), 38–46» — la reedición moderna de la utopía de Waisbrooker, con su introducción.
«HWS. The fourth volume was edited by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper» — la precisión editorial sobre el cuarto tomo de la History of Woman Suffrage.
«R. Laurence Moore has observed the compatibility between mediumship and the cult of true womanhood and investigated the relation between the accepted qualities of femininity and the role of medium in In Search of White Crows, chap. 4, “The Medium and Her Message: A Case of Female Professionalism.”» — el precedente que Braude reconoce para la tesis central del capítulo cuarto, en el capítulo de Moore sobre la médium y su mensaje.
«For descriptions of large meetings where women spoke in trance and men spoke in the “normal” state, see e.g., “South Royalton Convention,” Christian Spiritualist, 27 September 1856; “Picnic at Abington,” BL, 25 September 1858, 8; and “Convention of Spiritualists at Plymouth,” BL, 13 August 1859, 4» — las tres crónicas con que documenta el reparto de estados por sexo en las reuniones grandes.
«On the qualifications of men for the public platform during this period, see Donald M. Scott, “The Popular Lecture and the Creation of a Public in Mid-Nineteenth-Century America,” Journal of American History 66 (March 1980): 791–809» — el estudio de Donald Scott sobre la conferencia popular, que Braude usa para medir contra qué se recortaban las oradoras en trance.
«Hatch’s sugar-coated biography glosses over her marital history but is helpful on other particulars» — el juicio con que Braude usa la biografía de Cora Hatch: azucarada y evasiva sobre los matrimonios, útil en lo demás.
«The chronology of the biography is confirmed by contemporary accounts. See Practical Christian, 25 February 1853; New York Times, 11 April 1857, and 28 May 1857» — y cómo controla esa fuente: cotejándola con la prensa de la época.
«Lizzie Doten, Poems from the Inner Life (Boston: William White & Co., 1864), vi, xvii–xviii, as quoted in Mary Farrell Bednarowski, “Lizzie Doten: Literary Spiritualist” (Master’s thesis, Duquesne University, 1969), 24» — los poemas de Lizzie Doten, citados a través de una tesis de maestría dedicada a ella.
«The General Association of Massachusetts (Orthodox) to the Churches Under Their Care” (1837), reprinted in Alice S. Rossi, ed., The Feminist Papers: From Adams to de Beauvoir (New York: Columbia University Press, 1973), 305–6» — la carta pastoral de 1837 contra las mujeres que hablan en público, que Braude cita reimpresa en una antología feminista.
«For the dates when the various Protestant churches opened leadership positions to women, see Virginia Lieson Brereton and Christa Ressmeyer Klein, “American Woman in Ministry: A History of Protestant Beginning Points,” in Women of Spirit, ed. Ruether and McLaughlin, 301–32» — adónde remite para las fechas en que cada iglesia protestante abrió cargos a las mujeres.
«Doris G. Yoakam, “Woman’s Introduction to the American Platform,” in A History and Criticism of American Public Address, ed. William Brigance (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1943), 1:153–89. Alice Stone Blackwell, Lucy Stone: Pioneer of Woman’s Rights (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1930), 60–123. HWS, 1:152–60» — la bibliografía sobre la entrada de las mujeres a la tribuna estadounidense, con la biografía de Lucy Stone escrita por su hija entre las fuentes.
«Blanche Glassman Hersh, The Slavery of Sex: Feminist Abolitionists in America (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978). Uriah Clark, ed., The Spiritual Register for 1859– Facts, Philosophy, Statistics of Spiritualism (Auburn, N.Y.: U. Clark, 1859)» — el estudio de Hersh sobre las abolicionistas feministas, puesto junto al registro espiritista de 1859 que Braude usa para contar oradoras.
«Ira Button Eddy, manuscript reminiscences, Chicago Historical Society» — unas memorias manuscritas inéditas que la nota localiza en la Chicago Historical Society.
«of press notices on a trance lecturer, see Leonard Twynham, “Achsa W. Sprague,” Proceedings of the Vermont Historical Society 9 (1941):347–5930» — la compilación de notas de prensa sobre una oradora en trance a la que Braude remite; el troceo pega la paginación al número de la nota siguiente.
«Rev. W. M. Leftwich, Martyrdom in Missouri (St. Louis: Southwestern Book and Publishing Co., 1870), 38–39» — el libro del misionero metodista Leftwich, fuente del testimonio adverso que el capítulo cuarto usa.
«Nathaniel Parker Willis, The Convalescent (New York: Charles Scribner, 1859), 305» — el libro de Nathaniel Parker Willis del que sale su cambio de opinión sobre las mujeres en la tribuna.
«On the career of Mrs. Amanda Britt (later Spence), see Hardinge, Modern American Spiritualism, 356» — adónde remite para la carrera de Amanda Britt Spence, con el cambio de apellido consignado.
«Ida Husted Harper, The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Indianapolis: Hollenbeck Press, 1898), 1:75, 3:1126» — la biografía de Susan B. Anthony que Braude usa a lo largo del libro.
«Walter J. Coates, “The Transcendental Poetess of Plymouth,” Driftwind 2 (1927): 6» — el artículo local que llamó poetisa trascendental a Achsa Sprague.
«The Achsa W. Sprague Papers held by the Vermont Historical Society are, as far I can ascertain, the only extant personal papers of a nineteenth-century Spiritualist medium» — la declaración de singularidad documental que sostiene el capítulo cuarto entero, dicha con su reserva: hasta donde Braude alcanza a determinar, son los únicos papeles personales de una médium del siglo XIX.
«In 1941, the Vermont historian Leonard Twynham published “Sprague’s Diary.” At that time, Twynham stated that he had the diary in his possession as well as numerous other Sprague writings, including a four-volume manuscript poem, and that he planned to publish a volume of Sprague’s writings» — lo que Twynham decía tener en 1941: el diario, otros escritos y un poema manuscrito en cuatro tomos.
«The volume never materialized, and my search has not yielded the location of the original diary or of any of the manuscripts Twynham mentioned. I have therefore relied on the printed diary» — y el muro que Braude declara en primera persona: el volumen no apareció, su búsqueda no dio con los manuscritos y por eso trabaja sobre el diario impreso.
«Sprague wrote frequently for the Spiritualist press during her lifetime, and a collection of poetry, The Poet and Other Poems (Boston: William White & Co., 1864), appeared shortly after her death» — lo que sí quedó de Sprague, además del diario.
«Sanford Meyerowitz, “The Continuing Investigation of Psychosocial Variables in Rheumatoid Arthritis,” in Modern Trends in Rheumatology, vol. 2, ed. Allan G. S. Hill (London: Butterworths, 1971), 95–96» — la fuente médica del siglo XX con que Braude discute el diagnóstico retrospectivo de artritis reumatoide.
«Most trance speakers traveled alone. Fictional accounts often portray mediums as being under the control of fathers or husbands who arranged their engagements» — la corrección que la nota le hace a la imagen literaria de la médium tutelada; el troceo parte la frase.
«Based in part on the notorious Benjamin Hatch, first husband and probable exploiter of Cora Hatch, the older man who profits from a young woman’s mediumship appears in Henry James’s The Bostonians (1886) and in William Dean Howells’s The Undiscovered Country (1880)» — las dos novelas que fijaron esa imagen, y el caso real en que se apoyaron.
«However, the sources indicate that most itinerant mediums traveled unaccompanied, even if they were married» — y lo que dicen las fuentes contra esa imagen.
«Spiritualists showed suspicion of some men who did accompany mediums. “You ask how we like Mrs. Hatch? Very much and Mr. Hatch very little,”» — la sospecha que los propios espiritistas manifestaban, con la fórmula de Benjamin Starbuck por prueba.
«The daguerrotype of Sprague reproduced here (see plate o) is probably the one she sat for while engaged as a speaker in Boston in April 1856 at the age of twenty-eight» — la lámina de Sprague, fechada con reservas; el troceo imprime *plate o* donde debe ir el número.
«In addition, a letter from Sprague’s brother-in-law reports that “that Awful Detestible Maxim, who has broken ‘thousand women’s hearts’ (you say) says he wants to marry you.”» — una de las propuestas de matrimonio que Sprague recibió, en la versión que le llegó por su cuñado.
«I have been unable to locate this article. It was published either in the World’s Paper or in the Green Mountain Freeman, or possibly in both» — un segundo muro declarado: Braude no logró localizar el artículo y nombra los dos periódicos posibles; la nota lleva el número 76 por segunda vez.
«Sprague also discouraged the marriage of her older sister, Orvilla, to the widower Jarius Josslyn and composed a long poem to advance her view. Orvilla married him anyway» — el episodio familiar que la nota rescata, con su desenlace.
«Personal communication from the great-granddaughter of Jarius Josslyn, Mrs. Barbara B. Chiolino, 4 October 1988» — y de dónde lo supo: una comunicación personal de la bisnieta, en 1988.
«These undated messages are in folder no. 18, AWS» — la signatura exacta de los mensajes en trance sin fecha que el capítulo cuarto lee como voz interior de Sprague.
«Athaldine Smith, Achsa W. Sprague and Mary Clark’s Experiences in the First Ten Spheres of Spirit Life (Springfield, Mass.: Star Publishing Co., 1881)» — el libro póstumo que puso mensajes en boca del espíritu de Sprague.
«Although the early poems attributed to Sprague’s spirit are consistent with her views and style of writing, nobody familiar with Sprague’s career could have attributed to her the messages in this book» — el criterio con que Braude adjudica: los poemas tempranos concuerdan con su estilo, los mensajes de ese libro no los habría atribuido nadie que la conociera.
«This suggests that Sprague’s name and reputation were familiar even to those who became Spiritualists after Sprague’s death» — y lo que de esa falsificación infiere sobre la fama póstuma de Sprague.
«Leonard Twynham, “Achsa Sprague,” Dictionary of American Biography (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1935), 17:469–70» — la entrada del Dictionary of American Biography, escrita por el mismo Twynham que editó el diario.
«Other poems by Sprague were received by mediums Doten, Townsend, and Cora Hatch» — las tres médiums que siguieron recibiendo poemas de la Sprague muerta.
«Andrew Jackson Davis, The Magic Staff; An Autobiography (New York: J. S. Brown & Co., 1857)» — la autobiografía de Davis, fuente del caso de Mary Fenn Love con que abre el capítulo quinto.
«E.J. Dingwall, “New Introduction” to Modern American Spiritualism, by Hardinge, xv» — la introducción moderna a la historia de Hardinge, de donde sale el dato del matrimonio tardío de la autora.
«Henry C. Wright, Anthropology; or, The Science of Man: In Its Bearings on War and Slavery, and on Arguments from the Bible, Marriage, God, Death, Retribution, Atonement and Government, in Support of These and Other Social Wrongs (Cincinnati, 1850), 28–29, as quoted in Perry, Radical Abolition, 224–25» — el título entero del libro de Henry C. Wright, citado a través de Lewis Perry.
«Lizzie Doten, “A Plea For Working Women,” BL, 10 May 1862, 4» — el artículo de Doten sobre el salario de las mujeres, fuente del tramo económico del capítulo quinto.
«Lizzie Doten, My Affinity and Other Stories (Boston: William White & Co., 1870), 179– 228. Epes Sargent, Peculiar: A Tale of the Great Transition (New York: G. W. Carleton & Co., 1863)» — el volumen de cuentos de Doten donde va *Marrying for Money*, junto a la novela Peculiar de Epes Sargent.
«Taylor Stoeher, Free Love in America (New York: AMS Press, 1979), 9» — la antología sobre el amor libre estadounidense que la nota cita; imprime *Stoeher*.
«Wilburn’s educational level is suggested by her writing and by her translations of contemporary German authors for BL and other Spiritualist papers» — el indicio con que Braude sostiene la educación de Cora Wilburn: sus traducciones del alemán para la prensa espiritista.
«Wright frequently addressed “the reform of parentage” at Spiritualist conventions» — el tema recurrente de Wright en las convenciones.
«Maternity (Boston: Bela Marsh, 1858) influenced many of his coreligionists» — el segundo libro de Henry C. Wright sobre el hijo no deseado, cuya influencia entre los suyos la nota afirma; el troceo parte el título entre planas.
«Daniel Scott Smith, “Family Limitation, Sexual Control, and Domestic Feminism in Victorian America,” Feminist Studies 1 (Winter-Spring 1973): 40–57» — el artículo de Daniel Scott Smith sobre el feminismo doméstico, del que Braude toma la caída de la natalidad.
«Ella E. Gibson, Humanitarianism: the Origin of Mind, and Soul Marriage (Bangor, Maine: Samuel S. Smith, 1856), 10» — el folleto de Ella Gibson sobre el matrimonio del alma, fuente del cierre del tramo de la maternidad.
«Linda Gordon, Woman’s Body, Woman’s Right (New York: Penguin Books, 1977), chap» — el libro de Linda Gordon en que Braude se apoya para la maternidad voluntaria.
«Sidney Ditzion, Marriage, Morals and Sex in America: A History of Ideas (New York: Bookman Associates, 1953), 157» — la historia de las ideas sobre matrimonio y sexo en los Estados Unidos que la nota cita.
«Dr. John B. Ellis [pseud.], Free Love and Its Votaries; or American Socialism Unmasked (New York: United States Publishing Co., 1870), 405» — la ficha del ataque de John B. Ellis, con el seudónimo declarado por Braude entre corchetes.
«Alfred Cridge, “Spiritualism, Socialism, and Free Love,” Social Revolutionist 1 (1856):» — el artículo de Alfred Cridge que reúne los tres términos, fuente del pasaje central del capítulo quinto.
«Those who opposed marriage altogether included John Patterson, Francis Barry, Austin Kent, Julia Branch, and Stephen Pearl Andrews, none of them influential Spiritualists» — la lista de los que sí querían abolir el matrimonio, con la salvedad que Braude añade sobre su peso real.
«Anne Denton Cridge’s autobiography was serialized in the Social Revolutionist and the Vanguard» — dónde apareció por entregas la autobiografía de Anne Denton Cridge.
«Julia Branch’s speeches at the Rutland Convention and its sequel in Utica suggest that she was among the most radical and most eloquent reformers of her day» — el juicio que Braude se permite sobre Julia Branch a partir de dos discursos.
«However, she apparently made little imprint on the historical record. Besides these two appearances, I have located no other mention of her in the Spiritualist press, which was unlikely to ignore such a firey speaker» — y el muro documental que declara a continuación: no halló otra mención en la prensa espiritista, que no habría ignorado a una oradora así; la fuente imprime *firey*.
«She does appear in Benjamin Hatch’s list of unfaithful mediums (B[enjamin] F. Hatch, Spiritualist Iniquities Unmasked, and, the Hatch Divorce Case [New York: B. F. Hatch, 1859], 15) and at a New Jersey Spiritualist convention in 1865, at which she apparently took a more conservative position» — las dos únicas apariciones posteriores de Branch que Braude localiza, con su cambio de posición dicho como aparente.
«This is a central theme of Lois Waisbrooker’s novels Helen Harlow’s Vow (1870; reprint, New York: Murray Hill, 1887) and Alice Vale: A Story for the Times (Boston: William White & Co., 1869) and of Lizzie Doten’s story “My Affinity,” in My Affinity» — las tres ficciones espiritistas en que Braude ve el mismo tema de la seducción y el abandono.
«Victoria Woodhull’s activities within Spiritualism will be discussed in the next chapter» — el reenvío que la propia nota hace al capítulo séptimo.
«Eventually, free love became discussable again, but the early debates all had to be repeated» — y la observación de largo plazo que añade sobre el tema.
«Born Adeline Eliza Nichols, Waisbrooker’s son’s last name was Fuller, and she had assumed the name Lois Waisbrooker by 1869, when her first publication, Alice Vale, appeared» — el nombre de nacimiento de Lois Waisbrooker y el problema onomástico que la nota plantea.
«Her son’s name could be his father’s, whether married to Waisbrooker or not, or it could be a foster parent’s» — las dos posibilidades que Braude deja abiertas sobre el apellido del hijo, sin elegir ninguna.
«Waisbrooker was probably the name of the man to whom she was married briefly during the late 1850s» — y la conjetura sobre el apellido con que pasó a la historia, dicha con *probably*.
«Lois Waisbrooker, My Century Plant (Topeka, Kans.: Independent Publishing Co.,» — el libro tardío de Waisbrooker del que salen sus formulaciones sobre el deseo y el respeto de sí.
«Catherine Beecher, Letters to the People on Health and Happiness (New York: Harper & Bros., 1855), 121» — el libro de Catherine Beecher con el sondeo de salud femenina que abre el capítulo sexto.
«Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English, For Her Own Good: 50 Years of Experts’ Advice to Women (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday/Anchor Books, 1978), 49, 54–61» — el estudio de Ehrenreich e English sobre el consejo de los expertos a las mujeres.
«Catherine L. Albanese, “Physics and Metaphysics in Nineteenth-Century America: Medical Sectarians and Religious Healing,” Church History 55 (1986): 489–502» — el artículo de Catherine Albanese sobre sectarios médicos y curación religiosa, que Braude usa para emparejar heterodoxias.
«Carroll Smith-Rosenberg and Charles Rosenberg, “The Female Animal: Medical and Biological Views of Woman and Her Role in Nineteenth-Century America,” Journal of American History 60 (September 1973): 332–56» — el artículo clásico sobre las visiones médicas y biológicas de la mujer decimonónica.
«Thomas R. Hazard, Civil and Religious Persecution in the State of New York: A Family Medical Instructor (Boston: Colby & Rich, 1876), 66» — el título entero del libro de Thomas Hazard, que junta persecución civil y religiosa con manual médico familiar.
«For a discussion of other ways in which Spiritualism challenged orthodox medicine, see Joan Jacobs Brumberg, Fasting Girls: The Emergence of Anorexia Nervosa as a Modern Disease (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1988), 74–77» — adónde remite Braude para otras formas del desafío espiritista a la medicina ortodoxa, en el libro de Brumberg sobre las muchachas ayunadoras.
«Sarah Stage, Female Complaints: Lydia Pinkham and the Business of Women’s Medicine (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1979), 58» — el estudio sobre Lydia Pinkham y el negocio de la medicina para mujeres.
«Frank Podmore, Mesmerism and Christian Science: A Short History of Mental Healing (Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1909), 218» — la historia de la curación mental de Podmore, que junta mesmerismo y Ciencia Cristiana.
«Julia Craft Smith, The Reason Why; or, Spiritual Experiences of Mrs. Julia Craft Smith, Physician, assisted by her Spirit Guides (Boston: Julia Craft Smith, 1881)» — el testimonio de una médica espiritista, publicado por ella misma, con sus guías por coautores en la portada.
«John W. Day, Biography of Mrs. J. H. Conant, the World’s Medium of the Nineteenth Century (Boston: William White & Co., 1873), 35–36» — la biografía de la médium del círculo del Banner of Light, fuente del episodio de la sobredosis de morfina.
«Gulielma Fell Alsop, M.D., History of the Womans’ Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1850–1950 (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1950), 36» — la historia del Woman’s Medical College escrita por una médica en 1950; la nota imprime *Womans’* y unas líneas después *Woman’s*.
«Harold J. Abrahams, Extinct Medical Schools of Nineteenth-Century Philadelphia (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1966), 205, 214, 230» — el estudio sobre las escuelas médicas extintas de Filadelfia, del que sale la Penn Medical University.
«On Hannah Longshore’s allegiance to eclecticism, see Regina Markell Morantz-Sanchez, Sympathy and Science: Women Physicians in American Medicine (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985), 59» — adónde remite para el eclecticismo de Hannah Longshore.
«Mary Roth Walsh, “Doctors Wanted: No Women Need Apply” (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1977), 80» — el estudio cuyo título recoge la fórmula con que se les cerraba la medicina a las mujeres.
«The Progressive Annual for 1862, Comprising an Almanac, a Spiritualist Register, and a General Calendar of Reform (New York: A.J. Davis, 1862), 50» — el título entero del anuario de Davis, que era almanaque, registro espiritista y calendario de la reforma a la vez.
«J. H. Powell, William Denton, the Geologist and Radical: A Biographical Sketch (Boston: J. H. Powell, 1870), 29» — la semblanza de William Denton, geólogo y radical, fuente del episodio de los bloomers de su esposa.
«On dress reform, see William Leach, True Love and Perfect Union: The Feminist Reform of Sex and Society (New York: Basic Books, 1980), 243–51; and Jane B. Donegan, “Hydropathic Highway to Health”: Women and Water-Cure in Antebellum America (New York: Greenwood Press, 1986), 135–61» — las dos obras a las que remite para la reforma del vestido, una de ellas sobre la hidropatía.
«See, e.g., the strong temperance resolution passed by the Illinois State Spiritualist Association in 1868. BL, 15 August 1868, 3» — el ejemplo de resolución de templanza que la nota da para el bando espiritista.
«Susan E. Cayleff, Wash and Be Healed: The Water-Cure Movement and Women’s Health (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1987); Donegan, “Hydropathic Highway to Health”; Kathryn Kish Sklar, “All Hail to Pure Cold Water!” in Women and Health in America: Historical Readings, ed. Judith Walzer Leavitt (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1984), 246–54» — la bibliografía sobre la cura de agua y la salud de las mujeres que sostiene ese tramo.
«For a Spiritualist account of a medium who survived for forty-five days without nourishment, see the description of Frances Davis in BL, 4 September 1858, 4» — el caso espiritista de ayuno prolongado que la nota registra, en paralelo a las muchachas ayunadoras de la medicina.
«William B. Carpenter, Principles of Mental Phsyiology (New York: Appleton, 1874), and Mesmerism, Spiritualism &c. Historically and Scientifically Considered: Being Two Lectures Delivered Before the London Institution (New York: Appleton & Co., 1877), 103, 107,» — las dos obras de Carpenter que el capítulo sexto discute; la nota imprime *Phsyiology*.
«Allan Gauld, The Founders of Psychical Research (New York: Schocken Books, 1968), 83–86; Brian Inglis, Natural and Supernatural: A History of the Paranormal (London: Hodder & Straughton, 1977)» — las obras sobre la investigación psíquica británica que la nota reúne al tratar a Carpenter.
«R. Frederic Marvin, M.D., The Philosophy of Spiritualism and the Pathology and Treatment of Mediomania. Two lectures read before the New York Liberal Club (New York: Asa K. Butts & Co., 1874), 35, 38» — el título entero de las dos conferencias de Marvin sobre la mediomanía, leídas ante el New York Liberal Club.
«Edward H. Clarke, Sex In Education; or, A Fair Chance for the Girls (Boston: James R. Osgood & Co., 1873)» — el libro de Edward H. Clarke que sostenía que estudiar enferma a las muchachas.
«Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, “The Hysterical Woman: Sex Roles and Role Conflict in Nineteenth-Century America,” in Disorderly Conduct: Visions of Gender in Victorian America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985), 207» — el ensayo de Smith-Rosenberg sobre la mujer histérica, del que Braude toma la cura de reposo.
«The title of this chapter is taken from BL, 6 October 1866, 3» — de dónde sale el título del capítulo séptimo: la frase de Lizzie Doten en el Banner of Light.
«Cora Hatch was using her maiden name, Cora Scott, following her divorce from Benjamin Hatch» — la precisión onomástica que la nota añade sobre la convención de 1865.
«Theodore Tilton wrote his sympathetic biographical sketch in the hope of placing Woodhull in his debt so that she would not reveal his wife’s adultery with Henry Ward Beecher» — el motivo que Braude le atribuye a la semblanza de Tilton sobre Woodhull: comprar su silencio.
«The strategy proved unsuccessful» — y su resultado, en cuatro palabras.
«Victoria Woodhull awaits a dispassionate biography, so secondary sources must be used with care» — el estado de la bibliografía sobre Woodhull según Braude, y la cautela que exige.
«At the suffrage convention, Woodhull upstaged the regular proceedings by securing an audience with the House Judiciary Committee for a woman suffrage memorial, making her the first woman to testify before a congressional committee» — la primicia que la nota consigna: Woodhull fue la primera mujer en declarar ante una comisión del Congreso.
«Her stirring speech won the adoration and devotion of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Isabella Beecher Hooker» — y a quiénes ganó con ese discurso, antes de perderlas.
«Although I have found no record of a previous direct association of Woodhull with Spiritualism, Woodhull and Claflin’s Weekly already provided a forum for radical Spiritualists, who had not had their own organ since the Vanguard and the Social Revolutionist in the 1850s» — la abstención documental de Braude sobre el espiritismo previo de Woodhull, y el dato que sí establece: su semanario servía de órgano a los espiritistas radicales.
«Columnists included the Vanguard’s editors, Alfred and Anne Denton Cridge, and veteran free love advocates C. M. Overton and Francis Berry» — quiénes escribían en ese semanario.
«Notably, Laura Cuppy Smith, Anna Middlebrook, Melvina S. Townsend Hoadley, Addie Ballou, C. Fannie Allyn, Horace Day, Horace Dresser, Newman Weeks, L. K. Coonley, J. H. W. Toohey, H. T. Child, Alfred Cridge, Moses Hull, Dorus Fox, and H. F. Gardner» — los espiritistas que firmaron la convocatoria de Woodhull, nombre por nombre; la lista incluye a quien luego le disputaría el terreno.
«Some local groups organized in order to procure the legal benefits enjoyed by other religious groups, such as authority to solemnize marriages» — el único motivo por el que algunos grupos locales aceptaban organizarse.
«Mrs. A. D. Wiggin organized Spiritualists in Los Angeles and received a license to marry» — el caso que lo prueba.
«But, in Massachusetts, the state refused to authorize local societies to grant marriage licenses because there was no uniform accepted practice among Spiritualists» — y el caso contrario, con la razón que el Estado dio: no había práctica uniforme entre los espiritistas.
«Lily Dale, a Spiritualist summer camp on Cassadaga Lake in Chataqua County, New York, still has a thriving program from 1 July to Labor Day, housed in the same buildings pictured in Barrett, Cassadaga, which also describes other camp meeting sites» — la nota que declara vivo todavía el campamento de Lily Dale, en los mismos edificios de las fotografías de 1891; la fuente imprime *Chataqua*.
«Lucy C. Blair Scrapbooks, 1871–73, 42 and passim, American Antiquarian Society» — el álbum de recortes que documenta la carrera de la médium que pintaba flores con los ojos vendados.
«Webster, Horatio, William, Adelia, and Alice Eddy. BL, 18 April 1874, 1» — los cinco hermanos Eddy por su nombre, que el cuerpo del capítulo deja en cifra.
«Colonel Olcott’s book about the Eddy family included illustrations of the medium gagged and bound to a chair» — el detalle que Braude rescata del libro de Olcott, y que confirma su tesis sobre la nueva mediumnidad.
«Marion Meade, Madame Blavatsky: The Woman Behind the Myth (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1980), 110–25» — la biografía de Blavatsky en que Braude se apoya.
«Blavatsky wrote that she came to the United States because it was “the cradle of modern Spiritualism.”» — la razón que la propia Blavatsky dio de su viaje, en sus escritos reunidos.
«Blavatsky’s articles in the Spiritual Scientist are reprinted in her Collected Writings, 1:85–162» — dónde pueden leerse hoy los artículos de Blavatsky en el Spiritual Scientist.
«Robert Dale Owen, “Touching Spiritual Visitants from a Higher Life. A Chapter of Autobiography,” Atlantic Monthly 35 (January 1875): 57–69» — el artículo del Atlantic Monthly que Owen ya no pudo retirar.
«Louisa Andrews to Hiram Corson, 15 December 1874, Louisa Andrews to Caroline Rollin Corson, 22 December 1874, Louisa Andrews to Hiram Corson, 23 March 1875, and Louisa Andrews to Hiram Corson, 20 August 1875, Hiram Corson Papers, Cornell University Special Collections» — las cuatro cartas del fondo Corson en que Braude estudia la respuesta de los creyentes al fraude.
«Mary Baker Glover [Eddy], Science and Health (Boston: Christian Scientist Publishing Co., 1875), 84» — la primera edición de Science and Health, firmada con el apellido Glover, que es la que Braude cita para el capítulo de Eddy sobre el espiritismo.
«Robert Peel, Mary Baker Eddy, 3 vols. (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1966– 77), 1:317» — la biografía en tres tomos de Mary Baker Eddy que sostiene el tramo.
«Stephen Gottschalk, “Christian Science and Harmonialism,” in The Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience, ed., Charles H. Lippy and Peter W. Williams (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1988) 2:901» — la entrada de enciclopedia en que Gottschalk discute la clasificación de Ahlstrom.
«Another Christian Science historian locates the cultural context of the movement in a transcendental effervescence that stretched from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Andrew Jackson Davis but insists on the independent biblical origins of Eddy’s ideas» — la tercera posición que Braude registra en esa polémica, la de Robert Peel.
«For a comparison of Science and Health with the work of Andrew Jackson Davis and Emanuel Swedenborg, see Hermann S. Ficke, “The Source of Science and Health,” Bibliotheca Sacra 85 (1928): 417–23» — el cotejo textual entre Science and Health, Davis y Swedenborg al que remite.
«Most discussions of the sources of Science and Health have focused on Eddy’s reliance on the work of Phinea Pankhurst Quimby» — dónde ha puesto el foco la discusión sobre las fuentes de Eddy; la nota imprime *Phinea Pankhurst*.
«The number of accusations of plagiarism to which Eddy has been subjected suggests that Science and Health, like many religious texts, represents an original synthesis drawing on a number of sources» — la lectura con que Braude despacha las acusaciones de plagio: como muchos textos religiosos, Science and Health es una síntesis original de varias fuentes.
«The American Booksellers Guide estimated that Andrew Jackson Davis’s work sold ten thousand volumes annually during the 1870s» — la cifra de ventas con que sostiene que a Davis se le leía en todas partes.
«The most notable expulsions were those of Emma Curtis Hopkins, Ursula Gestefeld, and Augusta Stetson, all of whom became religious leaders in their own right after being severed from the Christian Science church» — las tres expulsadas de la iglesia de Eddy, todas ellas dirigentes religiosas por cuenta propia después.
«neurolinguistic programming, lectures on the worldview of the Seneca Indians, meditation led by Alan Watts, and tai-chi classes in addition to classes on mediumship development and clairvoyance» — el programa reciente de Lily Dale que Braude censa, de la programación neurolingüística al tai chi.
«Spiritualism, see Horatio W. Dresser, ed., The Quimby Manuscripts (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1921), 76–79, 188, 239» — adónde remite para las opiniones de Quimby sobre el espiritismo; el troceo parte la frase entre planas.
«popular Stetson, whom many assumed would succeed her as leader of the church, of Spiritualism» — el detalle que Braude califica de interesante: Eddy acusó de espiritismo a la que muchos daban por su sucesora; el troceo parte la frase entre planas.
«Charles S. Braden, Spirits in Rebellion: The Rise and Development of New Thought (Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1963), 138–49» — la historia del New Thought a la que la nota remite para el destino de las expulsadas.
«Mary F[enn] Davis, Danger Signals: An Address on the Uses and Abuses of Modern Spiritualism (New York: A. J. Davis & Co., 1875), 5, 17» — la ficha del folleto de Mary Fenn Davis contra los abusos del espiritismo, con el nombre completado por Braude entre corchetes.
«The title of this chapter is taken from Susan B. Anthony to Elizabeth Lowe Watson, 1 April 1902, Mary McHenry Keith Papers, California Historical Society» — de dónde sale el título de la conclusión: una carta de Susan B. Anthony de 1902 a una médium.
«The twelve original founders of Sorosis included at least one other Spiritualist, the actress Kate Field, author of Planchette’s Diary» — el dato que la nota añade sobre Sorosis: entre sus doce fundadoras había al menos otra espiritista, Kate Field.
«Wilbour continued devotion to both suffrage and Spiritualism until her permanent departure for Paris in 1875» — y cuánto le duró a Charlotte Wilbour esa doble lealtad.
«On Sorosis, see Karen J. Blair, The Clubwoman as Feminist: True Womanhood Redefined, 1868–1914» — el estudio sobre el club de mujeres como feminismo, cuyo subtítulo redefine justamente la fórmula del capítulo cuarto.
«The six listed in the BL were Laura de Force Gordon, Laura Cuppy Smith, Mrs. H. M. F. Brown, Addie L. Ballou, Mrs. F. A. Logan, and Paulina Roberts. HWS, 3:755; BL, 1 January 1870, 3» — los seis nombres del cruce de listas que sostiene el argumento californiano, uno por uno.
«The other two Spiritualists were Caroline Hinkley Spear and Elizabeth Anne Kingsbury» — y las otras dos espiritistas de esa lista; la nota imprime *Hinkley* donde el cuerpo del libro imprime *Hinckley*.
«Laura de Force’s manuscript diary of her travels as a trance speaker is in the possession of her living relatives and is not currently available to researchers» — el muro documental que Braude declara sobre el diario manuscrito de Laura de Force: está en manos de la familia y cerrado a los investigadores.
«See draft biography corrected by Gordon in the John M. Winterbotham Papers, Wisconsin State Historical Society» — la fuente de la declaración final de agnosticismo de Gordon: un borrador de biografía corregido por ella misma.
«Sandra Sizer Frankiel, California’s Spiritual Frontiers (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988), 32–34» — el estudio sobre las fronteras espirituales de California en que se apoya el tramo del oeste.
«Philadelphia leader Selden then became a California state senator in the 1870s» — el dato de carrera que la nota añade a la migración espiritista al oeste.
«Thomas Lake Harris, who founded several unsuccessful Spiritualist communities in the eastern United States between 1850 and 1870, finally settled in California in 1875, where his Fountain Cove community survived into the 1930s» — el caso de Thomas Lake Harris, con la única de sus comunidades que duró.
«Isabella Beecher Hooker, Lita Barney Sayles, and Frances Ellen Burr in Connecticut; Mary Davis and Elizabeth A. Kingsbury in New Jersey; Agnes Cook, Mary Thomas Clark, and Cora Bland in Indiana; Amy Post, Sarah Hallock, Mary Hallowell, Sarah Willis, and Charlotte Beebe Wilbour in New York; Newman Weeks in Vermont; and Catharine Ann Fish Stebbins and Giles Stebbins in Michigan» — la nómina completa, estado por estado, de las espiritistas con papel en las campañas sufragistas fuera de California.
«The Freeville Assembly also held an annual Woman Suffrage Day» — el segundo campamento espiritista con día del sufragio que la nota registra.
«John C. Bundy to Frances Elizabeth Willard, 28 January 1881, 2 June 1882, and 5 October 1885, John C. Bundy Papers, University of Illinois at Chicago» — las cartas del director del Religio-Philosophical Journal a Frances Willard, fuente de que la metodista se volviera investigadora.
«May Wright Sewall, Neither Dead Nor Sleeping (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1920)» — el libro que Sewall escribió en secreto y autorizó publicar dos semanas antes de morir.
«Mari Jo Buhle, Women and American Socialism, 1870–1920 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983), 78, 141; Reda Davis, California Women: A Guide to Their Politics, 1885–1911 (San Francisco: California Scene, 1967), 138–39» — las dos obras que sostienen el tramo de Addie Ballou entre el socialismo y la política californiana.
«Aileen S. Kraditor, The Ideas of the Woman Suffrage Movement, 1890–1920 (Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Books, 1971), 39. Buechler, The Transformation of the Woman Suffrage Movement, 201» — las dos fuentes del reproche historiográfico al sufragismo que Braude examina en la conclusión.
«Barbara Welter, “The Feminization of American Religion, 1800–1860,” in Dimnity» — el ensayo de Welter del que sale la fórmula de la feminización de la religión estadounidense; la nota vuelve a imprimir *Dimnity*.
«Angela Y. Davis, “Woman Suffrage at the Turn of the Century: The Rising Influence of Racism,” in Women, Race and Class (New York: Random House, 1981), 110–26» — el ensayo de Angela Davis sobre el racismo creciente del sufragismo, que Braude pone entre las fuentes del reproche.
«Matilda Joslyn Gage, Woman, Church and State (1893), introduction by Sally Roesch Wagner (Watertown, Mass.: Persephone Press, 1980), xxix–xxxvii» — la reedición del libro de Matilda Joslyn Gage, la sufragista a la que el silencio religioso del movimiento acabó por alejar.
«In 1862, Martha Hulett married, moved to Michigan with her husband, and assumed his name, Perry. She apparently spoke infrequently after this» — lo que la nota reconstruye de Martha Hulett después de 1862, con su cautela.
«In 1875, the Illinois bar admitted M. Frederika Perry, of Coldwater, Mich., on the motion of Alta Hulett» — el dato que hace posible el paralelo de la conclusión, y que Braude no fuerza.
«I cannot confirm whether M. Frederika Perry and Martha Hulett Perry were the same person or whether Martha and Alta were blood relatives, but some connection seems likely» — la abstención expresa con que lo trata: no puede confirmar ni la identidad ni el parentesco, y solo dice que alguna conexión parece probable.
«My thanks to Beverley Whitehead, registrar of the Rockford Museum Association, for help in trying to identify Martha and Alta Hulett» — el agradecimiento con que cierra esa pesquisa fallida.
«Ann Douglas, The Feminization of American Culture (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977)» — la ficha del libro de Ann Douglas contra el que Braude argumenta en la última página.
«Blackwell, Lucy Stone, 278, 287» — la última nota del libro, que remite a la biografía de Lucy Stone escrita por su hija.
«When Anthony died in 1906, Elizabeth Lowe Watson responded in verse, “She is not dead but more alive / Than in her fairest» — la respuesta en verso de la médium a la muerte de Anthony, que la nota da como coda de la conclusión; el troceo parte la cita entre planas.
«earthly days.” Harper, Susan B. Anthony, 3:1604» — y el remate de ese verso en la plana siguiente, con su referencia.
«American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass.: Lucy C. Blair Scrapbooks Abigail Kelly Foster Papers» — el primer fondo del censo de manuscritos: la American Antiquarian Society, con los álbumes de la médium pintora y los papeles de Abigail Kelley Foster; la lista imprime *Kelly*.
«Boston Public Library: Lydia Maria Child Papers William Lloyd Garrison Papers Mary Livermore Letters» — los tres fondos de la Boston Public Library de los que el libro se surte.
«Cornell University Special Collections: Caleb M. Carr Letters M. M. Cass Papers Hiram Corson Papers Charlotte Fowler Wells Papers» — los cuatro fondos de Cornell, entre ellos los papeles Corson del episodio de Katie King y el cuaderno de sesiones de Charlotte Fowler Wells.
«Private collection: Mary and Joseph Post Papers» — el único fondo que el censo declara colección privada.
«Vermont Historical Society, Montpelier: Achsa W. Sprague Papers John D. Powers Scrapbooks Sherman Safford Papers Townsend Family Papers» — los cuatro fondos de Vermont, encabezados por los papeles de Achsa Sprague.
«Yale University, Sterling Memorial Library, Department of Manuscripts and Archives: Andrew Jackson Davis Papers» — el fondo de Andrew Jackson Davis, en la biblioteca de la universidad donde Braude hizo la tesis.
«Agitator (Cleveland). 1858–59» — la primera cabecera del censo de prensa: el periódico espiritista feminista de Cleveland del que salen tantas citas.
«Banner of Light (Boston). 1857–1885» — el diario que Braude vació de 1857 a 1885, y que es la columna documental del libro.
«Lucifer. The Lightbearer (Valley Falls, Kans.). 1883–96» — el periódico anarquista y de amor libre de Kansas donde escribía Waisbrooker.
«Spiritual Universe, Radical Advocate, and Journal of Reform (Cleveland). 1854–1855» — una de las cabeceras que junta en su título los tres términos del libro: espiritismo, radicalismo y reforma.
«Universe. A Journal of Literature, the Spiritual Philosophy, Woman’s Independence, etc. (Chicago; New York). 1868–70» — y otra que pone la independencia de la mujer en el subtítulo mismo.
«Vanguard (Dayton, Ohio; Richmond, Ind.; Cleveland). 1857–59» — el periódico de los Cridge, con sus tres sedes sucesivas en dos años.
«White Banner (Philadelphia). 1869. World’s Paper (Sandusky, Vt.). 1857» — las dos últimas cabeceras del censo, que el troceo junta en un renglón; el World’s Paper es uno de los dos periódicos en que Braude no logró hallar el artículo sobre Sprague.
«American Spiritualist Association. Address to the Public. Chicago: Printed for the Association by the Religio-Philosophical Journal, n.d.» — la primera pieza del censo de actas, impresa sin fecha por el propio periódico del movimiento.
«Pennsylvania Meeting of Progressive Friends. Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Meeting of Progressive Friends, Held at Longwood, Chester County, Fifth Month, 1856. New York: John» — las actas de los Amigos Progresistas de Pensilvania, de las que el libro cita seis años distintos.
«Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Yearly Meeting of Progressive Friends, Including Four Sermons by Theodore Parker. New York: Oliver Johnson, 1858» — y la edición de 1858 de esas mismas actas, que incluye cuatro sermones de Theodore Parker.
«Queen City Park Spiritualist Camp Meeting. Program. South Burlington, Vt., 1896» — un programa de campamento espiritista de fin de siglo entre las fuentes.
«Rules and Regulations of a Spiritualist Association, at their Rooms, 15 Brattle Street, Boston. Boston: Geo. C. Rand & Avery, 1856» — el reglamento de una asociación espiritista de Boston, con su domicilio impreso en la portada.
«Waterloo Friends. Proceedings of the Yearly Meeting of Congregational Friends Held at Waterloo, N.Y., From the 3rd to the 5th of Sixth Month, inclusive, 1850. Auburn, N.Y.: Henry Oliphant, 1850» — las actas de Waterloo de 1850, de donde sale el título del capítulo primero.
«Proceedings of the Yearly Meeting of the Friends of Human Progress, Held At Waterloo, Seneca Co., N.Y. Rochester, N.Y.: C. W. Hebard & Co., 1859» — y las mismas actas nueve años después, ya con otro nombre: Amigos del Progreso Humano.
«Arthur, Timothy Shay. The Angel and the Demon: A Tale of Modern Spiritualism. Philadelphia: J. W. Bradley, 1858» — la primera entrada del censo de libros, una novela sobre el espiritismo moderno.
«Ballou, Adin. Autobiography of Adin Ballou, 1803–1890. Lowell, Mass.: Vox Populi Press,» — la autobiografía de Adin Ballou, fundador de Hopedale.
«Memoir of Adin Augustus Ballou. Hopedale, Mass.: Community Press, 1853» — y la memoria del hijo muerto cuya pérdida llevó a Ballou al espiritismo.
«Barett, Harrison D. Cassadaga; its history and teachings. With histories of Spiritualist Camp Meetings and Biographies of Cassadaga Pioneers and Others. Meadville, Pa.: Gazette Printing Co., 1891» — la historia de Cassadaga, con biografías de los pioneros del lugar; la lista imprime *Barett* y el cuerpo del libro *Barrett*.
«Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna. Collected Writings. Vol. 1, 1874–1878. Wheaton, Ill.: Theosophical Press, 1966» — el único título de Blavatsky en el censo de fuentes primarias: el primer tomo de sus escritos reunidos.
«Brownson, Orestes. The Spirit-Rapper: An Autobiography. Detroit: Nourse, 1884» — la autobiografía novelada de Orestes Brownson sobre los golpes espiritistas.
«Capron, Eliab Wilkinson. Modern Spiritualism, its facts and fanaticisms, its consistencies and contradictions. Boston: Bela Marsh, 1855» — el libro de Capron, que anuncia desde el subtítulo su reparto entre hechos y fanatismos, consistencias y contradicciones.
«Hare, Robert, M.D. Experimental Investigation of the Spirit Manifestations, Demonstrating the Existence of Spirits and Their Communion With Mortals. New York: Partridge & Brittan,» — el libro del químico Robert Hare, que anuncia desde el subtítulo lo que dice demostrar.
«Hatch, B[enjamin] F. Spiritualist Iniquities Unmasked, and, the Hatch Divorce Case. New York: B. F. Hatch, 1859» — el folleto con que el marido de Cora Hatch respondió al divorcio, publicado por él mismo.
«Higginson, Thomas Wentworth. The Rationale of Spiritualism, being two extemporaneous lectures delivered at Dodsworth’s Hall, Dec. 5, 1858. New York: T.J. Ellinwood, 1859» — la ficha completa del primer folleto de Higginson, con la fecha y el lugar de las dos conferencias improvisadas.
«History of the Mysterious Noises, Heard at Rochester and Other Places, supposed to be Spirit Communications together with many Psychological Facts and new developments. Rochester, N.Y.: D. M. Dewey, 1850» — una de las crónicas tempranas de los ruidos de Rochester, publicada el mismo 1850.
«Horn, Henry J. Strange Visitors: A Series of Original Papers Dictated Through a Clairvoyant. New York: G. W. Carleton & Co., 1869» — un volumen de papeles dictados por clarividencia entre las fuentes primarias.
«Howells, William Dean. The Undiscovered Country. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1880» — la novela de Howells, una de las dos que fijaron la imagen de la médium tutelada.
«James, Henry. The Bostonians. 1886. New York: Modern Library, 1956» — y la otra, la de Henry James.
«Light on the Way. With an introduction by James Freeman Clarke. Boston: Ticknor & Co.,» — un título anónimo del censo, presentado por el mismo unitario al que Lizzie Doten replicó.
«Logan, Mrs. John A. The Part Taken by Women in American History. Wilmington, Del.: Perry-Nalle, 1912» — una historia de la participación de las mujeres publicada en 1912, firmada por su nombre de casada.
«McDougall, Frances H[arriet Whipple] Green. Biography of Mrs. Semantha Mettler, the Clairvoyant: Being a History of Spiritual Development and Containing an Account of the Wonderful Cures Performed Through Her Agency. New York: Harmonial Association, 1853» — la biografía de la médium médica Semantha Mettler, con el nombre de su autora completado entre corchetes.
«The Envoy: From Free Hearts to the Free. Pawtucket, R.I.: Juvenile Emancipation Society, 1840» — y el folleto abolicionista que esa misma autora había publicado trece años antes.
«Memoirs of Eleanor Eldridge. Providence, R.I.: P. T. Albro, 1847» — y sus memorias de Eleanor Eldridge, tercera entrada de la misma autora en el censo.
«Maynard, Nettie Colburn. Was Abraham Lincoln a Spiritualist? or, Curious Revelations from the Life of a Trance Medium. Philadelphia: Rufus C. Hartranft, 1891» — el libro de una médium en trance que hace de Lincoln un asunto espiritista, con signo de interrogación en el título.
«Report of the Mysterious Noises, heard in the House of Mr. John D. Fox, in Hydesville, Acadia, Wayne Co. Authenticated by the Certificates and Confirmed by the Statements of Citizens of that Place and Vicinity. N.p., n.d.» — el impreso primero de todos, el de la casa de Hydesville, que el censo registra sin lugar ni fecha; la fuente imprime *Acadia* por Arcadia.
«Richmond, Thomas. God’s Dealing With Slavery. Chicago: Religio-Philosophical Publishing House, 1870» — el libro de Thomas Richmond, uno de los que pretendieron casarse con Achsa Sprague.
«Shelhamer, M[ary] T[heresa]. Life and Labor in the Spirit World. Boston: Colby &Rich,» — la obra de la que sale la lámina de Fannie Davis; el censo escribe *Life and Labor* y la lista de ilustraciones *LIFE AND LABORS*.
«Shindler, Mary Dana. A Southerner Among the Spirits. Memphis, Tenn.: Southern Baptist Publication Society, 1877. Reissued. Boston: Colby & Rich, n.d.» — el testimonio sureño, con su reedición por una casa espiritista de Boston consignada.
«Simms, William Gilmore. The Letters of William Gilmore Simms. Edited by Mary Simms Oliphant. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1954» — las cartas del literato sureño que abrazó la práctica por compatible con su fe.
«Smith, Francis H. My Experience, or Footfalls of a Presbyterian to Spiritualism. Baltimore: n.p., 1860» — un testimonio de conversión desde el presbiterianismo, autoeditado en Baltimore.
«Spear, John Murray. The Educator: Being Suggestions, Theoretical and Practical, Designed to Promote Man-Culture and Integral Reform, with a View to the Ultimate Establishment of a Divine Social State on Earth. Edited by Alonzo E. Newton. Boston: Office of Practical Spiritualists, 1857» — la ficha del libro de Spear en el censo, aquí con *Suggestions* bien escrito, a diferencia de la nota que lo cita.
«Sprague, Achsa W. I Still Live: A Poem for the Times. Oswego, N.Y.: Oliphant, 1862» — el poema que Sprague publicó el año de su muerte, en la ciudad donde la enfermedad volvió a alcanzarla.
«Taylor, Sarah E. L., ed. Fox-Taylor Automatic Writing, 1869–1892: Unabridged Record. Minneapolis: Tribune-Great West Printing Co., 1932» — el registro íntegro de escritura automática Fox-Taylor, publicado en 1932.
«Torrey, Elizabeth R. Reply to the Rev. Dr. W. P. Lunt’s Discourse Against the Spiritual Philosophy. Boston: Bela Marsh, 1855» — una réplica de mujer a un sermón contra la filosofía espiritual, publicada en 1855.
«Underhill, A. Leah. The Missing Link in Modern Spiritualism. New York: Thomas R. Knox,» — el libro con que la mayor de las Fox contó su versión, ya bajo su último apellido.
«Walker, Mrs. Dr. Reminiscences of the Life of Charlotte Cushman, compiled from Various Records, by Mrs. Dr. Walker, her chosen medium. Boston: William P. Tenney, 1876» — unas memorias de la actriz Charlotte Cushman compiladas por su médium elegida.
«Watson, Rev. Samuel. The Clock Struck One, and Christian Spiritualist, being a Synopsis of Spirit Intercourse by an Episcopal Bishop, Three Ministers, Five Doctors, and Others at Memphis, Tenn., in 1855. Louisville, Ky.: John P. Morton, 1873» — el subtítulo entero del libro de Watson, que cuenta por cabezas a los ministros y doctores presentes en las sesiones de Memphis.
«Willard, Frances E., and Mary Livermore. A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-Seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied By Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life. Buffalo, N.Y.: Charles Wells Moulton, 1893» — la obra de referencia biográfica de Willard y Livermore, con su cuenta de semblanzas en el título.
«Ahlstrom, Sydney E., and Robert Bruce Mullin. The Scientific Theist: A Life of Francis Ellingwood Abbot. Macon, Ga: Mercer Press, 1987» — la única obra de Ahlstrom en el censo además de su historia religiosa, publicada póstumamente con Mullin.
«Bednarowski, Mary Farrell. “Lizzie Doten: Literary Spiritualist.” Master’s thesis, Duquesne University, 1969» — la primera de las cinco entradas de Mary Farrell Bednarowski, que es la estudiosa más citada del censo secundario después de Moore.
«Outside the Mainstream: Women’s Religion and Women Religious Leaders in Nineteenth-Century America.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 48 (1980): 207–31» — y su artículo sobre las dirigentes religiosas fuera de la corriente principal, que es el marco del capítulo cuarto.
«Bourginon, Erika. “World Distribution and Patterns of Possession States.” In Trance and Possession States, edited by Raymond Prince, 3–32. Montreal: R. M. Bucke Memorial Society, 1966» — el único título antropológico del censo, sobre la distribución mundial de los estados de posesión; la lista imprime *Bourginon*.
«Braude, Ann D. “Spiritualism, Reform, and Woman’s Rights in Nineteenth-Century America.” Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1987» — la entrada en que la autora se cita a sí misma: la tesis de Yale de la que sale este libro.
«Wilbour, Charlotte Beebe» — las conferencias de Charlotte Beebe Wilbour; el troceo parte la ficha entre planas.
«Wilbour during the years 1856–58. New York: G. W. Carleton & Co., 1872» — y el remate en la plana siguiente, con las fechas: dadas entre 1856 y 1858, publicadas catorce años después.
«Brown, Burton Gates. “Spiritualism in Nineteenth-Century America.” Ph.D. diss., Boston University, 1972» — una de las tres tesis doctorales sobre el espiritismo estadounidense de las que Braude se surte.
«Butler, Jon. “The Dark Ages of American Occultism, 1760–1848.” In The Occult in America: New Historical Perspectives, edited by Howard Kerr and Charles L. Crow, 58–78. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983» — el ensayo de Jon Butler que llama edad oscura al ocultismo estadounidense anterior a 1848.
«Campbell, Bruce F. Ancient Wisdom Revealed: A History of the Theosophical Movement. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980» — la historia del movimiento teosófico que sostiene el tramo de Blavatsky.
«Cross, Whitney. The Burned Over District: The Social and Intellectual History of Enthusiastic Religion in Western New York, 1800–1850. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1950» — el estudio clásico del *burned over district*, la comarca de Nueva York donde nacen los dos movimientos del libro.
«DeLeon, David. The American as Anarchist: Reflections on Indigenous Radicalism. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978» — el estudio del anarquismo estadounidense indígena que el libro usa para el individualismo radical.
«Delp, Robert W. “American Spiritualism and Social Reform, 1847–1900.” Northwest Ohio Quarterly 44 (Fall 1972): 85–99» — el artículo de Delp sobre espiritismo y reforma social, con el arco cronológico que el libro también recorre.
«Doherty, Robert. The Hicksite Separation: A Sociological Analysis of Religious Schism in Early Nineteenth Century America. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1967» — el análisis sociológico de la escisión hicksita, sin la cual no se entiende el capítulo primero.
«Fornell, Earl W. The Unhappy Medium. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1964» — una monografía sobre el espiritismo cuyo título juega con el doble sentido de *medium*.
«Freeman, James Dillet. The Household of Faith: The Story of Unity. Lee’s Summit, Mo.: Unity School of Christianity, 1951» — la historia de Unity, publicada por la propia escuela, entre las fuentes del New Thought.
«Fuller, Robert C. Mesmerism and the American Cure of Souls. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982» — el estudio de Fuller sobre el mesmerismo y la cura de almas estadounidense.
«Goldfarb, Russell M., and Clare R. Goldfarb. Spiritualism and Nineteenth-Century Letters. Rutherford, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1978» — el segundo estudio del censo sobre espiritismo y literatura, después del de Kerr.
«Hewitt, Nancy A. “Amy Kirby Post: ‘Of whom it was said, “being dead, yet speaketh.” ‘“University of Rochester Library Bulletin 37 (1984): 5–21» — el artículo dedicado a Amy Kirby Post, cuyo título cita el epitafio con que se la recordó.
«Howe, Daniel Walker. “American Victorianism as a Culture.” American Quarterly 27» — el artículo que le da al libro la noción de victorianismo estadounidense como cultura.
«Isaacs, Ernest Joseph. “A History of Nineteenth-Century American Spiritualism as a Religious and Social Movement.” Ph.D. diss., University of Wisconsin, 1975» — la tesis de Isaacs, que es la historia general del espiritismo más citada del libro después de Moore.
«Kerr, Howard. Mediums, Spirit-Rappers, and Roaring Radicals: Spiritualism in American Literature, 1850–1900. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1972» — el estudio de Kerr sobre el espiritismo en la literatura estadounidense de medio siglo.
«Lain, David. Guns and Rain: Guerillas and Spirit Mediums in Zimbabwe. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985» — el único título africanista del censo, sobre guerrilleros y médiums en Zimbabue; la lista imprime *Lain* y *Guerillas*.
«Lewis, I. M. Ecstatic Religion. Hammondsworth: Penguin Books, 1971» — el estudio comparado de la religión extática que el censo incluye; imprime *Hammondsworth*.
«Marberry, M. M. Vicky: A Biography of Victoria Woodhull. New York: Funk & Wagnalls,» — una de las dos biografías de Woodhull del censo, ninguna de las cuales le parece desapasionada a Braude.
«Meltzer, Milton. Tongue of Flame: The Life of Lydia Maria Child. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1965» — la biografía de Lydia Maria Child, escrita por uno de los editores de su correspondencia.
«Moore, R. Laurence. In Search of White Crows: Spiritualism, Parapsychology, and American Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977» — el subtítulo entero del libro que Braude tiene por la mejor exposición moderna.
«Nelson, Geoffrey K. Spiritualism and Society. London: Routledge &Kegan Paul, 1969» — el estudio sociológico británico del espiritismo que el censo registra.
«Nissenbaum, Stephen. Sex, Diet and Debility in Jacksonian America: Sylvester Graham and Health Reform. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1980» — el estudio sobre Sylvester Graham del que sale la genealogía dietética del capítulo sexto.
«Pivar, David. Purity Crusade: Sexual Morality and Social Control, 1868–1900. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1973» — el estudio de la cruzada por la pureza, contra la que se batían las espiritistas de la conclusión.
«Ray, Charles Powell. “Register of the Family Papers of Isaac and Amy Kirby Post, 1817– 1918.” August 1978. Manuscript in the University of Rochester Department of Rare Books and Special Collections» — el registro manuscrito del fondo Post, citado como fuente por derecho propio.
«Reigel, Robert. American Feminists. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1963» — una historia del feminismo estadounidense de 1963 entre las fuentes secundarias.
«Ruether, Rosemary R. “Women in Utopian Movements.” In Women and Religion in America. Vol. 1, The Nineteenth Century, 46–100. New York: Harper & Row, 1981» — el ensayo de Ruether sobre las mujeres en los movimientos utópicos.
«Sachs, Emanie. “The Terrible Siren”: Victoria Woodhull (1838–1927). New York: Harper & Bros., 1928» — la otra biografía de Woodhull, con el mote de sirena terrible en el título.
«Sears, Hal D. The Sex Radicals: Free Love in High Victorian America. Lawrence: Regents Press of Kansas, 1977» — el subtítulo entero del libro de Sears, que sitúa el amor libre en el victorianismo alto.
«Smith, Helen Krebs. The Presumptuous Dreamers: A Sociological History of the Life and Times of Abigail Scott Duniway (1872–1876). 2 vols. Lake Oswego, Oreg.: Smith, Smith & Smith, 1983» — la historia sociológica de Abigail Scott Duniway, en dos tomos y con pie de imprenta familiar.
«Modern Spiritualism: A History and a Criticism. 2 vols. London and New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1902» — la historia y crítica de Podmore en dos tomos, publicada en 1902.
«Stern, Madeleine B. The Pantarch: A Biography of Stephen Pearl Andrews. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1968» — la biografía de Stephen Pearl Andrews; el censo la fecha en 1968 y la nota que la cita, en 1986.
«The Phrenological Fowlers. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1971» — el estudio sobre los Fowler frenólogos, la familia cuyo cuaderno de sesiones es una de las fuentes del libro.
«Stoehr, Taylor. Free Love in America: A Documentary History. New York: AMS Press, 1979» — la historia documental del amor libre estadounidense; aquí el censo escribe *Stoehr* y la nota que la cita, *Stoeher*.
«Thomas, Allen C. “Congregational or Progressive Friends: A Forgotten Episode in Quaker History.” Bulletin of Friends’ Historical Society of Pennsylvania 10 (1920): 21–31» — el artículo sobre los Amigos Congregacionales, con su paginación completa; la nota lo citaba por dos páginas.
«Thomas, John L. “Antislavery and Utopia.” In The Antislavery Vanguard: New Essays on Abolitionists, edited by Martin Duberman, 240–69. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1965» — el ensayo sobre antiesclavismo y utopía, en el volumen del que Braude toma también a David Brion Davis.
«The Liberator: William Lloyd Garrison. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1963» — la biografía de Garrison de la que sale su espiritismo.
«Thompson, Robert Luther. Wiring a Continent: The History of the Telegraph Industry in the United States, 1832–1866. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1947» — la historia del telégrafo que el libro usa para el paralelo entre el cable y la comunicación con los muertos.
«Twynham, Leonard. “Achsa Sprague.” In Dictionary of American Biography, 17:469–70. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1935» — la entrada del Dictionary of American Biography dedicada a Sprague, una de las pocas mujeres incluidas.
«“Achsa W. Sprague.” Proceedings of the Vermont Historical Society 9 (1941): 347–59» — y la compilación de prensa que el mismo Twynham publicó en 1941, con la paginación que la nota había pegado al número siguiente.
«Tyler, Alice Felt. Freedom’s Ferment: Phases of American Social History from the Colonial Period to the Outbreak of the Civil War. New York: Harper & Row, 1944» — la historia social de la fermentación reformista anterior a la Guerra Civil.
«Wahl, Albert J. “The Progressive Friends of Longwood.” Bulletin of the Friends Historical Society 42 (1953): 13–32» — el artículo sobre los Amigos Progresistas de Longwood, con su paginación completa.
«Waller, Altina L. Reverend Beecher and Mrs. Tilton: Sex and Class in Victorian America. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1982» — el estudio del escándalo Beecher-Tilton en clave de sexo y clase.
«Walters, Ronald G. American Reformers, 1815–1860. New York: Hill & Wang, 1978» — la síntesis sobre los reformadores estadounidenses del periodo.
«Welter, Barbara. Dimnity Convictions: The American Woman in the Nineteenth Century. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1976» — el libro de Welter del que salen las dos nociones que el libro más usa, el culto de la verdadera feminidad y la feminización de la religión; el censo vuelve a imprimir *Dimnity*.
«Zikmund, Barbara Brown. “The Struggle for the Right to Preach.” In Women and Religion in America, vol. 1, The Nineteenth Century, edited by Rosemary Radford Ruether and Rosemary Keller, 193–241. New York: Harper & Row, 1981» — la última entrada del censo, sobre la lucha por el derecho a predicar, que es el asunto del capítulo cuarto por otro nombre.
«The page numbers in Index represents the print page number and will differ with the eBook page numbers» — el aviso que el índice antepone en esta edición electrónica, y que explica por qué el índice no trae cifras: sus números remiten a la paginación impresa; la fuente imprime *represents*.
«Abolition movement; and “come-outers”; and Quakers; Spiritualism and; and woman’s» — el primer encabezado temático del índice, con sus cuatro subentradas; el troceo parte la última a fin de renglón.
«Anthony, Susan B.; History of Woman Suffrage; at Lily Dale; as an orator; Revolution; and Women’s Loyal League» — las seis subentradas de Susan B. Anthony, que resumen su presencia en el libro.
«Antislavery movement. See Abolition movement» — una de las remisiones con que el índice unifica el vocabulario del libro.
«Blacks, Spiritualism and» — la entrada que el índice le da a la presencia negra en el espiritismo.
«Catholicism: and infant damnation; Spiritualism and. See also Christianity» — la entrada del catolicismo, con la condenación de los niños entre sus dos subentradas.
«Christian Science; vs. Spiritualism» — la entrada de la Ciencia Cristiana, cuya única subentrada es la oposición al espiritismo.
«Conversion: religious; to Spiritualism» — la entrada que separa la conversión religiosa de la conversión al espiritismo.
«Electricity; language of, in Spiritualism» — la entrada de la electricidad, indexada por su lenguaje antes que por su física.
«Hardinge, Emma; history of Spiritualism by; on marriage; and theosophy» — las tres subentradas de Emma Hardinge, que son las tres caras con que aparece en el libro.
«Literature: popular; Spiritualism in» — la entrada de la literatura, con su distinción entre lo popular y lo espiritista.
«Marriage reform; and economic reform; and enforced motherhood; and free love; and prostitution; and sexuality» — las cinco subentradas de la reforma del matrimonio, que son el índice del capítulo quinto.
«Medicine: and medical mediums; and medical training; nineteenth-century; preventive; “regular” (allopathic, “orthodox”) and “irregular” (“sectarian”). See also Health reform» — la entrada de la medicina, con la división entre regulares e irregulares consignada entre comillas.
«Mediums; and cabinets; at camp meetings; case study (Achsa W. Sprague); 1870s style of; exclusion of, from national conventions; and female hysteria; and fraud; at funerals; healing; medical; passivity of “new”; platform as alternative to pulpit for; and prostitution; speaking; “test”; unaccountability of; women as; writing. See also Trance speakers» — la entrada más larga del índice, la de las médiums, con sus dieciocho subentradas de los gabinetes a la escritura.
«Mediumship; attacks on; identified with femininity; illness as precondition of; and materialization; and “mediomania”; and organization issue; as pathology; and prostitution; and public role for women; and self-aggrandizement; sensationalism of; sexual division of labor and; and sexuality; and suffrage movement» — y la entrada gemela de la mediumnidad, que indexa la tesis del libro por sus articulaciones.
«Men; and gender roles; and medical establishment; response to trance speakers; and sexual double standard» — la entrada de los hombres, con sus cuatro subentradas.
«Sprague, Achsa W.; “Angel’s Visit, The”; case study; conversion to Spiritualism; medical condition; men’s response to; physical appearance of; rejection of marriage by; as trance speaker; views on marriage and free love; women’s response to» — las diez subentradas de Achsa Sprague, que separan la respuesta de los hombres de la de las mujeres.
«Spiritualism; and abolition; appeal of; aversion to organization in; beginnings of; and camp meetings; as cause of nervous derangement; vs. Christian Science; as consolation in» — la entrada mayor del índice, la del espiritismo mismo; el troceo la parte entre planas.
«bereavement; decline of; and economic reform; and health reform; internal conflicts; interpretation of; lack of orthodoxy in; and medical mediums; national conventions; and occultism; prominent followers of; and radical reform; resurgence of, in 1880s; role of women in; scope of; and sensationalism; social class, ethnicity, religious, regional background and; spread of; suppression of female leadership within; westward movement of; and woman’s rights movement; and woman suffrage» — y el resto de sus subentradas en la plana siguiente, que recorren el libro entero de la decadencia al sufragio femenino.
«Trance speakers; case study (Achsa W. Sprague); “conscious”; as medical mediums; men’s» — la entrada de las oradoras en trance; el troceo la parte entre planas.
«reaction to; vs. normal speakers; and organization issue; passivity of; physical appearance of; press coverage of; replaced by materialization mediums; speaking skills of; and suffrage; vs. test mediums» — y sus subentradas restantes, que terminan oponiéndolas a las médiums de prueba.
«Spiritualiste de la Nouvelle-Orleans; Echo-Mensuel Spiritualist Iniquities» — la única cabecera en francés que el índice registra, del espiritismo criollo de Nueva Orleans, seguida del folleto de Benjamin Hatch.
«Suffrage movement; in California; concessions of» — las dos subentradas del sufragismo, que son las dos cosas que el libro le reprocha y le reconoce.
«Sunderland, LaRoy Suydam» — dos entradas contiguas del índice, un mesmerista de los años cuarenta y la médium que manejaba fuego.
«Witchcraft Woman’s Christian Temperance Union Woman’s Medical College of Philadelphia» — la única aparición de la brujería en el índice, entre la Unión Cristiana de Templanza y la escuela médica de mujeres de Filadelfia; el barrido de tradiciones lo confirma con una sola ocurrencia en toda la obra.
«Woman’s rights movement; and abolition movement; conflict over organization of; and prostitution; and Rutland Free Convention; and Seneca Falls Convention; and Spiritualism; and suffrage» — las seis subentradas del movimiento por los derechos de la mujer, que son el esqueleto del libro.
«Woman suffrage movement. See Suffrage movement» — la remisión con que el índice unifica los dos nombres del mismo movimiento.
«Women; African-American; in Christian Science; death, mourning and; and dress reform; economic inequality of; and female hysteria; as healers; and health issues; leadership role in Spiritualism; and medical training; as mediums; as preachers; as public speakers; religious nature of; and reproductive rights; right to self-ownership; and sexuality; Victorian view of. See also Suffrage movement; Woman’s rights movement» — la entrada de las mujeres, con sus dieciocho subentradas: de la desigualdad económica y la histeria femenina a los derechos reproductivos y la propiedad de sí.
«Wood, Melvina. See Townsend, Melvina» — la remisión que resuelve uno de los cambios de apellido por matrimonio que el libro va anotando.
«Woodhull, Victoria; and American Association of Spiritualists» — la entrada de Victoria Woodhull, con una sola subentrada: la asociación que presidió y hundió.
«Wright, Henry C.; and nonresistance; at Rutland Convention; on sexuality» — las tres subentradas de Henry C. Wright.
«Zakrzewska, Dr. Marie» — la última entrada del índice, la médica regular a la que un casero le negó consultorio por suponerla médium.
«ANN BRAUDE teaches at the Harvard Divinity School. She is co-editor of Root of Bitterness: Documents of the Social History of American Women and author of Women and American» — la nota de autora con que cierra el volumen: enseña en la Harvard Divinity School y firma otros dos libros; el troceo corta el título del segundo al final de la última plana.
«Women’s Loyal League Women’s Ordination Conference» — dos entradas contiguas del índice, una del siglo XIX y otra que lo trae hasta el presente de la autora: la ordenación de mujeres.
«Clark, Uriah. Plain Guide to Spiritualism: A Hand-Book for Sceptics, Inquirers, Clergyman, Believers, Lecturers, Mediums, Editors.… Boston: William White & Co., 1863» — el subtítulo entero del Plain Guide to Spiritualism, que enumera a sus siete públicos; el censo imprime *Clergyman* en singular.
«Correspondence Between the Believers in the Harmonial Philosophy in St. Louis and the Rev. Dr. N. L. Rice. Cincinnati: Printed for the Friends of Progress of Cincinnati by Longley Bros.,» — una polémica epistolar entre creyentes de la Filosofía Harmonial y un pastor, impresa en 1854.
«Cridge, Alfred. Epitome of Spirit-Intercourse: … Its Relation to Christianity, Insanity, Psychometry, and Social Reform. Boston: Bela Marsh, 1854» — el folleto de Alfred Cridge que junta cristianismo, locura, psicometría y reforma social en el subtítulo.
«Cridge, Annie Denton. Man’s Rights; or, How Would You Like It? Comprising Dreams. Boston: William Denton, 1874» — el libro de Annie Denton Cridge que invierte el título del movimiento, publicado por William Denton.
«Hatch, Cora; divorce case; as healing medium; physical appearance of; trance behavior of» — las cuatro subentradas de Cora Hatch en el índice.
«Health reform; and alcohol, tobacco prohibition; and childbirth; and diet; and dress reform; and nineteenth-century medicine; and sexuality» — las seis subentradas de la reforma sanitaria, que son el índice del capítulo sexto.
«Home: as haven and heaven; Victorian view of» — la entrada del hogar, con la doble subentrada que resume el capítulo segundo: refugio y cielo.
«Nicholson, Valentine “No-organizationism”» — dos entradas contiguas del índice, con el ismo abolicionista entrecomillado.
«Noyse, John Humphrey» — la entrada del fundador de Oneida, que el índice escribe igual que el cuerpo del libro: *Noyse*.
«Ordination of women. See Women: as preachers» — una remisión del índice que traduce el vocabulario eclesiástico al del libro.
«Ouija board. See Planchette» — y otra que remite el nombre moderno del instrumento al decimonónico.
«Pregnancy: miscarried; and stillbirth. See also Abortion» — la entrada del embarazo, con las dos pérdidas que la introducción a la segunda edición trata.
«Press: coverage of trance speakers in; Spiritualist. See also Newspapers, Spiritualist; Periodicals, Spiritualist» — la entrada de la prensa, con la cobertura de las oradoras en trance por primera subentrada.
«Quakers and Quakerism; and abolition; and doctrine of inner light; Friends of Human Progress; and Hicksite Separation; and Spiritualism; splits within; and woman’s rights movement» — las siete subentradas del cuaquerismo, de la luz interior a los derechos de la mujer.
«Quimby, Phineas Pankhurst» — la entrada del primer maestro de Mary Baker Eddy, con la misma grafía que usan las notas.
«was not founded until 1893.» — el remate, en la plana siguiente, de la nota al pie que fecha en 1893 la primera organización espiritista duradera; la plana 27 no imprime otra cosa.
Concepts treated
Ocultismo (occultisme) — Braude lo define como la creencia de que un saber secreto u oculto da acceso a poderes mágicos, y lo pone como el apartamiento más notorio de la teosofía respecto del espiritismo; le da la razón a Cora Hatch Tappan en el fondo del asunto aunque no en la etimología, porque el espiritismo estadounidense nunca se asoció con lo oculto, teniendo la comunicación por accesible a cualquiera y sin misterio. Su única aparición anterior en el libro es como sustrato: Braude recoge de Jon Butler la sugerencia de un fondo de creencias no cristianas que conectaba el espiritismo con creencias ocultas anteriores.