Inventing Eden: Primitivism, Millennialism, and the Making of New England

340 Pages·2014·5.397 MB·English

by  Zachary McLeod Hutchins

Inventing Eden

Inventing Eden
primitivism, millennialism,
and the making of new england
Zachary McLeod Hutchins
1
1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hutchins, Zachary McLeod.
Inventing Eden : primitivism, millennialism, and the making of
New England / Zachary McLeod  Hutchins.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-999814-2
1. American literature—New England—History and criticism. 2. American
literature—17th century—History and criticism. 3. American literature—18th century—History
and criticism. 4. Eden in literature. I. Title.
PS243.H88 2014
810.9'974—dc23 2013049348
1 3 5 7 9 8 4 6 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
Portions of chapter 3 were published previously and are reprinted here by permission of the
New England Quarterly and Modern Language Studies. See “Building Bensalem at
Massachusetts Bay: Francis Bacon and the Wisdom of Eden in Early Modern New England,”
New England Quarterly 83.4 (2010): 577–606; and “The Wisdom of Anne Bradstreet:
Eschewing Eve and Emulating Elizabeth,” Modern Language Studies 40.1 (2010): 38–59.
Neither man nor woman ever wanted to quit this Eden of their own
invention, and could no more have done it of their own accord than the
pearl oyster could quit its shell.
—the education of henry adams (1918)

{ Contents }
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Eden and Intellectual History 3
1. Paradise Explained: An Edenic Primer 12
2. Promoting Paradise, Ordering Wilderness: Topographical
Optimism Meets Agricultural Reality 35
3. A Body Unembarrassed: Humoral Empowerment
and Edenic Temperance 68
4. Building Bensalem at Massachusetts Bay:
The Search for Solomon’s Adamic Wisdom 106
5. T ranslating Paradise: Hebrew, Herbert, Milton,
Fox, and the Pursuit of Linguistic Purity 135
6. From Pilgrimage to New Birth, Adam to Eve:
The Evolution of Edenic Models for Conversion 178
7. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Eden: The Architects,
Slave Laborers, and Master Masons of Freedom’s Temple 209
Epilogue: The Edenic Inheritance 245
Notes 253
Index 323

{ Acknowledgments }
The intellectual journey culminating in this book began while I was pursuing
a bachelor’s degree at Brigham Young University, with the fearless teaching
and infectious energy of Janet Garrard; she challenged me to write on a subject
I cared about, so for the past ten years, I have. The BYU Office of Research and
Creative Activities allowed me to pursue an interest in Eden by financially sup-
porting the mentorship of Steve Walker, whose wisdom rivals Solomon’s and
will always be a source of strength. When, as an undergraduate, I submitted a
term paper on Jonathan Edwards and Eve to Early American Literature, David
Shields was both long-suffering and generous in responding to my prose; his
decision to publish a version of that essay armed me with the conviction that
paradise remained a subject of interest to the field.
As a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
after I thought I had learned to write, Eliza Richards taught me how to revise,
a far more useful skill. Reid Barbour never allowed me to rest on my laurels,
and the breadth of this study is a testament to both his capacious curiosity and
his willingness to tutor me on the finer points of seventeenth-century British
culture. Laurie Maffly-Kipp understood the point of this book before anyone
else and helped me to see the end from the beginning. Mary Floyd-Wilson
deserves a special note of thanks for being patient and honest enough to per-
sistently point out the flaws in early drafts until I was ready to listen to her in-
valuable critiques and for introducing me to the Folger Institute, where David
Hall, Laura Lunger Knoppers, and the late Marshall Grossman provided cru-
cial feedback. The Americanist Writing Group at UNC also provided helpful
commentary on early drafts of several chapters; Angie Calcaterra and Kelly
Bezio made that group’s work possible. The friendship of Tim Marr was a
pleasant surprise to a young graduate student, and I hope someday to acquire
his talent for asking just the right question. Finally, Philip Gura’s scholarship
brought me to Chapel Hill and laid the groundwork for all that follows in this
study. His expertise opened doors and books that I never would have cracked
on my own. I am still his student.
As a junior faculty member at BYU and Colorado State University, I have
benefited from the aid and sage advice of wonderful colleagues. Among the
many individuals at these two institutions whom I count as friends, I am par-
ticularly indebted to Brian Roberts, Matt Wickman, John Talbot, Rachel Cope,
Phil Snyder, Dennis Perry, Jamie Horrocks, Jamin Rowan, Tessa Hauglid,
Amparo Jeffery, Barbara Sebek, and Roze Hentschell. And to my students at