Summary
Summary of The Spirit-Rapper: An Autobiography
Key ideas
Key idea 1
A confession carries an argument
The Spirit-Rapper takes the form of a man's confession about his involvement in reform causes, mesmerism and table-rapping. Behind that voice stands Orestes Brownson, a thinker who had moved between faiths before becoming a Catholic. The personal story gives his religious argument a human setting.
Brownson does not treat the spirit craze as mere deception. He believes some of its effects are real, but that the power behind them is dark. His central concern is how hopes for reform can draw people toward those powers.
Key idea 2
Spirit circles reveal a spiritual hunger
Start free to read
Key idea 3
Curiosity can grow into dependence
Start free to read
Key idea 4
Reform hopes meet hidden powers
Start free to read
Key idea 5
Authority stands against spiritual experiment
Start free to read
Key idea 6
Fiction gives the warning a voice
Start free to read
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
For readers who love fiction mixed with argument, and anyone curious about nineteenth century American religion, spiritualism and reform.
What this book is
The Spirit-Rapper appeared in 1854. It was written by Orestes Brownson, an American thinker who had moved from one faith to another before he became a Catholic in 1844. The book is cast as an autobiography, the confession of a man drawn into the reform causes, mesmerism and table-rapping that swept the United States in the years before and after 1850.
Brownson did not write it only to tell a tale. He wrote it to argue a case. He held that the spiritualism of his day was real in some of its effects and that the power behind it was dark. The book gives you a Catholic critic's view of the age, wrapped in a story. Its first key point is how Brownson links the spirit craze to the hopes of the reformers.
In this summary
- 1Spiritualism was not a passing fadFree
- 2Mesmerism opened the door
- 3Reform movements and the occult were tied together
- 4A Catholic judgment on an age of novelty
Key point 1 of 4
Spiritualism was not a passing fad
Brownson wrote when table-rapping and spirit circles were spreading fast. The best-known start was the rapping heard around the Fox sisters in New York State in 1848. Within a few years, séances were held in parlors and halls and reported in newspapers across America and Europe.
Many contemporaries treated all this as fraud or foolishness. Brownson would not settle for either. He thought the phenomena deserved to be taken seriously, and he thought they said something about the spiritual hunger of the age.
The confession form lets him show the matter from inside. A narrator who has been part of the movement speaks with the weight of experience. For a reader today, this part of the book works as a record of how a thoughtful critic saw the craze at its height.
That’s 1 of 4 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
- Nothing to pay today · Renews every year
- We email you before you pay
- Cancel online in two clicks
Check yourself
How does Brownson show someone becoming involved in practices he once would have refused?
Right. “The story follows how an ordinary, educated person can be led, one reasonable step after another, into practices he once would have refused.”Not quite. “The story follows how an ordinary, educated person can be led, one reasonable step after another, into practices he once would have refused.”
What belief does Brownson connect with reformers' openness to spiritual powers?
Right. “His claim is that these movements shared a belief that human nature could be perfected without God and without the Church.”Not quite. “His claim is that these movements shared a belief that human nature could be perfected without God and without the Church.”
What does Brownson present as protection against the powers the narrator encounters?
Right. “He presents the Catholic Church as the safe ground against the powers the narrator meets.”Not quite. “He presents the Catholic Church as the safe ground against the powers the narrator meets.”
Questions about The Spirit-Rapper: An Autobiography
What is The Spirit-Rapper about?
It is a fictional autobiography about a man drawn into mesmerism, spiritualism and reform causes. Brownson uses the story to argue that the spirit movements of his time were dangerous and had a dark source.
Who wrote The Spirit-Rapper and when?
Orestes Brownson, an American Catholic writer and editor, published it in 1854. It came out during the height of the American craze for table-rapping and spirit circles.
What does spirit-rapper mean?
A spirit-rapper is a person who claims to receive messages from spirits through mysterious knocking sounds. The practice grew popular after the Fox sisters made rapping famous in 1848.
Is The Spirit-Rapper a true story?
It is presented as an autobiography but it is fiction. Brownson used a made-up confession to argue about real movements of his day, drawing on what he knew of the reformers and spiritualists.
Is The Spirit-Rapper worth reading today?
It is worth reading for its view of nineteenth century spiritualism and reform. It is also a polemic, so expect argument over action, and a strongly Catholic point of view.
