Resources by Stiles, Anne

Stiles demonstrates the difficulty of understanding the literary work of Burnett’s early twentieth-century book, The Secret Garden, because the concepts of healing are so different now. Mitchell’s rest cure was popular, but its regimen was demoralizing. Rejecting rest cure, Burnett embraced Christian Science and its offshoot, New Thought, for herself, and her novels highlight educated women eschewing conventional medicine in favor of faith healing movements.

Stiles’ review of L. Ashley Squires’ Healing the Nation highlights its contribution to American literary studies by addressing its neglect of Christian Science. Squires provides crucial historical context explaining authors’ varied responses to the faith and offers fresh interpretations of overlooked texts. Blending literary analysis with history, journalism, and biography, the book makes a compelling case for renewed scholarly attention.

Stiles examines Christian Science novels written in the early 1900s in light of Mary Baker Eddy’s views on what she calls nauseous fiction. Specifically, Stiles studies Eddy’s correspondence with, and tentative support of, Christian Scientist authors of some of the more wholesome fictions for youth, comparing these with the more secular novelists writing for youth who often mixed Christian Science and New Thought beliefs.

Stiles examines late nineteenth-century literary references to the “inner child,” defined as “a person’s original or true self,” in the writings of New Thought authors. She highlights the maternal imagery of Mary Baker Eddy’s church and identifies Frances Hodgson Burnett’s book Little Lord Fauntleroy as a prominent example of literature portraying the child as a model of health and optimism.