A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
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that would provide a wide variety <strong>of</strong> services to those who wavered <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> “struggle for<br />
existence.” With his call for an end to poverty, his condemnation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ostentatiously wealthy<br />
and his secular vision <strong>of</strong> “Comrade Christ,” <strong>the</strong> young Pelley brought to m<strong>in</strong>d <strong>the</strong> social gospel<br />
so <strong>of</strong>ten espoused by spiritualist circles. The call for a non-denom<strong>in</strong>ational Christianity and a<br />
scientific exam<strong>in</strong>ation <strong>of</strong> matters <strong>of</strong> faith fur<strong>the</strong>r recalled <strong>the</strong> susta<strong>in</strong>ed attack on orthodoxy<br />
carried out by Spiritualism <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> preced<strong>in</strong>g century and suggested a dynamic <strong>of</strong> dis<strong>in</strong>tegration—<br />
heterodoxy. His rhetoric would rema<strong>in</strong> consistently heterodox, summon<strong>in</strong>g forth a world <strong>in</strong><br />
which “old worlds dis<strong>in</strong>tegrate, old fetishes wobble; out <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> womb <strong>of</strong> Time and Change is<br />
born <strong>the</strong> fresh majesty <strong>of</strong> wisdom ennobled.” 147<br />
Yet his calls for mutual aid and a constant<br />
recourse to mo<strong>the</strong>r love both enacted a more centripetal dynamic. Over <strong>the</strong> course <strong>of</strong> his life, he<br />
would occupy both poles <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> tension that so beset <strong>the</strong> political life <strong>of</strong> his age—communism<br />
versus fascism—<strong>of</strong>ten simultaneously. Like most avatars <strong>of</strong> modern communication between <strong>the</strong><br />
human and <strong>the</strong> O<strong>the</strong>r, Pelley’s vision was <strong>in</strong> many ways def<strong>in</strong>ed by susta<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong>ternal<br />
contradictions.<br />
As he cont<strong>in</strong>ued to th<strong>in</strong>k through his philosophy over <strong>the</strong> course <strong>of</strong> his adult life, Pelley<br />
showed evidence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> confusions and prejudices that beset his age. While crow<strong>in</strong>g about “Why<br />
I Am Glad I Married A Suffragist” for <strong>American</strong> Magaz<strong>in</strong>e and generally champion<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong>dependence <strong>of</strong> women, Pelley ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>ed standards straight out <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Victorian cult <strong>of</strong> true<br />
womanhood. As Leo Ribuffo po<strong>in</strong>ts out <strong>in</strong> his study <strong>of</strong> Pelley, this alleged fem<strong>in</strong>ist approved <strong>of</strong><br />
his wife’s “public activities only as long as she rema<strong>in</strong>ed a true woman who cooked suppers,<br />
nurtured children, and acknowledged his status as ‘boss’.” 148<br />
Much <strong>of</strong> Pelley’s written output<br />
147 William Dudley Pelley, Soulcraft 78 th Discourse: Redemption: How <strong>the</strong> Early States <strong>of</strong> Man worked for Spirit’s<br />
Concept <strong>of</strong> Society (Noblesville IN: Soulcraft Chapels Press). Undated material recovered from Noblesville, Indiana<br />
Public Library’s vertical file archive on William Dudley Pelley <strong>in</strong> July <strong>of</strong> 2005.<br />
148 Ribuffo, 37.<br />
87