7 - The Pilgrim's Progress: The Second Part

Summary

The author's introduction to the original The Pilgrim's Progress started as an apology for his form and method, only gradually building in confidence as he reminded the reader of his many scriptural precedents. His tone as he presents the second part in 1684 is quite different. Although Bunyan had published The Life and Death of Mr Badman as the sequel to his first hugely successful allegory to limited success, other writers and publishers had seized the opportunity to provide follow-up volumes designed to appeal to the public. Some, like Thomas Sherman, a Baptist writer who published a sequel in 1682, made no pretence to being the author of the original, but others, as Bunyan claims in the preface to The Pilgrim's Progress: The Second Part and in a poem published with The Holy War, either pretended to be, or hinted that they were, him. Bunyan, who had made no claim to literary as opposed to pastoral ambitions, is keen to expose these ‘fake’ sequels and to establish his authorship. In the new preface, Bunyan addresses the book as a text but then conflates it with its female protagonist, ‘my Christiana’ in a tone that is confident and protective (PP II 139). It is a combination that distinguishes the narrative itself and connects with two topics that have attracted much critical interest: Bunyan's growing authorial confidence and his representation of gender.

Bunyan's preface reassures Christiana/the book, who voices possible obstacles to a positive reception, by describing the success of The Pilgrim's Progress. This gives him an opportunity to list both the range of countries where the book has been a success, including France, Flanders and New England, and the type of readers, differentiated not only by age, from children to adults, but also by class. Unusually for Bunyan, who rarely describes the social, as opposed to godly, elite in positive terms, he lists ‘Brave Galants’, and ‘Young Ladys, and young Gentlewomen too’ among those who have read and valued the book (PP II 137). This account of the appeal of his earlier book is followed by a description of each of the main characters in this sequel from Christiana and her family to ‘old Honest ’, ‘Master Fearing’, ‘Master Feeblemind’, and ‘Master Despondencie’.