For the Benefit of the Afflicted?: American Captivity Narratives from Mary Rowlandson to Jessica Lynch

Since Mary Rowlandson’s book was published in 1682, captivity narratives have been extremely popular and successful, becoming a distinctively all-American genre. Over time, captivity narratives have fulfilled different goals, evolving and adapting themselves to the emergence of new formats and new m...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Gómez Galisteo, Carmen
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2019
País:España
Institución:Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
Repositorio:e-spacio. Repositorio Institucional de la UNED
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:e-spacio.uned.es:20.500.14468/29990
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14468/29990
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:5505.10 Filología
captivity narratives
Mary Rowlandson
horror movies
september/11
narrativas de cautiverio
películas de terror
11 de septiembre
Descripción
Sumario:Since Mary Rowlandson’s book was published in 1682, captivity narratives have been extremely popular and successful, becoming a distinctively all-American genre. Over time, captivity narratives have fulfilled different goals, evolving and adapting themselves to the emergence of new formats and new media. Since the apparition of motion pictures, movies dealing with the topic of captivity are numerous, from The Searchers (1956) to the most recent, Captivity (2007). This essay examines the main characteristics of the genre and its evolution from colonial times to present-day America, in order to show how captivity narratives have changed to adjust to contemporary sensibilities. This essay also considers what uses captivity narratives have been put to and how they have changed and been modified to convey ends other than those envisaged by the authors of Puritan captivity narratives.