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

Abstract

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.