American Captivity Narratives (New Riverside Editions) | Paul Lauter

book: American Captivity Narratives (New Riverside Editions) | Paul Lauter

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American Captivity...

	American Captivity Narratives (New Riverside Editions) Paul Lauter Heinle, 1999 - 453 pages average customer review:based on 1 review view larger image
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This volume collects a wide variety of works from a uniquely American literary tradition, the captivity narrative. Beginning with an excerpt from Hans Staden's The True History of His Captivity, which influenced the American captivity narrative, this volume presents accounts by early settlers held captive by Native Americans (Mary Rowlandson, John Smith), narratives by African American slaves (Olaudah Equiano, John Marrant), and others. Collected with the real-life accounts are two captivity poems by Lucy Terry and John Rolling Ridge, and several popular tales and legends on the subject.

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Subjective stories of "Captivity" in American Life

I read this book as part of a English course at UC Berkeley. The two stories that we were 'assigned' were the Rowlandson & Equiano stories. Mary Rowlandson's tale of being the penultimate Puritan Christian who was taken by "savage Indians" is about as far from objectivity as any memoir from George W Bush. Over and over again, she reminds the reader how horrible it was for her to be kidnapped and put to work among the Indians and how great God was to put her in such a challenge. If you are not a hard-lined Christian, you will be hard-pressed to like her narrative as it is far from truth-ful and only expunges stereotypes. The other main story is by Equiano and it is a much better "read" than Rowlandson's tale. However, when one reads Equiano, they get a sense of the veracity of the situation. But most of what Equiano wrote was not truthful at all. But he, as an African-American former slave, is trying to appeal to the slave-holding audience of white America. Either way, this book is so-so. I would never consider it a work of great literary value.

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