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LIT 499-05 Spring 2017

LIT 499-05 Captivity in Early American Literature
Professor: Michele Tarter
Class meets: T/F 9:30am-10:50am

America has a fascinating obsession with the experience of captivity. We see this exhibited in contemporary bestselling memoirs and popular films that focus on hostages, kidnapped victims, prisoners, and the myriad voices of those being held in confinement against their wills. Quite interestingly, America’s identification with captivity finds its origins in colonial times. This seminar will explore the construction of captivity in our nation’s earliest literature, history, and culture. We will turn to some dramatic primary texts from the 17th and 18th centuries, including Indian captivity narratives, Salem Witchcraft trial records, rapturous prophesyings recorded during the Great Awakening, and classic seduction tales of Revolutionary America. Our analysis will connect to our present-day understanding of captivity and examine the ways in which this experience is deeply embedded in the roots of American identity and selfhood.

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