Captivity & sentiment
Subtitle: cultural exchange in American literature, 1682-1861
By: Michelle Burnham.
Series: Reencounters with colonialism--new perspectives on the Americas
Publisher: University Press of New England
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Hanover, NH
Language: eng
Number of pages: 211
Subjects: American literature -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775 -- History and criticism; American literature -- Revolutionary period, 1775-1783 -- History and criticism; American literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism; Intercultural communication in literature; Sentimentalism in literature; Imprisonment in literature; Imperialism in literature; Colonies in literature; Slavery in literature
Other titles: Captivity and sentiment
Description: In a radically new interpretation and synthesis of highly popular eighteenth- and nineteenth-century genres, Michelle Burnham examines the literature of captivity, and, using Homi Bhabha's concept of interstitiality as a base, provides a valuable redescription of the ambivalent origins of the United States national narrative.

Stories of colonial captives, sentimental heroines, or fugitive slaves embody a "binary division between captive and captor that is based on cultural, national, or racial difference," but they also transcend these preexisting antagonistic dichotomies by creating a new social space, and herein lies their emotional power. Beginning from a simple question on why captivity, particularly that of women, so often inspires a sentimental response, Burnham examines how these narratives elicit both sympathy and pleasure. The texts carry such great emotional impact precisely because they "traverse those very cultural, national, and racial boundaries that they seem so indelibly to inscribe.

Captivity literature, like its heroines, constantly negotiates zones of contact," and crossing those borders reveals new cultural paradigms to the captive and, ultimately, the reader.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 193-205) and index.