"American Capta: Transformations of the Captivity Narrative in American Literature and Popular Culture"

This panel seeks to bring together papers that explore the genre of the captivity narrative as it is perpetuated and transformed in later American writing and cultural formations. I am seeking papers that engage with diverse and interesting texts (fiction, nonfiction, film, or any other form), ideally texts that have not been previously examined in relation to the captivity genre. How do these later works transform or challenge the traditional narrative elements, and what sort(s) of cultural work does the captivity motif perform in these new contexts?

I will also consider papers on "traditional" captivity narratives, probably those dealing with later or less familiar examples of the genre.

Please submit an abstract and brief vita by April 5, 2002. E-mail submissions preferred.