230358 Captives: Caught Between Worlds in Fact and Fiction, 1550-1800 (S) (WiSe 2015/2016)

When we think about pirates and privateers in the sixteenth and seventeenth century, we tend to think about historical figures such as Francis Drake, George Clifford, or about Hollywood productions such as the Pirates of the Caribbean. In other words, we think about the Caribbean. The same applies to the word slavery which in English and American Studies is usually, and for good reasons, studied in the context of the transatlantic slave trade. At the time, however, most people in England would rather have associated the notion of piracy the Mediterranean.
Between the sixteenth and the eighteenth centuries the so-called Barbary Corsairs of the North African coast were notoriously famous for preying on foreign vessels at sea and capturing large numbers of merchants, travelers, and mariners sailing the Mediterranean. One of the effects of this phenomenon was a growing public interest in stories of captivity and “white-slavery” that led to the emergence of a new genre: the captivity narrative. Beginning in the late sixteenth century, a growing number of texts were published in which ransomed or escaped slaves would report on their experiences of abduction, slavery, and escape from the Muslim world.
This seminar is going to engage with the genre of captivity narratives from the point of view of cultural and literary studies. We will examine a wide range of captivity narratives, investigate its cultural and historical context, and analyze the genre’s connection to travel literature and its impact on the development of the early modern novel.

Bibliography

All texts will be made available on the Stud.IP