印第安俘虏叙述文体的发生与演变

The Emergence and Evolution of the Indian Captivity Narrative

印第安俘虏叙述产生于17世纪后半叶美国殖民地时期,是欧洲移民记录自己或他人被印第安人俘获经历的传记性作品,其独特的主题、结构和叙述视角构成了美国特有的一种文体形式。俘虏叙述虽为自传,但包含了不少虚构、夸张的成分,是一种具有小说潜质的文体,因此到18世纪末俘虏叙述就与感伤小说自然融合在一起,到19世纪20年代又与历史小说融合在一起,其发展演变的轨迹反映了美国文化遗产的多源性。

The Indian captivity narrative, the narrative written by European settlers who recorded their own or other settlers＇ captivity by Indians, emerged in the later haft of the 17th century in the colonial America. Its special theme, structure and point of view formed a unique literary genre. Though biographic, the captivity narrative contained many fictional and inflated elements, showing its fictional potential which led itself to the fusion of the sentimental novel at the end of the 18th century and the fusion of the historical novel during the 1820s. The development and evolution of the captivity narrative reflect the multi-sources of the American heritage.