Captivity: A Novel

Captivity narratives are usually stories of people captured by enemies whom they consider . Ann Eliza Bleecker's epistolary novel, The History of Maria Kittle ( ), is considered the first known Captivity novel. It set the form for subsequent .
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They can serve a political or social control function, by reinforcing negative stereotypes and justifying aggressive actions taken against a targeted group, with the rationale that such actions are meant to "civilize" or "liberate" them. For instance, in People v. Woody , the State of California sought to uphold the conviction of members of the Native American Church for sacramental use of peyote. However, in overturning that conviction, the California Supreme Court wrote:.

We know of no doctrine that the state, in its asserted omniscience, should undertake to deny to defendants the observance of their religion in order to free them from the suppositious "shackles" of their "unenlightened" and "primitive condition. Out of thousands of religious groups, a handful have become associated with acts of violence. Tabloids such as Britain's Daily Mail often run cult survivor stories with a sensationalist bent, [25] and a recent American sitcom , Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt , is premised on the notion of "cult survivor" as a social identity.

It's not unusual for anyone who grew up in a religious and culturally conservative household — and who later adopted secular mainstream values — to describe themselves as a "cult survivor," notwithstanding the absence of any abuse or violence. In this sense, "cult survivor" may be used as a polemical term in connection with the so-called " culture war. Not all anti-cult captivity narratives describe physical capture. Sometimes the capture is a metaphor, as is the escape or rescue. The term "captive" may nonetheless be used figuratively.

Some captivity narratives are partly or even wholly fictional, but are meant to impart a strong moral lesson, such as the purported dangers of conversion to a minority faith. Perhaps the most notorious work in this subgenre is The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk , [26] a fictional work circulated during the nineteenth century and beyond, and used to stoke anti-Catholic sentiment in the U. She claimed to have been born into a Protestant family, but was exposed to Roman Catholicism by attending a convent school.

The nuns were required to service the priests sexually, and the children born of such liaisons were murdered and buried in a mass grave on the building's premises. Though the Maria Monk work has been exposed as a hoax , it typifies those captivity narratives which depict a minority religion as not just theologically incorrect, but fundamentally abusive.

The basic structure of the captivity narrative concerns the rescue of "helpless" maidens who have been kidnapped by "natives"[. Lewis , the nineteenth century captivity narrative was intended to either entertain or titillate audiences, or to function as propaganda. Lewis , David G. Bromley is a scholar of religion who draws parallels between the propaganda function of nineteenth century captivity narratives concerning Native peoples, and contemporary captivity narratives concerning new religious movements.

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Bromley notes that apostates from such movements frequently cast their accounts in the form of captivity narratives. This in turn provides justification for anti-cult groups to target religious movements for social control measures like deprogramming. In the limiting case, exiting members without any personal grievance against the organization may find that re-entry into conventional social networks is contingent on at least nominally affirming such opposition coalition claims. Any expressions of ambivalence or residual attraction to the former organization are vigorously resisted and are taken as evidence of untrustworthiness.

Emphasis on the irresistibility of subversive techniques is vital to apostates and their allies as a means of locating responsibility for participation on the organization rather than on the former member. If Bromley's scholarly language doesn't evoke a clear mental picture, the same concepts can be expressed more simply: A person may voluntarily join a religious movement or spiritual group and remain with it for some years, finding it beneficial, and establishing an identity as a spiritual adherent. If the same person later leaves the group and tries to rejoin the secular mainstream, she or he may be subject to mistrust or social stigmatization by a new secular peer group.

The apostate therefore fashions a retrospective account which takes the form of a captivity narrative. In this account, he or she never really "joined" the spiritual group, but rather was taken captive through some diabolical form of mind control which rendered her unable to resist. She or he was then held in captivity for some years, subjected to atrocities, and finally "escaped," or was "rescued" by some agent alleged to represent normative values, such as a therapist, anti-cult counsellor, or fellow apostate the "hero" in such modern tales.

She or he is, above all, a victim , and cannot be blamed for her former involvement with a stigmatized group. By recounting her captivity narrative to a new secular audience, the apostate confirms and reinforces negative views about the spiritual group in question, and so rehabilitates her or his reputation in the secular world. Thus, apostate captivity narratives containing atrocity stories have come to occupy a central place in the study of new religious movements , and in contested views about such movements.

They employ the devices of the captivity narrative in dramatic fashion, typically pitting mainstream secular values against the values held by some spiritual minority which may be caricatured. As is true of the broader category, anti-cult captivity narratives are sometimes regarded with suspicion due to their ideological underpinnings, their formulaic character, and their utility in justifying social control measures. In addition, critics of the genre tend to reject the " mind control " thesis, and to observe that it's extremely rare in Western nations for religious or spiritual groups to hold anyone physically captive.

Captivity by György Spiró | Quarterly Conversation

Like captivity narratives in general, anti-cult captivity narratives also raise contextual concerns. Ethnohistoric Native American culture differs markedly from Western European culture. Each may have its merits within its own context. Modern theorists question the fairness of pitting one culture against another and making broad value judgements. Similarly, spiritual groups may adopt a different way of life than the secular majority, but that way of life may have merits within its own context.

Spiritual beliefs, rituals, and customs are not necessarily inferior simply because they differ from the secular mainstream. Anti-cult captivity narratives which attempt to equate difference with abuse, or to invoke a victim paradigm, may sometimes be criticized as unfair by scholars who believe that research into religious movements should be context-based and value-free. Just as Where the Spirit Lives may be viewed as a "reverse" captivity narrative concerning Native peoples, the story of Donna Seidenberg Bavis as recounted in The Washington Post [32] may be viewed as a "reverse" captivity narrative concerning new religious movements.

The typical contemporary anti-cult captivity narrative is one in which a purported "victim" of " cult mind control " is "rescued" from a life of "slavery" by some form of deprogramming or exit counseling. During that time, she was subjected to abusive treatment in an effort to "deprogram" her of her religious beliefs. She escaped her captors by pretending to cooperate, then returned to the Krishna temple in Potomac, Maryland.

She subsequently filed a lawsuit claiming that her freedom of religion had been violated by the deprogramming attempt, and that she had been denied due process as a member of a hated class. Among anti-cult captivity narratives, a subgenre is the Satanic Ritual Abuse story, the best-known example being Michelle Remembers. Michelle Remembers represents the cult survivor tale at its most extreme. In it, Michelle Smith recounts horrific tales of sexual and physical abuse at the hands of the " Church of Satan " over a five-year interval.

However, the book has been extensively debunked, and is now considered most notable for its role in contributing to the Satanic Ritual Abuse scare of the s, which culminated in the McMartin preschool trial. This article references captivity narratives drawn from literature, history, sociology, religious studies, and modern media. Scholars point to certain unifying factors. Of early Puritan captivity narratives, David L. First they became instruments of propaganda against Indian "devils" and French "Papists.

Still later they became pulp thrillers, always gory and sensational, frequently plagiaristic and preposterous. In American literature, captivity narratives often relate particularly to the capture of European-American settlers or explorers by Native American Indians, but the captivity narrative is so inherently powerful that the story proves highly adaptable to new contents from terrorist kidnappings to UFO abductions.

These anxieties inspired vicious anti-Catholic propaganda with pornographic overtones, such as Maria Monk's Awful Disclosures [. Alexandra Heller-Nicholas quoted earlier points to the presence of a "helpless" maiden, and a "hero" who rescues her. Together, these analyses suggest that some of the common elements we may encounter in different types of captivity narratives include:.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Laycock references an episode of the animated series King of the Hill in which young women captured by a "cult" and subjected to a low-protein diet are rescued Texas style: An open air beef barbeque is held outside the "cult" compound. When the women smell the steaks a-cookin', and are handfed bite-sized morsels, they're instantly rescued from their "brainwashed" state, and return to cultural normalcy.

Laycock's work shows how anti-cult captivity narratives — whether real or fictional, dramatic or comedic — remain a staple of modern media. Indians and New Englanders, Race and the Founding of an American Literature, University of California Press. The chronology of American literature: America's literary achievements from the colonial era to modern times. Retrieved 7 September Ganong, William Francis, ed. New Brunswick Historical Society. With an account of his escape from Quebec, and his arrival at Louisbourg, on June the 6th, In Halpenny, Francess G.

Dictionary of Canadian Biography. IV — online ed. Jul 18, Attila rated it it was amazing. What a fantastic read! This novel is dense and complex, and at times difficult to read but in spite of that, or perhaps in part because of it, it is also a fantastic piece of literature.

Popular Captivity Books

Following the story of a young Jewish boy named Uri, who leaves his home in Ancient Rome during the reign of Emperor Tiberus, and heads on a journey to Jerusalem and from there all around the Mediterranean before returning to Rome during the revolt of the Alexandrian Jews, this novel is more than a coming of age What a fantastic read! Following the story of a young Jewish boy named Uri, who leaves his home in Ancient Rome during the reign of Emperor Tiberus, and heads on a journey to Jerusalem and from there all around the Mediterranean before returning to Rome during the revolt of the Alexandrian Jews, this novel is more than a coming of age story or an extremely detailed piece of historical fiction.

It is a brilliant piece of satire on the intersection of politics and religion, both in the ancient world and in the modern one. The author's prose is brilliant, extremely witty.

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At times the story is humorous, absurdly so, as hilarious as the best Monty Python episodes. At other times, the story is stark and violent, told in such blunt, and graphically descriptive language that it seems like a Cormac McCarthy novel.

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Yet even when the story is difficult to read, it is so fascinating that you continue to plow through it, through all pages of it to be precise. And what a masterful job the English translator has done with this epic novel. If you love humor, satire, political or historical fiction, or just plain good, well written, serious literature, if you're patient enough to dedicate the time to plow through an page novel, I highly recommend this one.

Feb 23, Juli rated it it was amazing. My review appears in New York Journal of Books. Read that review first. Additional remarks that appeared in a different and now defunct publication begin with the next paragraph. Gyorgy Spiro's Captivity portrays First Century Roman Jewry Was there ever an era like the current one when Jews simultaneously participated in their own and a global culture both in the land where their people and civilization originated and in a large diaspora? He finds few aspiring scholars among his fellow Roman Jews of the working and mercantile class, and he is not always welcome among his polytheist fellow Roman citizens.

In addition to those, others include his indicating that the first day of the Jewish month of Tishri is the day before Rosh Hashanah when it is indeed the first day of the Jewish New Year. Prior to those revolts the world Jewish population was five and a half million of whom one million lived in Babylonia and Persia in the Parthian Empire with the remaining four and a half million in the Roman Empire the majority of whom lived in the diaspora. That means that the Jewish population of Judaea and Galilee could not have exceeded two million.

Since we know that the casualties of the Third Jewish Revolt the Bar Kochba revolt exceeded those of the First Jewish Revolt the Second Jewish Revolt took place in the Diaspora , the total number of Jews killed in the First Jewish Revolt could not have equalled the entire Jewish population of the country. Capitivity is a beast of a book. I think the publisher did it a disservice by selling it as "The Life of Brian" meets "I, Claudius" because it's not a humorous book. It's an extremely immersive story of early Imperial Rome, seen through the eyes of a remarkable Jew.

The first half of the book is surprisingly devoid of strong plot movement. It's almost like a sandbox RPG where we're just wandering aimlessly around Rome, Judea and Alexandria in the most meticulous detail imaginable. What I didn't Capitivity is a beast of a book. What I didn't know then was how important the infrastructure of people and place would become as the volcanic second act erupts.


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I really had to work to keep up with it all, despite my better-than-average familiarity with the period and the events that shaped it but it felt like work well-earned. I really connected with the protagonist. He was deeply flawed but embraced change for the better every time it was needed. His relationship with his father and sons was especially touching. Much could be made about Spiro's depiction of most of the women in this novel but, seen as it was through Uri's eyes, making it some other way would have been less authentic. Read his thoughts on all three at http: May 20, Kata rated it it was amazing.

At times difficult to work through for a couple of reasons, but in the end a very rewarding read. The difficulties were some of the historical trivia. While fascinating in places the descriptions of the tithes and taxes that the villages in Judea paid and how , they overwhelmed my reading of the "story" in other places the architecture and layout of Caesarea. All the same, it was for the most part an interesting read and to my somewhat limited historical knowledge, a reasonably accurate des At times difficult to work through for a couple of reasons, but in the end a very rewarding read.

All the same, it was for the most part an interesting read and to my somewhat limited historical knowledge, a reasonably accurate description of life and death. And that was the second reason. Uri's life had amazing highs and incredible lows. Near death, starvation, difficult family situation that pulled him down and kept him under, and losing in different ways the two people most important to him - his father while he was traveling, but not knowing it until he returned, and his eldest son to slavery. But Uri kept going all the way through his faith in the Eternal One changing and adjusting to the situation.

Not much different that today. And the descriptions of the attitudes of Jews and non-Jews is still the same today. I have gifted this book to my dearest and closest friends who are history buffs. The author takes us back to the first century C. For the most part I am not knowledgeable enough to judge how accurate his knowledge of pre-Rabbinic Judaism and Philo's ideas are. The highest compliment that I can pay him is the author has arous Amazing work. The highest compliment that I can pay him is the author has aroused my curiosity to find out more about the historical figures mentioned.

My one concern is that his description of Leverite marriage is grossly inaccurate. To like minded readers I would recommend the following books: Dec 26, Maui Island rated it it was amazing. This is an incredible book. It is a very long book and heavy reading, but the picture of the wh This is an incredible book. It is a very long book and heavy reading, but the picture of the whole makes it worthwhile. For full disclosure, I read it in Hungarian and do not know how readable it is in translation. An incredible book - the setting: The first half of the book is about Jewish society in these locations - food, community, prayers, etc.

The next part is about pogroms and large scale slaughter of Jews and ends with the destruction of the 2nd Beis Hamikdash. Slow in parts, but amazing in others to more than make up for it. Extremely detailed and long detailing situation in Rome and Israel from the point of semi-blind boy on a delegation to from Rome to Israel. Thanks to Tim Wilkinson for translating this. Nothing is able to be anything but what it is. Zelig-like, he also interacts passingly with many of the major figures of his era, including not only emperors Caligula, Claudius, and Vespasian, but also Jesus, Pontius Pilate, and Philo.

The book is rich with researched detail; the author clearly took copious notes from tours to Roman antiquities and readings of Cassius Dio.

György Spiro’s Captivity fails to captivate Tibor Fischer

While there are some inaccuracies, overall the novel effectively recreates ancient times, not just their majesty and intrigue, but also their squalor and slaughter. We travel the teeming streets of the Jewish slum of Trastevere, savor the fine arts of the grand palaces and stadia of the Palatine and Alexandria, and cull grain repetitively in the dusty plains of Judaea. We experience first-hand the chaos of Tiberian absentee rule, the massacre of the Samaritans, the imprisonment of Christ and the subsequent rise of Christianity, the scholarship of ancient Alexandria alongside the Alexandrian pogrom, the terror of Caligula, the burning of Rome, and the butchering of the First Jewish-Roman War.

The book is a true transportation and an achievement in historical fiction. The plot has elements of bildungsroman and picaresque, but subverts those genres repeatedly. This brings me to my first criticism. Captivity is steeped in a Hungarian fatalism exaggerated into deep misanthropy. The characters treat each other terribly, and even the few generous actions are accompanied with mean-spiritedness.


  1. Dermatología de pequeños animales (Spanish Edition).
  2. Captivity — Restless Books;
  3. Captivity narrative - Wikipedia.
  4. To the contrary, one might argue the credo of the book is articulated by this quote: Your enemies are the only ones in whom you will never be disappointed. My second concern is that the characterization of Jews is resolutely negative.

    by György Spiró

    These points aside, I really enjoyed Captivity. I just cannot fathom why anyone liked this book. I admit I know very little about ancient history but generally I am a big fan of historical novels, no matter where and when they take place, as long as they are well written with sympathetic or interesting characters. A plot is less important, which is good since this book had absolutely zero plot. Not to mention terribly written or at least badly translated or edited, I'm not sure which as my ebook would have some sentences with no verb and oth I just cannot fathom why anyone liked this book.

    Not to mention terribly written or at least badly translated or edited, I'm not sure which as my ebook would have some sentences with no verb and others with two or three unrelated verbs, like the translator was trying to pick out the best one and forgot to delete the others , with a completely imbecilic main character.

    Basically this book is a combination travelogue and social and political history lesson as told through the eyes of a semi-blind yes, that's right Jewish Roman citizen who just happens to find himself at every major historical event that occurred during his lifetime roughly from the time of Jesus until a few years after the destruction of the Second Temple. It took me over a year to plow through the seemingly non-ending minutiae of everyday life, religious and social customs, and who was killing whom when, not knowing what to believe was factual since even with my limited knowledge I found mistakes such as Sukkot is not the 10 of Tishrei and Uri certainly would have heard of Shavuot.

    I cursed the friend who had recommended it until she redeemed herself with A Gentleman in Moscow. Now that was a good book! Along the way, it brings to life each piece of the ancient world, making each leap to life. But, finally, the echoes the book leaves me with aren't from those windows into particular places and how they differed, no matter how fascinating that is. Instead, the pattern beneath is what lingers. Every place visited like every ruler met starts out inspiring or tries to , with the sickness, corruption, violence and cruelty beneath only working its way to the surface over time.

    But that viciousness of the ancient world and the inescapable reminders that human nature hasn't changed, implying that it almost has to remain present today and the human-ness of its calamities is what haunts. It keeps pushing me back to a line from a high-fantasy favorite Tokein's Two Towers , when Theoden, confronting the horrors that orcs and dark Maia reek on earth, asks: What can men do against such reckless hate?