Captivity narratives as social and self reflectionin Cervantes, Tyler and Pamuk

Being a forerunner of the novel genre, captivity narratives have been the source of recurrent images concerning the "Other", the Orient, Muslim, and the Turk in Western literature. These narratives have helped to establish the well-known East-West binary in the social memory of the West. This thesis examines the captivity theme in the works by Miguel de Cervantes, Royall Tyler and Orhan Pamuk. The "Other" acts as a mirror in these works, as while they depict the cultural aspects of the East, they reflect their own societies, histories, and identities. The introduction chapter outlines the framework of the captivity narratives. The second chapter focuses on the formation of the "Other" motif in the works of the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra in the light of social and historical developments. "The Captive's Tale" in Don Quixote (1605) and the play The Grand Sultana (1615) are the main reference points. The third chapter analyzes the American author Royall Tyler's The Algerine Captive (1797). The quixotic protagonist's critical approach to his own social issues while depicting the captor-taking society reflects the author's effort to create an identity for the new nation after its independence. In the fourth chapter, the concepts of history, fiction, and identity are discussed in the Turkish author Orhan Pamuk's The White Castle (1985). In the works studied, it is suggested that concepts like East, West, identity, and history are variable. They are handled together in terms of reflecting their societies and giving a common message about the intercultural unity.