ABSTRACT
A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison upended the genre of the captivity narrative through its unusual story of a woman who refused to return to so-called civilization. A Narrative highlights Jemison’s lifelong struggle to secure a domestic space in the wilderness. The composition of the text required collaboration with James E. Seaver, who recorded and published it under his name in 1824. Despite her pointed refusal at several points in the narrative to be “redeemed,” Jemison’s story was packaged as a captivity narrative by her collaborator and appealed to an expanding and enduring readership.
