The study follows the early evolution of the American frontier hero, from its roots in Mary Rowlandson's narration of her experiences as a prisoner during King Phillip's war through works by Unca Eliza Winkfield, Charles Brockden Brown, James Fenimore Cooper, the film-maker John Ford, and actor John Wayne.
DENISE MARY MACNEIL is Associate Professor at the University of Redlands, USA.
The American Frontier Hero in Mary Rowlandson's Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration Mythological Roots of the American Frontier Hero Mary Rowlandson, Puritan Hero Mothering the Adamic Hero Transcending Gendered English American Social Positions: Gender and Racial Multiplicity in The Female American; or, the Adventures of Unca Eliza Winkfield Dancing between Ferocity and Delicacy in Edgar Huntly; or, Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker by Charles Brockden Brown Reconstituting the American Frontier Hero through James Fenimore Mary Rowlandson in Jeans: The John Ford/John Wayne Film The Searchers and the Mary Rowlandson Heroic Archetype
"MacNeil s The Emergence of the American Frontier Hero 1682-1826 draws creatively on myth, imagery, and symbol in a comprehensive portrait of the frontier as a complex borderland. With innovative readings of literary, historical, and cinematic figures, MacNeil s sweeping study offers intriguing, new approaches to the field of American Studies." - Susan Imbarrato, author of Traveling Women: Narrative Visions of Early America
