Empire islands : castaways, cannibals, and fantasies of conquest / Rebecca Weaver-Hightower.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Weaver-Hightower, Rebecca.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Islands in literature.

English fiction--History and criticism.

English fiction.

English fiction--English-speaking countries--History and criticism.

Castaways in literature.

Imperialism in literature.

Cannibalism in literature.

Pirates in literature.

Monsters in literature.

Psychology in literature.

Psychoanalysis and literature.

English-speaking countries.

Physical Description:

xxix, 277 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, [2007]

Summary:

Through a detailed unpacking of the castaway genre's appeal in English literature, Empire Islands forwards our understanding of the sociopsychology of British Empire. Rebecca Weaver-Hightower argues convincingly that by helping generations of readers to make sense of-and perhaps feel better about-imperial aggression, the castaway story in effect enabled the expansion and maintenance of European empire.

Empire Islands asks why so many colonial authors chose islands as the setting for their stories of imperial adventure and why so many postcolonial writers "write back" to those castaway narratives. Drawing on works from Thomas More's Utopia to Caribbean novels like George Lamming's Water with Berries, from canonical works such as Robinson Crusoe and The Tempest to the lesser-known A Narrative of the Life and Astonishing Adventures of John Daniel by Ralph Morris, Weaver-Hightower examines themes of cannibalism, piracy, monstrosity, and the concept of going native. Ending with analysis of contemporary film and the role of the United States in global neoimperialism, Weaver-Hightower exposes how island narratives continue not only to describe but also to justify colonialism.

Contents:

Monarchs of all they survey

Disciplined islands : white fatherhood, homosocial masculinity, and law

Voracious cannibals, rapacious pirates, and threats of counterincorporation

"Falling to the lowest degree of brutishness" : wild men, monsters, and the bestial taint

Island parodies and Crusoe pantomimes : resistance from within

The U.S. island fantasy, or cast away with Gilligan.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 245-265) and index.

ISBN:

9780816648627

081664862X

9780816648634

0816648638

OCLC:

72149973

Online:

Publisher description