Literature, immigration and diaspora in fin-de-siècle England : a cultural history of the 1905 Aliens Act / David Glover.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Glover, David, 1946-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Literature and society--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Literature and society.

Great Britain.

History.

National characteristics, British.

Emigration and immigration in literature.

Emigration and immigration law--Great Britain.

Emigration and immigration law.

Physical Description:

x, 229 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Summary:

"The 1905 Aliens Act was the first modern law to restrict immigration to British shores. In this book, David Glover asks how it was possible for Britain, a nation that had prided itself on offering asylum to refugees, to pass such legislation. Tracing the ways that the legal notion of the 'alien' became a national-racist epithet indistinguishable from the figure of 'the Jew', Glover argues that the literary and popular entertainments of fin de siècle Britain perpetuated a culture of xenophobia. Reconstructing the complex socio-political field known as 'the alien question', Glover examines the work of George Eliot, Israel Zangwill, Rudyard Kipling and Joseph Conrad, together with forgotten writers like Margaret Harkness, Edgar Wallace and James Blyth. By linking them to the beliefs and ideologies that circulated via newspapers, periodicals, political meetings, Royal Commissions, patriotic melodramas and social surveys, Glover sheds new light on dilemmas about nationality, borders and citizenship"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: List of illustrations; Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1. Messianic neutrality: George Eliot and the politics of national identity; 2. Palaces and sweatshops: East End fictions and East End politics; 3. Counterpublics of anti-Semitism; 4. Writing the 1905 Aliens Act; 5. Restriction and its discontents; Afterword; Notes; Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781107022812

1107022819

OCLC:

785390184

Online:

Cover image