The half-caste / Dinah Mulock Craik ; edited by Melissa Edmundson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Craik, Dinah Maria Mulock, 1826-1887, author.

Contributor:

Edmundson, Melissa, editor.

Series:

Broadview editions

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Young women--Fiction.

Young women.

England.

Multiracial people--Fiction.

Multiracial people.

England--Fiction.

Genre:

Fiction.

Domestic fiction.

Bildungsromans.

Novels.

Physical Description:

157 pages ; 21 cm.

Place of Publication:

Peterborough, Ontario : Broadview Press, 2016.

Summary:

"Dinah Mulock Craik's The Half-Caste concerns the coming-of-age of its title character, the mixed-race Zillah Le Poer, daughter of an English merchant and an Indian princess. Sent back to England as a young girl, Zillah has no knowledge that she is an heiress. She lives with her uncle Le Poer, his wife, and two daughters, and is treated as little more than a servant in the household. Zillah's situation is gradually improved when Cassandra Pryor is employed as a governess to the Le Poer daughters and takes an interest in the mysterious "cousin." Craik explores issues of gender, race, and empire in the Victorian period in this compact and gripping novella. Along with a newly-annotated text, this Broadview edition includes a critical introduction that discusses Craik's involvement with contemporary racial and imperialist attitudes, her place within the broader genre of Anglo-Indian fiction, and the importance of Zillah Le Poer as a positive symbol of empire. The edition is also enriched with relevant contemporary contextual material, including Dinah Mulock Craik's writing on gender and female employment, British views on the biracial Eurasian community in India, and writings on the Victorian governess."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

The Half-Caste: An Old Governess's Tale 45

Appendix A Dinah Mulock Craik on Gender Issues and Female Employment 89

1 From Dinah Mulock Craik, A Woman's Thoughts about Women (1858) 89

2 From Dinah Mulock Craik, "Concerning Men, By a Woman," Cornhill (October 1887) 93

Appendix B The British Empire, Race, and the "Eurasian Question" 97

1 From "Half-Castes," House of Commons, Minutes of Evidence Taken before the Select Committee on the Affairs of the East India Company (16 August 1832) 98

2 From A.D. Rowe, Every-day Life in India (1881) 101

3 From Mrs. John B. Speid, Our Last Years in India (1862) 102

4 From Graham Sandberg, "Our Outcast Cousins in India," The Contemporary Review (June 1892) 102

5 William Browne Hockley, "The Half-Caste Daughter" (1841) 105

6 From [Philip] Meadows Taylor, Seeta (1872) 114

7 From Dinah Mulock Craik, Olive (1850) 124

Appendix C The Victorian Governess 133

1 From "Hints on the Modern Governess System," Fraser's Magazine (November 1844) 133

2 From Sarah Lewis, "On the Social Position of Governesses," Fraser's Magazine (April 1848) 139

3 From Emily Peart, A Book for Governesses (1868) 142

4 From The Letters of Charlotte Bronte 145

a Charlotte Bronte to Ellen Nussey (30 June 1839) 145

b Charlotte Bronte to Ellen Nussey (3 March 1841) 147

5 From Dinah Mulock Craik, Bread upon the Waters: A Governess's Life (1852) 148.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9781554812752

1554812755

OCLC:

949872650