Shadowing the white man's burden : U.S. imperialism and the problem of the color line / Gretchen Murphy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Murphy, Gretchen, 1971-

Series:

America and the long 19th century.

America and the long 19th century

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American fiction--19th century--History and criticism.

American fiction.

American fiction--20th century--History and criticism.

Imperialism in literature.

Race in literature.

Racism in literature.

United States--Foreign relations--19th century.

United States.

United States--Race relations--History--19th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (289 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : New York University Press, c2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

During the height of 19th century imperialism, Rudyard Kipling published his famous poem “The White Man’s Burden.” While some of his American readers argued that the poem served as justification for imperialist practices, others saw Kipling’s satirical talents at work and read it as condemnation. Gretchen Murphy explores this tension embedded in the notion of the white man’s burden to create a new historical frame for understanding race and literature in America.Shadowing the White Man’s Burden maintains that literature symptomized and channeled anxiety about the racial components of the U.S. world mission, while also providing a potentially powerful medium for multiethnic authors interested in redrawing global color lines. Through a range of archival materials from literary reviews to diplomatic records to ethnological treatises, Murphy identifies a common theme in the writings of African-, Asian- and Native-American authors who exploited anxiety about race and national identity through narratives about a multiracial U.S. empire. Shadowing the White Man’s Burden situates American literature in the context of broader race relations, and provides a compelling analysis of the way in which literature came to define and shape racial attitudes for the next century.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. The Burden of Whiteness

2. The White Man’s Burden or the Leopard’s Spots?

3. The Plain Citizen of Black Orientalism

4. Pauline Hopkins’s “International Policy”

5. How the Irish Became Japanese

6. American Indians, Asiatics, and Anglo-Saxons

Conclusion

Notes

Index

About the Author

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780814759592

0814759599

9780814796191

0814796192

OCLC:

779828200