Settler colonialism in Victorian literature : economics and political identity in the networks of empire / Philip Steer, Massey University.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Steer, Philip, 1979- author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in nineteenth-century literature and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

English fiction.

Commonwealth fiction (English)--19th century--History and criticism.

Imperialism in literature.

Colonies in literature.

National characteristics in literature.

Identity (Psychology) in literature.

Commonwealth fiction (English).

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xi, 227 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2020.

Summary:

"How did the emigration of nineteenth-century Britons to colonies of settlement shape Victorian literature? Philip Steer uncovers productive networks of writers and texts spanning Britain, Australia, and New Zealand to argue that the novel and political economy found common colonial ground over questions of British identity. Each chapter highlights the conceptual challenges to the nature of 'Britishness' posed by colonial events, from the gold rushes to invasion scares, and traces the literary aftershocks in familiar genres such as the bildungsroman and the utopia. Alongside lesser-known colonial writers such as Catherine Spence and Julius Vogel, British novelists from Dickens to Trollope are also put in a new light by this fresh approach that places Victorian studies in colonial perspective. Bringing together literary formalism and British World history, Settler Colonialism in Victorian Literature describes how what it meant to be 'British' was reimagined in an increasingly globalized world"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction: Settler Colonialism and Metropolitan Culture

1. The Transportable Pip: Liberal Character, Territory, and the Settled Subject

2. Gold and Greater Britain: The Australian Gold Rushes, Unsettled Desire, and the Global British Subject

3. Speculative Utopianism: Colonial Progress, Debt, and Greater Britain

4. Manning the Imperial Outpost: The Invasion Novel, Geopolitics, and the Borders of Britishness

Conclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Steer, Philip, 1979- Settler colonialism in Victorian literature

ISBN:

9781108484428

1108484425

9781108735858

1108735851

OCLC:

1122683397