The South Pacific narratives of Robert Louis Stevenson and Jack London race, class, imperialism Lawrence Phillips.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Phillips, Lawrence (Lawrence Alfred), 1966- author.

Series:

Bloomsbury literary studies series.

Continuum literary studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894--Criticism and interpretation.

Stevenson, Robert Louis.

London, Jack, 1876-1916--Criticism and interpretation.

London, Jack.

Imperialism in literature.

Islands of the Pacific--In literature.

Islands of the Pacific.

Oceania--In literature.

Oceania.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (225 p.)

Place of Publication:

New York Continuum 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

From 1888 to 1915 Robert Louis Stevenson and Jack London were uniquely placed to witness and record the imperial struggle for the South Pacific. Engaging the major European colonial empires and the USA, the struggle questioned ideas of liberty, racial identity and class like few other arenas of the time. Exploring a unique moment in South Pacific and Western history through the work of Stevenson and London, this study assesses the impact of their national identities on works like The Amateur Emigrant and Adventure; discusses their attitudes towards colonialism, race and class; shows how they negotiated different cultures and peoples in their writing and considers where both writers are placed in the Western tradition of writing about the Pacific. By contextualizing Stevenson's and London's South Pacific work, this study reveals two critical voices of late nineteenth-century and early 20th-century colonialism that deserve to stand beside their contemporary Joseph Conrad in shaping contemporary attitudes towards imperialism, race, and class.

Contents:

'Race', class and imperialism in Stevenson's The amateur emigrant

Jack London's The people of the abyss: socialism, imperialism and the bourgeois ethnographer

Death, disease and paradise: a parable of imperial expansion

The inequities of trade: adventure narratives, ethics, and imperial commerce in Robert Louis Stevenson's The wrecker

The indignity of labour: Jack London's adventure and plantation labour in the Solomon Islands

Fragments of empire, fractured identities

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction

2. 'Race', Class and Imperialism in Stevenson's The Amateur Emigrant

3. Jack London's The People of the Abyss: Socialism, Imperialism and the Bourgeois Ethnographer

4. Death, Disease and Paradise: A Parable of Imperial Expansion

5. The Inequities of Trade: Adventure Narratives, Ethics, and Imperial Commerce in Robert Louis Stevenson's The Wrecker

6. The Indignity of Labour: Jack London's Adventure and Plantation Labour in the Solomon Islands

7. Fragments of Empire, Fractured Identities

8. Afterword

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index

ISBN:

9781441173386

1441173382

9781474211536

1474211534

9781283736107

1283736101

9781441199287

1441199284

OCLC:

809910949