Rule Britannia

by David, Deirdre

• ISBN13: 9780801482779
• ISBN10: 0801482771
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-01-01
• Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr

Summary

How did Victorian women - wittingly or unwittingly - serve the cause of empire? Deirdre David here explores women's role in the literature of the colonial and imperial British nation, both as writers and as subjects of representation. Her work offers a rare close look at the intersection of gender and race in Victorian literature and empire building. David's inquiry juxtaposes the parliamentary speeches of Thomas Macaulay and the private letters of Emily Eden, a trial in Calcutta and the missionary literature of Victorian women. David shows how, in these texts and in novels such as Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, Charles Dickens's Dombey and Son, Wilkie Collins's Moonstone, and H. Rider Haggard's She, the historical and symbolic roles of Victorian women were linked to the British enterprise abroad.

Author Biography

Deirdre David is Professor of English at Temple University

Table of Contents

Illustrations
Preface
Introduction: Tropical Fruit in Brixton	p. 1
The Invasion of Empire: Thomas Macaulay and Emily Eden Go to India	p. 17
The Heart of the Empire: Little Nell and Florence Dombey Do Their Bit	p. 43
The Governess of Empire: Jane Eyre Takes Care of India and Jamaica	p. 77
Babu Kalicharan Banerjee Puts His Arm around Miss Mary Pigot	p. 119
Laboring for the Empire: Old Patriarchy and New Imperialism in Tennyson and H. Rider Haggard	p. 157
Conclusion: "Material Interest": Emilia Gould Sums It Up	p. 203
Works Cited	p. 217
Index	p. 231
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