British Imperial Literature, 1870–1940

British Imperial Fiction, 1870–1940 traces the gradual process by which the colonial bureaucratic subject was constructed in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Britain. Daniel Bivona's study offers insightful readings of a number of influential writers who were involved in promoting the ideology of bureaucratic self-sacrifice, the most important of whom are Stanley, Kipling and T. E. Lawrence. He examines how this governing ideology is treated in the novels of Joseph Conrad, Joyce Cary and George Orwell. By placing the complexities of individual texts in a much larger historical context, this study makes the original claim that the colonial bureaucrat played an ambiguous but nonetheless central role in both pro-imperial and anti-imperial discourse, his own power relationship with bureaucratic superiors shaping the terms in which the proper relationship between colonizer and colonized was debated.

"British Imperial Literature 1870-1940 creates a new context in which to sstudy these important writers whose ideas still trouble us. Few books achieve so much. In doing so, it reminds us of the use of historical readings that are not overwhelmed by ideology." Anne E. Fernald, Modern Fiction Studies, "...an indispensable resource for any scholar interested in placing the colonial servant inside the bureaucracy within which he worked and ruled." Nineteenth-Century Prose, "British Imperial Literature is one of the more interesting, important books on this topic published within the last five or six years - well worth reading by all students of Victorian and early twentieth-century British literature and culture." English Lterature in Transition 1880-1920, "Bivona's study of the relation of imperialism and the ideology of the bureaucrat adds an original contribution to current studies on imperialism and literature." South Central Review, "Daniel Bivona's analysis spendidly assists in clarfying how what he terms the European bureaucratic subject, working in the service of imperial governmance and expansion, is both instrument and agent...Bivona provides a commanding review of the growth of imperial bureaucracy in the nineteeth century...Bivona's excellent study...Bivona's book is an orginal and much needed contribution to the already large group of studies dealing with the workings of Victorian and early-twentieth-century empire." Victorian Studies