Rereading the Imperial Romance: British Imperialism and South African Resistance in Haggard, Schreiner, and Plaatje

by Laura Chrisman

Overview

This book examines literary romance as a vehicle for the ideological contradictions of British imperialism in South Africa from 1880 to 1920. Drawing on postcolonial theory and cultural materialism, Laura Chrisman discusses the fictions of mining (King Solomon's Mines) and Zulu history (Nada the Lily) by the imperialist Rider Haggard, and shows how feminist Olive Schreiner and black nationalist Sol Plaatje produced counter-fictions of metropolitan and African resistance. The novels are examined as responses to political, economic, and social developments of imperial capitalism: mining; the Anglo-Zulu War; the creation of Rhodesia; the 1913 Natives' Land Act, and the formation of the ANC.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198122999
Publisher:	Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date:	08/28/2000
Series:	Oxford English Monographs Series
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.80(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction
Manufacturing mystery from mining: King Solomon's Mines
Trading on Africa: King Solomon's Mines
The British conquest of Zululand: Haggard's politics and ideology
The fictions of Zulu history: Nada the Lily
Colonialism demystified: Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland
Alternative empires? Englishness and Christianity in Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland
Transforming Haggardian romance: pastoralism and sexual politics in Mhudi
Complex relations: African nationalism, imperialism, and form in Mhudi