Dickens and Empire: Discourses of Class, Race and Colonialism in the Works of Charles Dickens

223 Pages·2004·30.153 MB·English

by  Grace Moore

DICKENS AND EMPIRE
To Fay Moore and Sandra Moore, with love and gratitude
Dickens and Empire
Discourses of Class, Race and Colonialism
in the Works of Charles Dickens
GRACE MOORE
University of Melbourne, Australia
Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2004 by Ashgate Publishing
Published 2016 by Routledge
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Copyright © Grace Moore 2004
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identified as the author of this work.
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for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Moore, Grace
Dickens and empire : discourses of class, race and colonialism in the works of Charles
Dickens. - (The nineteenth century series)
1. Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870 - Social and political views 2. Imperialism in literature 3.
Colonies in literature 4. Race in literature 5. India - History - Sepoy Rebellion, 1857-
1858 - Literature and the rebellion
I. Title
823.8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Moore, Grace, 1974-
Dickens and empire : discourses of class, race and colonialism in the works of Charles
Dickens / Grace Moore.
p. cm. - (The nineteenth century series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7546-3412-4
1. Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870 - Political and social views. 2. Imperialism in literature.
3. Literature and society - England - History - 19th century. 4. Dickens, Charles, 1812-
1870 - Knowledge- India. 5. Social classes in literature. 6. Colonies in literature. 7.
India- In literature. 8. Race in literature. I. Title. II. Series: Nineteenth century
(Aldershot, England)
PR4592.I47M66 2004
823'.8—dc22
2004004819
ISBN 13: 978-0-7546-3412-6 (hbk)
Contents
General Editors' Preface vi
List of Figures vii
List of Abbreviations viii
A Note on Terminology ix
Acknowledgements x
Introduction 1
1 Emigration, Transportation, and the Problem of Closure 7
2 National Identity 21
3 The Racial Other 43
4 Red Tape and Circumlocution: The Crimean War 75
5 'How to Make an India Pickle' 91
6 A Tale of Three Revolutions: Dickens's Response to the
Sepoy Rebellion 113
7 Containing Cawnpore: The Reinvention and Reinterpretation
of the Indian Mutiny 135
8 The 1860s and the Decline of the Discourse 157
Afterword 181
Bibliography 185
Index 201
The Nineteenth Century Series
General Editors' Preface
The aim of the series is to reflect, develop and extend the great burgeoning of interest
in the nineteenth century that has been an inevitable feature of recent years, as that
former epoch has come more sharply into focus as a locus for our understanding not
only of the past but of the contours of our modernity. It centres primarily upon major
authors and subjects within Romantic and Victorian literature. It also includes studies
of other British writers and issues, where these are matters of current debate: for
example, biography and autobiography, journalism, periodical literature, travel
writing, book production, gender and non-canonical writing. We are dedicated
principally to publishing original monographs and symposia; our policy is to embrace
a broad scope in chronology, approach and range of concern, and both to recognize
and cut innovatively across such parameters as those suggested by the designations
'Romantic' and 'Victorian'. We welcome new ideas and theories, while valuing
traditional scholarship. It is hoped that the world which predates yet so forcibly
predicts and engages our own will emerge in parts, in the wider sweep, and in the lively
streams of disputation and change that are so manifest an aspect of its intellectual,
artistic and social landscape.
Vincent Newey
Joanne Shattock
University of Leicester
List of Figures
2.1 'The Shipwrecked Ministers Saved by the Great Exhibition
Steamer'. Punch. Volume 20,1851. 237.
Reproduced with permission of Punch Ltd. 33
2.2 'Specimens from Mr. Punch's Industrial Exhibition of 1850'.
Punch. Volume 18,1850. 145.
Reproduced with permission of Punch Ltd. 33
3.1 'The Land of Liberty'.
Punch. Volume 13,1847. 215.
Reproduced with permission of Punch Ltd. 48
4.1 'A Struggle Between Duty and Inclination'.
Punch. 22 April 1854. 165.
Reproduced with permission of Punch Ltd. 79
5.1 Detail from The Illustrated London News Grand Diorama
of the Great Exhibition. Yale Center for British Art,
Paul Mellon Collection. 100
7.1 'The Asiatic Mystery'.
Punch. 8 August 1857. 65.
Reproduced with permission of Punch Ltd. 137
7.2 'Justice'. Punch. 12 September 1857. 109.
Reproduced with permission of Punch Ltd. 137
7.3 'British Homes in India, 1857'.
Mansell/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images. 138
7.4 'Miss Wheeler Defending Herself Against the Sepoys'.
Charles Ball. The History of the Indian Mutiny. Volume I.
Between 380 and 381. 138
8.1 'How Not To Do It'. Punch. 12 October 1867.
Reproduced with permission of Punch Ltd. 174
List of Abbreviations
A Child's History of England CHE
American Notes AN
A Tale of Two Cities TC
Barnaby Rudge BR
Bleak House BH
Christmas Books CB
Christmas Stories CS
David Copperfield DC
Dombey and Son DS
Great Expectations GE
Hard Times HT
Little Dorrit LD
Martin Chuzzlewit MC
Miscellaneous Papers MP
Nicholas Nickleby NN
Oliver Twist OT
Our Mutual Friend OMF
Sketches By Boz SBB
The Mystery of Edwin Drood ED
The Old Curiosity Shop OCS
The Pickwick Papers PP
The Uncommercial Traveller and Reprinted Pieces UT an RP
All references are to the Oxford Illustrated Dickens unless stated otherwise.
A Note on Terminology
In order to be historically accurate the terms and names in this book will be those
used by the Victorians. Thus, place names like 'Kanpur' will take the anglicized
'Cawnpore', Native Americans will be referred to as 'Indians' and 'Jamaicans'
will refer to the descendants of African slaves transported to the island. Although
it is now common to refer to the 1857 uprising in India as the First Indian War of
Independence, I shall adhere to the contemporary British labels, 'the Sepoy
Rebellion' and the 'Indian Mutiny'. Finally, idiosyncratic spellings have not been
corrected, hence several variants on words like 'chapattis' will be found within the
text.