George Eliot and the British Empire [Paperback]

This study situates George Eliot's life and work within the contexts of mid-nineteenth-century British colonialism and imperialism.In this innovative study Nancy Henry introduces a new set of facts that place George Eliots life and work within the contexts of mid-nineteenth-century British colonialism and imperialism. Henry examines Eliots roles as an investor in colonial stocks, a parent to emigrant sons, and a reader of colonial literature. She highlights the importance of these contexts to our understanding of both Eliots fiction and her situation within Victorian culture. The book also reexamines the assumptions of postcolonial criticism about Victorian fiction and its relation to empire.In this innovative study Nancy Henry introduces a new set of facts that place George Eliots life and work within the contexts of mid-nineteenth-century British colonialism and imperialism. Henry examines Eliots roles as an investor in colonial stocks, a parent to emigrant sons, and a reader of colonial literature. She highlights the importance of these contexts to our understanding of both Eliots fiction and her situation within Victorian culture. The book also reexamines the assumptions of postcolonial criticism about Victorian fiction and its relation to empire.In this innovative study Nancy Henry introduces new facts that place George Eliot's life and work within the contexts of mid-nineteenth-century British colonialism and imperialism. She examines Eliot's roles as an investor in colonial stocks, a parent to emigrant sons, and a reader of colonial literature. She highlights the importance of these contexts to our understanding of Eliot's fiction and her position within Victorian culture. The book also reexamines the assumptions of postcolonial criticism about Victorian fiction and its relation to empire.List of illustrations; Acknowledgments; List of abbreviations and note on the texts; Introduction; 1. Imperial knowledge: George Eliot, G. H. Lewes, and the literature of eml#X