Nationalism, Imperialism, and Identity in Late Victorian Culture : Civil and Military Worlds

This book gives an account of the refashioning of ideas about national character in late Victorian culture, with a wide reference to literature and popular culture around the time of the Boer War, and a particular scrutiny of images of the soldier. In specific images, narratives and motifs, the book highlights dynamic tensions, between the external boundaries of empire and those of civil society, and between class antagonisms and national projections. Many new sources and materials are introduced to this field of study. "Nationalism, Imperialism and Identity in Late Victorian Culture provides an account of ideas of national character in late Victorian culture, with a wide reference to literature and popular culture around the time of the Boer War (1899-1902), and a particular scrutiny of images of the soldier. In specific images, narratives and motifs, the book highlights dynamic tensions between the external boundaries of empire and of civil society, and between class antagonisms and national projections. New sources and materials are introduced, showing how the trauma of the Boer War for British culture may be explored in changing representations of the soldier. These changes cannot be theorized adequately in terms of an intensification of patriotism, the development of, or the crises of, imperialism. Attridge finds that the Boer War was both the last Victorian conflict, yet had much in it that anticipated modernity."--BOOK JACKET. Nationalism, Imperialism and Identity in Late Victorian Culture provides an account of ideas about national character in late Victorian culture, with a wide reference to Literature and popular Culture around the time of the Boer War (1899-1902), and a particular scrutiny of images of the soldier. In specific images, narratives and motifs, the book highlights dynamic tensions between the external boundaries of empire and of civil society, and between class antagonisms and national projections. New sources and materials are introduced, showing how the trauma of the Boer War for British culture may be explored in changing representations of the soldier. These changes cannot be theorised adequately in terms of an intensification of patriotism, the development of or the crisis of imperialism. Attridge finds that the Boer War was both the last Victorian conflict, yet had much in it that anticipated Modernity Machine generated contents note: Introduction 1 1 The Music Hall 16 2 The Image of the Common Soldier in Contemporary Accounts of the Boer War 44 3 Rudyard Kipling's Barrack Room Ballads: The Soldier as Hooligan or Hero 70 4 Empire of the Hooligan 92 5 Popular Poetry of the Boer War 107 6 Disoriented Fictions: Indian Mutiny Novels 139 7 The African Adventure Game: Reconstruction of the Hero 159 Conclusion 189.