Images of Colonial India in British Writing 1757-1857

Contents: Foreword. Acknowledgements. Preface. 1. Introduction: surveying the terrain. 2. The Zeitgeist: the historical, social and political co-texts. 3. Reluctant fathers: conservatives and orientalists. 4. A strident Nervousness: Utilitarianism and the rhetoric of reform. 5. Traveller\'s tales: \'personal\' records? 6. A fancied fear: Gothicism and exoticism. 7. Songs of empire?: The major romantic poets and India. Conclusion: constitutive contradictions. Works cited. Select bibliography. Index.

"The present book concerns itself with the issue of representations of India in English texts produced during a particular period of the colonial era, 1757-1857. The term texts is employed very eclectically in the book, dealing with almost all available material, from Parliamentary speeches to journals and epic poems. The basic analytical method employed is that of postcolonial theory, but other aspects and interpretative techniques, for example, feminism or new historicism are not neglected. The fundamental argument is built up from the very beginning, to protest against the over-valorization of "ambivalence" that is present in most contemporary analysis of the colonial period. The book, it is hoped, will make a rich contribution to the areas of literary historiography, literature-history interface, and Indo-British studies." (jacket)