1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910451604703321

Autore

Weaver-Hightower Rebecca

Titolo

Empire islands [[electronic resource] ] : castaways, cannibals, and fantasies of conquest / / Rebecca Weaver-Hightower

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Minneapolis, : University of Minnesota Press, 2007

ISBN

0-8166-9870-8

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (310 p.)

Disciplina

823.009/32

Soggetti

Islands in literature

English fiction - History and criticism

English fiction - English-speaking countries - History and criticism

Castaways in literature

Imperialism in literature

Cannibalism in literature

Pirates in literature

Monsters in literature

Psychology in literature

Psychoanalysis and literature

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Monarchs of all they survey -- Disciplined islands : white fatherhood, homosocial masculinity, and law -- Voracious cannibals, rapacious pirates, and threats of counterincorporation -- "Falling to the lowest degree of brutishness" : wild men, monsters, and the bestial taint -- Island parodies and Crusoe pantomimes : resistance from within -- The U.S. island fantasy, or cast away with Gilligan.

Sommario/riassunto

Through a detailed unpacking of the castaway genre's appeal in English literature, Empire Islands forwards our understanding of the sociopsychology of British Empire. Rebecca Weaver-Hightower argues convincingly that by helping generations of readers to make sense of, and perhaps feel better about, imperial aggression, the castaway story in effect enabled the expansion and maintenance of European empire.



Empire Islands asks why so many colonial authors chose islands as the setting for their stor