The rhetoric of empire : colonial discourse in journalism, travel writing, and imperial administration / / David Spurr

• Autore: Spurr David <1949->
• Pubblicazione: Durham : , : Duke University Press, , 1993
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (224 p.)
• Disciplina: 809/.93358
• Soggetto topico: English prose literature - History and criticism; American prose literature - History and criticism; French prose literature - History and criticism; Travel writing - History; Imperialism in literature; Colonies in literature; Discourse analysis; Rhetoric
• Soggetto geografico: Developing countries In literature; English-speaking countries Intellectual life
• Note generali: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (pages [203]-208) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1 Surveillance: Under Western Eyes -- 2 Appropriation: Inheriting the Earth -- 3 Aestheticization: Savage Beauties -- 4 Classification: The Order of Nations -- 5 Debasement: Filth and Defilement -- 6 Negation: Areas of Darkness -- 7 Affirmation: The White Man's Burden -- 8 Idealization: Strangers in Paradise -- 9 Insubstantialization: Seeing as in a Dream -- 10 Naturalization: The Wilderness in Human Form -- 11 Eroticization: The Harems of the West -- 12 Resistance: Notes Toward an Opening -- Bibliography -- Index
• Sommario/riassunto: The white man's burden, darkest Africa, the seduction of the primitive: such phrases were widespread in the language Western empires used to talk about their colonial enterprises. How this language itself served imperial purposes--and how it survives today in writing about the Third World--are the subject of David Spurr's book, a revealing account of the rhetorical strategies that have defined Western thinking about the non-Western world.Despite historical differences among British, French, and American versions of colonialism, their rhetoric had much in common. The Rhetoric of Empire identifies these shared features—images, figures of speech, and characteristic lines of argument—and explores them in a wide variety of sources. A former correspondent for the United Press International, the author is equally at home with journalism or critical theory, travel writing or official documents, and his discussion is remarkably comprehensive. Ranging from T. E. Lawrence and Isak Dineson to Hemingway and Naipaul, from Time and the New Yorker to the National Geographic and Le Monde, from journalists such as Didion and Sontag to colonial administrators such as Frederick Lugard and Albert Sarraut, this analysis suggests the degree to which certain rhetorical tactics penetrate the popular as well as official colonial and postcolonial discourse.Finally, Spurr considers the question: Can the language itself—and with it, Western forms of interpretation--be freed of the exercise of colonial power? This ambitious book is an answer of sorts. By exposing the rhetoric of empire, Spurr begins to loosen its hold over discourse about—and between—different cultures.
• Titolo autorizzato: The rhetoric of empire
• ISBN: 0-8223-9864-8
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Record Nr.: 9910791033003321
• Lo trovi qui: Univ. Federico II
• Serie: Post-contemporary interventions.