Settler Colonialism in Victorian Literature is a triumphant demonstration of the power of nuanced historical analysis to illustrate the difference of the past and the contingency of our presentist concerns.
Hamish Dalley, Daemen College
NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction
NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction
This book consistently inspires deep thinking, offering new perspectives on materials our field would benefit from knowing better. The methodological innovations are an especially significant contribution that I trust will provoke future work. Steer will persuade readers that there is indeed a difference between looking to a place and looking from it.
Jason Rudy, University of Maryland, College Park
Victorian Studies
Victorian Studies
Settler Colonialism in Victorian Literature argues that the novel and political economy found common colonial ground over questions of British identity. Each chapter highlights the conceptual challenges to the nature of 'Britishness' posed by colonial events, from the gold rushes to invasion scares, and traces the literary aftershocks in familiar genres such as the bildungsroman and the utopia.
Bringing together literary formalism and British World history, Settler Colonialism in Victorian Literature places Victorian studies in a colonial perspective, and describes how what it meant to be 'British' was re-imagined in an increasingly globalized world.
Cambridge University Press
Amazon
Bringing together literary formalism and British World history, Settler Colonialism in Victorian Literature places Victorian studies in a colonial perspective, and describes how what it meant to be 'British' was re-imagined in an increasingly globalized world.
Cambridge University Press
Amazon
Steer demonstrates in this book a tough-minded, materialist analysis of form that draws its evidence from works of political economy as well as literature. The result is a deeply compelling argument that charts the “reverse migration” of economic and cultural forms from the settler colonies to metropolitan markets, both financial and literary.
Lynn Voskuil, University of Houson
Nineteenth-Century Contexts
Nineteenth-Century Contexts
The issues he raises cannot simply be consigned to the field of Victorian studies. Rather, they leave legacies which continue to shape life in Australia and New Zealand today, and with which we must all engage. This is a superbly intelligent and wonderfully researched book, showcasing the intricacy of colonial connectedness.
Grace Moore, University of Otago
Journal of New Zealand Studies
Journal of New Zealand Studies