Imperial Masochism (ebook)

Argumento de Imperial Masochism (ebook)

"In compelling case studies, Kucich analyses this rewriting and suggests convincingly the value of psychoanalysis to historicist literary criticism."--Mary Elizabeth Leighton, Nineteenth-Century Contexts

"If John Kucich's other books and articles have not already established him as one of today's leading and most interesting authorities on Victorian literature and culture (and I think they have), then Imperial Masochism certainly will do so. This is a sophisticated and well-written study."--Patrick Brantlinger, Indiana University

"Imperial Masochism is at once a powerfully analytic and integrative book, clinically anatomizing the generative psychosocial dynamics of masochism while demonstrating through a wealth of interpretive illustration their pervasive influence on late-Victorian literature. It is sure to provoke welcome controversy among literary critics and scholars of class and empire."--Andrew H. Miller, Indiana University

"In his thought-provoking new book, John Kucich burnishes his reputation as one of the best critics we currently have bringing the insights of psychoanalysis to the interpretation of cultural history. . . . Imperial Masochism is an important intervention in colonial discourse studies."--Dan Bivona, Modern Philology

"In this elegant study, Kucich demonstrates the possibility of mutually implicating psychoanalytic theories, literary texts, and colonial discourses of race and class without losing sight of the specificity of each of these areas. In addition, he offers up a theoretically supple account of how masochistic fantasy can serve as a 'switching point' between otherwise disparate codes of thought and speech . . . [H]e shows how relational theories of masochism can be productive as a supplement to, or substitute for, Freudian ones; he reintroduces a more meticulous analysis of class into discussions of racial and sexual fantasy; and he offers illuminating readings of Rudyard Kipling, Olive Schreiner, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Joseph Conrad that clarify the stakes of current arguments over empire and over masochism. . . . This is one of the best recent books on literature, empire, and fantasy this reviewer has encountered."--J. B. Jones, Central Connecticut State University, for Choice

"Imperial Masochism [is] an important read for scholars who are open to stepping out of the established boundaries in order to tread new paths of inquiry."--Monica Ingber, In-Spire, Journal of Law, Politics and Societies0Acknowledgments ix
A Note on Texts xi

INTRODUCTION: Fantasy and Ideology 1

Masochism in Context 4
What Is Masochistic Fantasy? 17
Multiple Masochisms 28

CHAPTER ONE: Melancholy Magic: Robert Louis Stevenson's Evangelical Anti-Imperialism 31

Masochistic Splitting in the Scottish Novels 36
Evangelicalism: Pain Is Power 47
Rewriting Social Class at the Periphery: South Seas Tales 59
Racial Projections 72
Anti-Imperialist Euphoria in the Samoan Civil War 76
The Reversibility of Masochistic Politics 84

CHAPTER TWO: Olive Schreiner's Preoedipal Dreams: Feminism, Class, and the South African War 86

The Clash of Pleasure Economies in The Story of an African Farm 90
New Woman Feminism 96
The Regeneration of Middle-Class Culture 107
Fantasizing about the Boers 113
Domestic Middle-Class Identity and the War over the War 124
Feminist Masochism, Class Regeneration, and Critical Disavowal 129

CHAPTER THREE: Sadomasochism and the Magical Group: Kipling's Middle-Class Imperialism 136

Sadomasochism, Bullying, and Omnipotence in Stalky & Co. 140
Magical Groups: Bullies, Victims, and Bystanders 151
Kim: The Magical Group as Imperial Agent 160
Magical Professionals in the Short Fiction 168
Evangelicalism and Middle-Class Unilateralism 182
Class Hostility, Classlessness, and the Magical Middle Class 188

CHAPTER FOUR: The Masochism of the Craft: Conrad's Imperial Professionalism 196

Varieties of Colonial Omnipotence 200
"In the Destructive Element Immerse" 210
Empathy as a Narcissistic Disorder 216
Class Magic and Class Melancholia 223
Professional Redemption 235
Masochistic Imperialism 244

CONCLUSION 247
Index 253