EMPIRE AND NATION IN BRITISH FUTURE-WAR AND INVASION-SCARE FICTION, 1871–1914
| Autor: | Christian K. Melby |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: |
History
Literary genre media_common.quotation_subject Interpretation (philosophy) Media studies Empire 06 humanities and the arts 060202 literary studies Popularity Newspaper Audience measurement 060104 history 0602 languages and literature Political culture 0601 history and archaeology Period (music) media_common |
| Zdroj: | The Historical Journal. 63:389-410 |
| ISSN: | 1469-5103 0018-246X |
| DOI: | 10.1017/s0018246x19000232 |
| Popis: | The British wrote and read a large quantity of fictional depictions of future wars and invasions in the period between 1871 and 1914, imagining the various ways in which a great war might look before the real conflict broke out. This article outlines the ways in which this form of literature described a British world united across time and space. The stories have traditionally been read as indicative of a societal fear of invasion, of imperial decline, or of the dangers of revolutionary upheaval. The article argues that the stories’ popularity can instead be traced to the way they included their readers in the experience of invasion and conflict, and how they were well suited to the era of modern mass newspapers. The article therefore concludes that earlier interpretations of how readers engaged with such fiction has underestimated how a varied readership could view the stories as entertaining spectacles where they were invited to participate. As such, the article offers a new interpretation of an important literary genre as well as of British pre-war political culture. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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