THE IMPERIAL THEME: A STUDY OF COLONIAL ATTITUDES IN ENGLISH NOVELS SET IN AFRICA

The thesis examines the colonial attitudes of 13 novelists of the last century. The general introduction establishes the efficacy of analysing society through the fictional, microcosmic study of the individual, with emphasis on relations between black and white.; The introduction to Chapter I indicates how the authors reflected the confidence and enthusiasm of their readers and of the Victorian age. Reviewed are George Alfred Henty, writer of boys' thrillers; Henry Rider Haggard, master of pure adventure; John Buchan, future Governor General of Canada; and the immensely popular Edgar Wallace. There is a biographical sketch of each author, a detailed analysis of the novel in question and an examination of the critics' views. A brief coda follows, showing why some authors were not included, specifically Edgar Rice Burroughs and Somerset Maugham.; Chapter II deals with novelists prior to World War II; it is shown how the equivocation on the political scene is reflected in the writers. Included are Polish exile Joseph Conrad; Gothic novelist Francis Brett Young; the satiric Evelyn Waugh; and the four African novels of Joyce Cary. The coda explains the exclusion of Olive Schreiner and Harry Johnston.; The era of decolonization is detailed in the introduction to Chapter III, showing little difference in attitude between the political parties. The authors in this section do not hail from the British Isles; they are Alan Paton, South African Liberal; Rhodesian exile Doris Lessing; Canadian visitor to Ghana, Margaret Laurence; the Kenyan Ngugi wa Thiong'o; and the Nigerian Chinua Achebe. The latter two offer the African perspective, and each of the authors in this section is represented by a collection of short stories. The coda lists several writers not included, with emphasis on V. A. Naipaul and Nadine Gordimer. They deal, respectively, with post-independence racial stress, and with the more recent development of "Black Consciousness".; The epilogue draws the disparate writers together to discover that common themes can be discerned: violence; the tragedy of the native who rejects his own culture; the role of white man's "progress"; religion and the destruction of indigenous cultures. None of the authors could advocate the return to a simple, pre-industrial society.