8 Imperial legacies, new frontiers
-
Kathryn Castle
Abstract
Enough scholarly attention has been paid to children's literature to establish that it played an important role in transmitting the imperial ethos to generations of children from the 1890s through the inter-war period. The popular press had been in the process of modernisation well before the end of the Second World War. Fiction set in the pre-war period which involved the travel of young Britons into the colonial world had often shown conflict between progress and the primitive. Magazines and annuals in the post-war period claimed the legacy of empire while they redirected youth to new frontiers. The introduction of a mechanical adventure hero who possesses selected characteristics of the imperial character is an interesting aspect of changing dynamics in the colonial world. In post-war Britain as the Empire contracted there was great concern over the economic state of the nation and its relegation to a second-rate power.
Abstract
Enough scholarly attention has been paid to children's literature to establish that it played an important role in transmitting the imperial ethos to generations of children from the 1890s through the inter-war period. The popular press had been in the process of modernisation well before the end of the Second World War. Fiction set in the pre-war period which involved the travel of young Britons into the colonial world had often shown conflict between progress and the primitive. Magazines and annuals in the post-war period claimed the legacy of empire while they redirected youth to new frontiers. The introduction of a mechanical adventure hero who possesses selected characteristics of the imperial character is an interesting aspect of changing dynamics in the colonial world. In post-war Britain as the Empire contracted there was great concern over the economic state of the nation and its relegation to a second-rate power.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- General editor’s introduction vi
- Notes on contributors viii
- Acknowledgements xi
- Introduction 1
- 1 The persistence of empire in metropolitan culture 21
- 2 Empire loyalists and ‘Commonwealth men’ 37
- 3 Coronation Everest 57
- 4 Look back at empire 73
- 5 ‘No nation could be broker’ 91
- 6 The imperial game in crisis 111
- 7 Imperial heroes for a post-imperial age 128
- 8 Imperial legacies, new frontiers 145
- 9 Wandering in the wake of empire 163
- 10 Communities of Britishness 180
- 11 South Asians in post-imperial Britain 200
- 12 India, Inc.? 217
- Index 233
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- General editor’s introduction vi
- Notes on contributors viii
- Acknowledgements xi
- Introduction 1
- 1 The persistence of empire in metropolitan culture 21
- 2 Empire loyalists and ‘Commonwealth men’ 37
- 3 Coronation Everest 57
- 4 Look back at empire 73
- 5 ‘No nation could be broker’ 91
- 6 The imperial game in crisis 111
- 7 Imperial heroes for a post-imperial age 128
- 8 Imperial legacies, new frontiers 145
- 9 Wandering in the wake of empire 163
- 10 Communities of Britishness 180
- 11 South Asians in post-imperial Britain 200
- 12 India, Inc.? 217
- Index 233
