3 Public appeals and fiction, c. 1880–1894
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Christian K. Melby
Abstract
Appeals to an imagined ‘public’ became popular in the later Victorian era, and invasion-scare fiction in the 1880s developed in tandem with ideas on how to mobilise voters to promote specific policies on military planning. This chapter discusses three such instances: the 1884 naval scare, the debates over a channel tunnel in the 1880s, and the 1894 Dilke letter. These were all instances where the British public in the abstract were appealed to as arbiters of rational defence policies. The chapter outlines how the fiction of invasion and future war developed in the same period.
Abstract
Appeals to an imagined ‘public’ became popular in the later Victorian era, and invasion-scare fiction in the 1880s developed in tandem with ideas on how to mobilise voters to promote specific policies on military planning. This chapter discusses three such instances: the 1884 naval scare, the debates over a channel tunnel in the 1880s, and the 1894 Dilke letter. These were all instances where the British public in the abstract were appealed to as arbiters of rational defence policies. The chapter outlines how the fiction of invasion and future war developed in the same period.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- List of figures ix
- Abbreviations x
- Note on spelling xi
- Acknowledgements xii
- Introduction 1
- I Beginnings 19
- 1 The Battles of Dorking 21
- II Expertise, public opinion and invasion-scare fiction, 1870s to 1914 53
- 2 After Dorking 55
- 3 Public appeals and fiction, c. 1880–1894 83
- 4 Expert opinion and public pressure 117
- III Authors and readers 151
- 5 Fiction and society 153
- 6 Readers and receptions 189
- IV Fiction goes to war 229
- 7 Invasion-scare literature and the First World War 231
- Conclusion 263
- Bibliography 274
- Index 310
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- List of figures ix
- Abbreviations x
- Note on spelling xi
- Acknowledgements xii
- Introduction 1
- I Beginnings 19
- 1 The Battles of Dorking 21
- II Expertise, public opinion and invasion-scare fiction, 1870s to 1914 53
- 2 After Dorking 55
- 3 Public appeals and fiction, c. 1880–1894 83
- 4 Expert opinion and public pressure 117
- III Authors and readers 151
- 5 Fiction and society 153
- 6 Readers and receptions 189
- IV Fiction goes to war 229
- 7 Invasion-scare literature and the First World War 231
- Conclusion 263
- Bibliography 274
- Index 310
