Елена Андреева - Ориенталистские мотивы в творчестве Генри Райдера Хаггарда Страница 11

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…the racial superiority of white Europeans (and of the English over all other Europeans).

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…the “civilizing mission” of Britain, greatest nation in history.

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“Savages” who did not “develop” the land and its resources were often viewed as having no right of possession, and the task of “civilizing” them <…> was defined in terms of their conversion both to Christianity and to “productive labour” or “industry”.

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The Indian Mutiny and the Jamaica Rebellion proved to many Victorians that the “dark races” were destined to remain forever dark until they perished from the face of the earth.

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Imperialism may not have had a name before1870, but though nameless it did more than provide mere background in the writing of the early and mid-Victorians.

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There are reasons for dating the British empire‟s rise at the end of the seventieth century, in fact at the Union of England with Scotland, in 1707; which is to say, at the very historical moment when the adventure tale began to be written, since Robinson Crusoe appeared in 1719. Defoe was one of the English government‟s agents in negotiating that union. And Defoe, rather than Shakespeare, is my candidate for the prototype of literary imperialism.

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One could speak in Europe of an Oriental personality, an Oriental atmosphere, an Oriental tale, Oriental despotism, or an Oriental mode of production, and be understood.