The Pageant of Empire: Paul Scott's the Raj Quartet and Related Versions of Imperialism in the Anglo-Indian Novel
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THE PAGEANT OF EMPIRE: PAUL SCOTT'S THE RAJ QUARTET THE PAGEANT OF EMPIRE: PAUL SCOTT'S THE RAJ QUARTET AND RELATED VERSIONS OF IMPERIALISM IN THE ANGLO-INDIAN NOVEL by ARUNA SRIVASTAVA, B.A., M.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy McMaster University November, 1988 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ( 1988) McMASTER UNIVERSITY (English) Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: The Pageant of Empire: Paul Scott's The .Haj (Juartet and Related Versions of Imperialism in the Anglo-Indian Novel AUTHOR: Aruna Srivastava, B.A. (University of Waterloo) M.A. (McMaster University) SUPERVISOR: Dr. Maqbool Aziz NUMBER OF PAGES: vii, 357 ii To my parents.. Gladys and lCD. Srivastava Abstract Although Paul Scott is a successor to other Anglo-Indian novelists, his literary reputation is unjustly -overshadowed, particularly by E.M. Forster's. Scott's epic novel, T!?e Raj Ouarte~ and its sequel, Staying 0!7, provide a pointed indictment of the human costs of British imperialism from a British point-of-view, both employing and undermining the standard themes and conventions of the Anglo-Indian novel. A complex and repeated series of images and symbols diagnoses the pathological state of the Raj at its moment of collapse. Scott's Anglo-India is trapped In a mythical Edwardian era of imperial certainty, rather than in the contemporary political reality of Indians· insistence on their right to self-rule. The current weakness of the Raj is that it is riven from within; the novel explores such issues as race and class, and points to the conflicts between, and paradoxes of, liberal and conservative imperial policies and ideologies. The Anglo-Indians· circumscribed sense of place, their attitudes to language, and their limited view of history expose the ultimate destructiveness of imperialism for those subjected to it. Scott's achievement notwithstanding, the uncritical and apolit1cal academ1c study of h1s novels and other novels about lnd1a overshadows the 11terary achievements of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi writers writing in English, permits continued ignorance iv and devaluing of the vast diversity of literatures in Indian languages, and continues to perpetuate the damagingly false images and attitudes about India which sustained the imperial venture in the first place. v Acknowledgements 1 am grateful to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council for the funding which allowed me to complete this dissertation on schedule. My committee members, James Dale and John Ferns, offered valuable suggestions, and exhibited much grace under pressure. My Intellectual and personal debt to two people Is enormous. A man w\th an astounding depth and breadth of knowledge, my supervisor Maqbool Aziz taught me how to think critically, while encouraging me to think for myself and to view lfterature and my chosen academic profession In substantially different, and more rewarding, ways than before. Linda Hutcheon has provided me with unfall ing personal and academic encouragement when I most needed It, and is an intellectual mentor of the highest rank. To her, I dedicate Chapter 6, "The Presence of the Past." This thesis was largely written elsewhere; to the ambience of Coldstream, Grace Street, Westminster Avenue, and Staulo Cresecent I give grateful acknowledgement. For their unflagging support during my period of dissertation dementia, I am indebted to many friends who shared their homes, their Ideas, and their shoulders: Ibrahim Attieh, Pat Cogswell, Donald Goellnicht, Kathleen Hall, AI I son Lee, Mary O'Connor, Susan Schenk, Diana Swart, and Prisct\la Walton. I have dedicated this work to my parents, to whom I would like to take the opportunity to express--as I haven't often enough--my deepest gratitude and love. Their connection with this study is Intimate. To my mother, especially, my heartfelt appreciation for an eagle proofreading eye. I am particularly grateful to Heather Jones for her continued support and for running Interference for me, and to Ani Ia Srivastava for eleventh-hour assistance. I reserve a special mention also for my husband Gregg Farrar, a walking thesaurus many a Sunday morning, and one of my firmest believers. Finally, for waiting, I thank David Winkle, who was unrivalled In his ability to remind and assure me wlth consistent good humour that there Is lffe beyond the dissertation and, Indeed, beyond academia. 1 survived on that sense of pro port I on. vi Table of Contents Prologue: Imperialism and Its Discontents ............................................. I The Backdrop 1 Imperial Certainty in Anglo-India .................................................. 23 2 Setting the Stage: Paul Scott's Predecessors ............................... )4 The Main Scene: Paul Scott 3 Imperial Uncertainty: Scott's Anglo-India .................................. 114 4 I mages of Anglo- India .......................................................................... 161 5 An Imagined Community: Landscape and Language in Anglo- India ......................................................................................... 205 6 The Presence of the Past.. ................................................................... 244 7 Clearing the Stage: Staying On...................................................... 282 Epilogue: Postcolonial Accusations ............................................................. 297 Appendix A: Names and Dates in The .Raj (Juarte/.. ........................ 311 Appendix B: Versions of Imperial History: "Divide and Rule" and Indian Nationalism ........................................................ 329 Works Cited or Consulted ................................................................................ 344 vii Prologue: Impertausm and Its Discontents Colonies oo not cease to be colonies because they are inoopendent. --Benjamin Disraeli A literary study should not ignore larger political and cultural contexts. As a study of novels formed and informed by their imperial context, this work is thus inevitably concerned with imperial ism. More precisely, it is about versions and stages of British imperialism: a number of imperial isms, seen at different historical moments; seen from below, from the perspective of the imperialized; from above, from that of the imperialist; seen retrospectively by a writer diagnosing and documenting the disintegration of a particular empire and imperial idea, a writer who, in turn, is seen retrospectively by a reader and critic who will place him in an imperial literary tradition. Many treatlses on and definitions of imperialism do not consider its larger context in history and culture. Few studies, therefore, theorize about the mutual implications of culture and imperialism, most likely because the pejorative connotations of the word "imperialism" seem to be at odds with more neutral concepts of "culture." The ideas of dominance, force and coercion, of power associated with "imperialism," in our present historical era do not allow us to perceive it without emotion, because we are committed, ideologically if not in practice, to an egalitarian or democratic ethos. According to Edward Said, the resulting black-and-white view of imperial history encourages a "polltics of blame" ("Intellectual" 45) which ignores the historical and cultural complexities of different imperialisms. Said thus urges intellectuals to analyze the cultural productivity of, as well as the damage caused by imperialism to the societies of the imperialists and those imperialized. I have twice used the word "imperialized," the rhetorical effect of which is to point to the difficulties of defining the term imperialism, and distinguishing it from the often synonymous colonialism. To a certain extent, I use the terms conventionally: imperialism is the theory or idea, colonialism the practice. In fact, as a term, the word colonialism predates imperialism, the latter being a late nineteenth-century neologism coined to explain and discuss the phenomenon of rapid national expansion. According to Eric Hobsbawm, "emperors and empires were old, but imperialism was quite new .... it was a novel term devised to describe a novel phenomenon" (60). As practice, colonialism is simply imperialism felt, is "imperialism seen from below" (Thornton, Doctrines 6). Further, we can see why colonialism has always carried a more pejorative sense than imperialism As Thornton puts it, nobody admits to being a "colonialist," whereas in the past many have proudly adopted the title of "imperialist" (Doctrines 8). When it first gained currency, then, imperialism was associated with "trusteeship and the governing of colonies for humane purposes" (de Schweinitz 16), slowly acquiring its negative connotations as economic theories of 2 imperialism took hold. The paradoxes inherent in the history of the word and idea of imperialism can most clearly be seen in its dictionary definitions. The Oxford Englis!J Dictionary defines imperialism as "the principle or spirit of empire; advocacy of what are held to be imperial interests. In recent British politics the principle or policy ( 1) of seeking or at least not refusing, an extension of British empire in directions where trading interests require the protection of the flag" (emphasis mine). Indeed, although there have always been observers who have seen imperialism negatively, the OED does not note its pejorative meaning until 1972, and still attributes its disparaging use to Communist and anti-Communist propaganda. Similarly, "colonialism"