This Thesis Has Been Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for a Postgraduate Degree (E.G
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This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: • This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. • A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. • This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. • The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. • When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Livingstone’s “Lives”: A Metabiography of a Victorian Icon Justin D. Livingstone PhD in English Literature The University of Edinburgh 2011 Abstract Dr. David Livingstone, the Victorian “missionary-explorer”, has attracted more written commentary than nearly any other heroic figure of the nineteenth century. In the years following his death, he rapidly became the subject of a major “biographical industry” and indeed he continues to sustain an academic industry as well. Yet, out of the extensive discourse that has installed itself around him, no single unified image of Livingstone emerges. Rather, he has been represented in diverse ways and put to work in a variety of socio-political contexts. This thesis interrogates the heterogeneous nature of Livingstone’s legacy and explores the plurality of identities that he has posthumously acquired. In approaching Livingstone’s “Lives” the methodology employed is that of metabiographical analysis, essentially a biography of biographies. This framework does not aim to uncover the true nature of the “biographee” but is rather concerned with the malleability and ideological embeddedness of biographical representation. The first chapter considers Livingstone’s own self-representation by critically analysing Missionary Travels, his best-selling travelogue. I argue that the text is more ambivalent than has hitherto been acknowledged and that its heterogeneity facilitated the diversity of Livingstone’s posthumous interpretations. The second chapter discusses Livingstone’s Victorian commemoration, exploring a body of hitherto unexamined remembrance literature, a wealth of obituaries and elegiac poetry. Focusing on a brief historical juncture, the year of his national memorial, presents an opportunity to reflect on some of the foundation stones of his legacy. The next chapter concerns itself with Livingstone’s imperialist construction, certainly his most persistent image. It discusses the way in which he was routinely re-presented in order to meet the evolving demands of empire. Yet, Livingstone was never constructed homogenously at any one colonial moment and so I argue that we should speak of his imperial legacies. The penultimate chapter considers the Scottish dimension of Livingstone’s reputation in a range of contexts, from the Celtic Revival to Kailyard. While some ignored his northern heritage, his national identity was of vital importance for others who used him to negotiate a Scottish national consciousness. The final chapter extends the concept of life-writing to include fictional portrayals of Livingstone. The focus here is primarily on postcolonial literature in which, as a cherished icon of empire, he became a focal point for critique and imaginative violence. The thesis contributes to the growing body of scholarship on life-writing and directs further attention to the changing nature and political efficacy of historical lives. Livingstone emerges as a site of competing meanings; the Victorian hero has himself become a colonised space. ii Acknowledgements I owe a debt of thanks to many people who made this thesis possible. Firstly, I am grateful to my supervisor, Dr Aaron Kelly, for his support, encouragement and insight. Many conversations with him helped to clarify my thinking and point me in new directions. Professor Ian Campbell, too, was always ready to discuss ideas and for many years he has provided me with counsel and academic guidance. Other scholars offered feedback and encouraged this project in a number of ways. Prominent among these are Dr Bill Bell, Dr Jonathan Wild, Professor Brian Stanley, Dr Jack Thompson, Dr Lawrence Dritsas, Professor Charles Withers, Dr Adrian Wisnicki, and Louise Henderson, who all gave generously of their time and expertise. I am also grateful to the editors and referees of Victorian Literature and Culture and Studies in Travel Writing, who provided extensive commentary on the work accepted for publication in their journals. I am obliged too to Professor Richard Drayton, who was generous enough to send me a copy of his forthcoming article, “Where does the World Historian Write From?”, which will appear in the Journal of Contemporary History. Many curators and librarians lent crucial support by helping me to gain access to the material that I have worked on. I particularly appreciate conversations with David McClay, from the National Library of Scotland, who gave invaluable advice on the holdings in the John Murray Archive. I am also indebted to Jewel Koopman, of the Alan Paton Centre in the University of Kwazulu-Natal, not only for discussions about Paton, but for sending me a copy of the unpublished and precious play, The Last Journey. I was also fortunate enough to have one lengthy and fascinating conversation with the playwright, Toby Gough, about his experience of touring Preacher Man, a drama about Livingstone, in various parts of Africa. I must also acknowledge the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland for their financial support. I am very thankful for their scholarship, without which this thesis might never have been written. Many friends over the years have listened to me talk at length about my PhD, and I appreciate their patience. There are, of course, too many to name here, but I particularly want to thank Corey Gibson, Joe Webster, Scott Matheson, Colin Armstrong, David Wark, Luke Arthur, Andrew Stothers, Dave Redfern, James Horton and Lizzie Dearden for their moral support. My biggest debt by far, however, is to my family. My sister, Emma, also a great friend, has always been ready with a word of encouragement. My mum continually offered a listening ear when I needed it most. She read this thesis in its entirety, with a sharp eye, which speaks volumes about her generosity. My dad has been an academic inspiration. Time and again he has given critical advice, and in his own work he has shown me what real scholarship looks like. iii Declaration I, Justin Livingstone, declare that this thesis has been composed by me. It is my own work and has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification. Justin Livingstone Note on spelling Today, the river that Livingstone hoped would open the African continent, to commerce and Christianity, is spelt ‘Zambezi’. Throughout this thesis, however, I have followed Livingstone’s spelling, ‘Zambesi’, for the sake of consistency. iv List of Illustrations Fig. 1. “The Missionary’s Escape from the Lion”, Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa (London: John Murray, 1857). 44 Fig. 2. H. Hall, coloured wood engraving, Henry Morton Stanley meeting David Livingstone at Ujiji, in Africa, Wellcome Library, London. 86 Fig. 3. “The Scene at the Pier, Southampton”, Supplement to The Graphic (25 Apr. 1874). 92 Fig. 4. Programme of The Last Journey, Alan Paton Centre & Struggles Archive, University of Kwazulu-Natal. 205 Fig. 5. C. d’O Pilkington Jackson, Mercy: Freeing a Slave Gang, David Livingstone Centre, Blantyre. Photoprint in Wellcome Library, London. 210 v Contents Introduction: “Novels with Indexes”: Towards a Theory of Metabiography 1 1. Styling the Self: Livingstone’s Victorian Bestseller 16 2. A “Body” of Evidence: Livingstone, Victorian Poetry and the Press 61 3. Icon of Empire: Livingstone’s Imperialist Legacies 100 4. “Scotia’s Noblest Son”: Livingstone’s Scottish Afterlife 143 5. Laughing at Livingstone: Fictional Revisions 182 Conclusion: Livingstone’s “Lives” 223 Bibliography 236 vi Introduction “Novels with Indexes”: Towards a Theory of Metabiography Someone else, in my limited experience, never gets things quite right. The exact socio-economic tone, the muddle and eddy of peculiar circumstances are almost inevitably missed. John Updike: “On Literary Biography” John Updike reportedly once remarked that biographies are nothing but “novels with indexes”.1 This delightfully scathing quip epitomises a certain sense that biography is a spurious enterprise, a genre to be defined in terms of its limits, and best approached with a healthy dose of suspicion. Even where it has not been brushed aside with quite such dismissive disregard, it is notable that biography has not been the subject of serious critical examination until fairly recently. The result is that, for those now writing on the subject, it has become almost axiomatic to remark on its lack of theorisation. David Ellis, for instance, comments on the surprising “dearth of analytic enquiry” that the genre has inspired (3). In one of the most recent discussions, by Michael Benton, the familiar complaint is sounded once again as he notes that, “it has become something of a truism to declare that biography has failed to establish any theoretical foundations” (3). On the whole, argues the practitioner and Professor of Biographical Studies, Richard Holmes, academia “has not been very keen to recognize biography”. For the most part, it has been left to itself, “outside the established institutes of learning, and beyond the groves of academe” (Holmes 7). These complaints, however, while once valid, have now largely passed into obsolescence. In the last decade or so, research into biography has begun to thrive and a burgeoning, theoretically-inclined, literature has 1 In his essay, “The Proper Study”, which appeared in Mapping Lives, Richard Holmes attributed this quotation to an article by Updike in the New York Review of Books, 4th Feburary 1999.