Abstract Competition for Soft Power in Nineteenth
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ABSTRACT COMPETITION FOR SOFT POWER IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY ANGLO-AMERICAN RELATIONS AS EXEMPLIFIED BY MID-VICTORIAN BRITISH NOVELS Melina R. Probst, Ph.D. Department of English Northern Illinois University, 2015 Dr. Brian May, Director The representation of America in Victorian fiction follows a trajectory of increasing favorability after the War of 1812 and before the Civil War, when America, still an interested subject across the Atlantic, became more uncouth and unjust by the British standard; however, the reasons for this trajectory are not as simple as pointing to a damaged economy and disfigured political image brought about by the Civil War. Favorable depictions of America depended on its power and the strength of competitive countries; in other words, as long as America remained powerful and attractive, thereby possessing more than just brute military strength, Great Britain respected and at times deferred to America. I use Joseph S. Nye’s international relations theory of soft power to explain British representations of America and, at times, Canada as functions of a state’s need to adapt to international shifts in values and interests; in other words, America’s popularity and upward immigration trend each decade before the Civil War forced other powerful Western states to acknowledge its status as a competitor. The most favorable fictional representations of America coincide with its soft-power apex, the high point in the kind of attractiveness derived from culture, values, and economic opportunity. A noticeably substantial change in the nineteenth century occurred at the time in the early 1840s when Charles Dickens and Frederick Marryat travelled to North America and then narrated and fictionalized their experiences; at this time, America’s relatively newfound strength challenged preconceived British notions of the former colony, thereby resulting in ambivalent attitudes towards it. Additionally, the importance of soft power is evident in the late 1840s when many European states were facing tumultuous revolutions, the United States was prospering by its westward expansion, and Charlotte Brontë and Elizabeth Gaskell were writing novels preferring the North American frontier to the settled British landscape. But by the 1860s, when America’s internal fighting and weak economy during the Civil War damaged its reputation, British authors, such as Mary Elizabeth Braddon and Charlotte Yonge, used that opportunity to aggrandize Great Britain. While many European states were zealously participating in an arms race, wielding their hard power, which can be described as aggressive military or economic strength, mid-Victorian British novelists understood the potency of soft power in negotiating international relations and capitalizing on the weaknesses and strengths of another state. NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY DE KALB, ILLINOIS DECEMBER 2015 COMPETITION FOR SOFT POWER IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY ANGLO-AMERICAN RELATIONS AS EXEMPLIFIED BY MID-VICTORIAN NOVELS BY MELINA R. PROBST © 2015 Melina R. Probst A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH Doctoral Director: Brian May ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation thrived under the support from many individuals and would have been a substantially different product without their time, guidance, and feedback. To my dissertation advisor, Dr. Brian May, I show the utmost appreciation for his dedication to this process and project. His direction added focus and cohesion to this study and challenged me to conceptualize a rewarding academic pursuit and refine my ideas and language, thereby maximizing growth in my writing and research. The theoretical framework of this dissertation grew out of conversations not only with my director, who encouraged me to be innovative, but also a friend, Michael Tolhurst, who has a background in political science; through these conversations with him, I discovered that Joseph S. Nye, Jr.’s, international relations theory could explain trends in mid-Victorian literature. I am also indebted to committee member Dr. Jeffrey Einboden, who advised me early in my graduate career to realize the “constellation” of my work, to connect the shorter papers to find an underlying trend that would identify me as a scholar. From that prompting, I noticed I was usually drawn to transatlantic relations. Another committee member, Dr. Kathleen Renk, encouraged my classmates and me in our coursework to turn our attention to non-canonical authors, and such guidance prompted me to include works by authors relatively forgotten and underappreciated. All three committee members, especially my chair, provided invaluable feedback for chapter revisions. Additionally, the amazing kindness and assistance of individuals in the Department of English, from the staff, such as Jan Vander Meer, and professors, such as Dr. Mark Van Wienen iii and Dr. Thomas McCann, to fellow dissertators, such as Elyse Lamszus, made the writing, revising, and defending process simpler. Also, my family and friends, especially my husband and my parents, cheered me on during this marathon and enabled me to cross this finish line, and words are not sufficient to estimate their influence and support. vi DEDICATION For my family, especially Paul, my mom, my dad, André, and Pietrina, because of their patience, love, and support TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Chapter INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. viii I. Critical and Theoretical Framework ........................................................ 2 II. Soft Power in the Twenty-First Century, Its Intended Context ............... 18 III. Nineteenth-Century Relevance ................................................................ 22 IV. Textual Selection and Organization ......................................................... 27 V. Detailed Chapter Summaries ................................................................... 28 1. THE ROLE OF SOFT POWER IN DICKENS’S AND MARRYAT’S AMBIVALENCE TOWARD NORTH AMERICA ............................................ 31 I. Why Nye?: Critical Approaches to Dickens and Marryat ....................... 35 II. Early 1840s—The Transatlantic Balance of Soft Power ......................... 43 III. Dickens and Marryat: Cultural Diplomats ............................................... 51 IV. The Travel Narratives: Vehicles of Soft Power ....................................... 56 V. Soft-Power Competition in Dickens’s and Marryat’s Depictions of Controversial Issues ................................................................................. 71 VI. Defeating North American Soft Power by Discouraging Travel and Immigration.............................................................................................. 80 VII. Few, But Often Vulgar, Characters in the Novels Prepared for North American Life .......................................................................................... 91 VIII. Conclusion ............................................................................................ 104 vii Chapter Page 2. NORTH AMERICAN SOFT POWER IN LATE-1840s “REGIONAL” NOVELS .............................................................................................................. 106 I. Transnational Perspective and Anxiety over Europe’s Political Turmoil .................................................................................................... 110 II. Perceived Soft Power ............................................................................... 124 III. The Competition over Soft Power ........................................................... 128 IV. Spiritual Fulfillment in Gaskell’s North America ................................... 142 V. Material Charm of North America ........................................................... 152 VI. Conclusion ............................................................................................... 170 3. THE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL FACTORS IN AMERICA’S DIMINISHED SOFT POWER IN 1860s BRITISH SENSATION NOVELS .............................................................................................................. 174 I. The Critical Tradition .............................................................................. 177 II. British Emigrants and the Empire: External Factors in American Soft- Power Loss ............................................................................................... 184 III. America’s Internal Factors in Soft-Power Loss ....................................... 197 IV. Changes in Quality of Life ....................................................................... 203 V. American Hypocrisy and Soft Power ...................................................... 211 VI. Conclusion ............................................................................................... 225 4. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................... 227 I. Challenges ................................................................................................ 229 II. Further Research ...................................................................................... 230 III. Conclusion ............................................................................................... 235 WORKS CITED ...................................................................................................................