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A University of Sussex Phd Thesis Available Online Via Sussex A University of Sussex PhD thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. 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 Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details HEAT AND LUST: DESIRE AND INTIMACY ACROSS THE (POST)COLONIAL DIVIDE PHILIPPA ST GEORGE THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE QUALIFICATION OF D.PHIL UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX APRIL 2016 DECLARATION I hereby declare that this thesis has not been, and will not be, submitted in whole or in part to another University for the award of any other degree. Signature: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted to my supervisor, Minoli Salgado, for her unfailing support and enthusiasm for this project. Her guidance has been invaluable over the years it took me to complete the thesis. I cannot thank her enough. Martin Ryle, my second supervisor, read the full draft of the thesis and gave valuable feedback which improved the final version. Laura Vellacott of the School of English answered my confused questions about administrative matters with patience and good humour. I have also benefitted from the help and advice of the staff at the British Library who found copies of obscure Anglo-Indian novels for me. My line managers at the School of Oriental and African Studies, Gwen Rogers and Mike Humphrey, enabled flexible working hours so that I could make the trip to Falmer as often as possible. Thank you to them and to all my ex-colleagues at SOAS who took an interest in what they were pleased to call my ‘Anglo-Indian bodice- rippers.’ In addition, I would particularly like to thank Sarah Bourne, Anne Manasse, Catherine Pope and Jannie Roed who encouraged me when the task seemed overwhelming, proof-read chapters and, for years, allowed me to tell them all about Anglo-Indian fiction. Finally, I would like to thank my husband, Sean Carter, who has lived with this thesis since its inception and knows more than he ever wanted to know about the Lady Romancers. I cannot sufficiently express my gratitude for all his support. University of Sussex Philippa St George PhD English Literature Heat and Lust: desire and intimacy across the (post)colonial divide. My thesis focuses on a group of novels dealing with Indo-British interracial marriage, written at the turn of the 20th century. The novels belong to the large corpus of popular literature produced at this time about India by male and female Anglo-Indian writers whose purpose in writing was not only entertainment but also, importantly, instruction. 1 This literature has been neglected by the literary critics but repays close attention for it is a valuable archive for the study of female perspectives on British rule in India. There has been work by historians on Anglo-Indian women recently but the womens’ own fictional writing has been largely neglected. Using a historical materialist approach, one of my aims in this study is also to examine the differences of perspective on British rule evident in male and female writing on India. The narrative trajectory is invariably the same: an ignorant British protagonist marries an Indian with whom s/he sets up home, prompted by desires which are gendered. The depiction of intimacy, I argue, is intended to illuminate the hidden space of Indian life (the home) so that marital and domestic practices which were considered to degrade Indian women may be exposed to the British reader. The link made by the British between the treatment of women and the fitness of Indian men for self-rule is important here. The representation of the Indian home as a hidden space about which the British knew very little but imagined much, offers a reading of the anxiety felt by the British about the limits of their control in India, both over the Indians and over themselves. 1 These writers include Alice Perrin, Maud Diver, Fanny Penny, E.W. Savi, Victoria Cross and Pamela Wynne; several male Anglo-Indian writers and non-Anglo-Indians are included. Summary for Intention to Submit Form. Wednesday, 02 March 2016 Page 1 of 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................... 1 Critical Work on the Anglo-Indian Novels of Interracial Marriage ................... 10 Critical Approach ................................................................................................ 17 The Structure of this Study ................................................................................. 21 CHAPTER 1 HISTORICAL SITUATION OF THE NOVELS ............................. 25 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 25 India at the turn of the Twentieth Century .......................................................... 30 Colonial Aims in India ........................................................................................ 35 Nineteenth Century Racial Theory ...................................................................... 39 The Effects of Racial Theory in India ................................................................. 44 Growing separation between coloniser and colonised .................................... 44 Mimic Men ...................................................................................................... 46 Going Native ................................................................................................... 48 Britain at the turn of the 20th century ................................................................. 50 The New Imperialism ...................................................................................... 51 Racial Degeneration ........................................................................................ 54 The Changing Role of Women ........................................................................... 56 The Angel in the House versus the New Woman ........................................... 58 British Representations of the Indian woman and Indian domestic life. ........ 64 Conclusion........................................................................................................... 68 CHAPTER 2 FORMALITIES: GENRE, VOICE AND CHARACTER................ 69 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 69 The Romance Genre ............................................................................................ 70 Narrative Voice ................................................................................................... 82 The Authority of the Author. .......................................................................... 82 The Close Identification of Author and Narrator. ........................................... 83 Female authors and colonial and racial discourses. ........................................ 91 Characterisation ................................................................................................... 93 The British Male Protagonist .......................................................................... 96 The British Female Protagonist. .................................................................... 103 The Indian Male Protagonist ......................................................................... 111 The Indian Female Protagonist ..................................................................... 114 Conclusion......................................................................................................... 119 CHAPTER 3 DISTANCE, IGNORANCE AND DESIRE................................... 121 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 121 Distance/Intimacy, Ignorance/Knowledge ........................................................ 122 First Impressions – the Power of the Imperial Gaze ......................................... 129 First Impressions of the Mimic Man ................................................................. 136 The Ignorance of British Female Desire ........................................................... 139 The Enchanting of the British Female Protagonist ....................................... 140 Escape and Good Work for the British Female Protagonist ......................... 147 Female Sexual Desire .................................................................................... 151 The Ignorance of British Male Desire ............................................................... 155 Seeta: ‘More useful, more interesting, more easily satisfied.’ ...................... 157 Fantasies and Spiritual Love of the British male protagonist ....................... 161 Sexual Desire and the Bibi ............................................................................ 166 Conclusion......................................................................................................... 173 CHAPTER 4 HOME, INTIMACY AND KNOWLEDGE................................... 176 Introduction ......................................................................................................
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