Romantic Literature and Postcolonial Studies

Postcolonial Literary Studies Series Editors: David Johnson and Ania Loomba This series examines how Postcolonial Studies reconfigures the major periods and areas of literature. The books relate key literary and cultural texts both to their historical and geographical contexts, and to contemporary issues of neo-colonialism and global inequality. Each volume provides a comprehensive survey of the existing field of scholarship and debate, and is also an original intervention in its own right. Each book includes: a time line; an introductory literature survey; discussion of critical, theoretical, historical and political debates; exemplary critical readings of literary texts; and further reading. Romantic Literature and Postcolonial Studies Elizabeth A. Bohls Demonstrates the importance of postcolonial approaches to understanding the literature of the period 1787-1833 Arguing that literature of the Romantic period must be understood in the context of British colonial expansion and imperial rule, this text surveys Romantic literature's role in consolidating Britain as the centre of empire. It highlights the ways in which the expanding print market served readers eager to learn about the wider world: Romantic poetry and travel writing, for example, went hand in hand. Elizabeth Bohls shows that while Exoticism and Orientalism help us understand colonial discourses and imperial ideologies, texts not overtly concerned with the exotic, like Wordsworth's and Austen's, also engage the historical problematic of empire. Key Features Covers travel writing, slave narratives, political prose as well as novels & poetry Reads canonical materials (Coleridge, Austen, Scott, Shelley, etc.) in new ways Wide coverage: the Romantic Geographies chapter treats travel in the Pacific, Canada/North America, the Caribbean, Africa and India, while the Romantic Orientalism chapter treats writings on India Elizabeth A. Bohls, Associate Professor of English at the University of Oregon, is the author of Women Travel Writers and the Language of Aesthetics, 1716-1818 and co-editor of the anthology Travel Writing 1700-1830.

Elizabeth A. Bohls, Associate Professor of English at the University of Oregon, is the author of Women Travel Writers and the Language of Aesthetics, 1716-1818 (CUP, 1995; paperback, 2004) and articles on travel, aesthetics, gender, colonialism and slavery. She co-edited the anthology Travel Writing 1700-1830 (OUP, 2005)and is completing Captive Spaces: The Politics of Place in the British Caribbean 1772-1833.