The Savage and Modern Self examines the representations of North American "Indians" in novels, poetry, plays, and material culture from eighteenth-century Britain. Author Robbie Richardson argues that depictions of "Indians" in British literature were used to critique and articulate evolving ideas about consumerism, colonialism, "Britishness," and, ultimately, the "modern self" over the course of the century.

Considering the ways in which British writers represented contact between Britons and "Indians," both at home and abroad, the author shows how these sites of contact moved from a self-affirmation of British authority earlier in the century, to a mutual corruption, to a desire to appropriate perceived traits of "Indianess." Looking at texts exclusively produced in Britain, The Savage and Modern Self reveals that "the modern" finds definition through imagined scenes of cultural contact. By the end of the century, Richardson concludes, the hybrid Indian-Brition emerging in literature and visual culture exemplifies a form of modern, British masculinity.

About the Author
Robbie Richardson is a lecturer in Eighteenth-Century Literature at the University of Kent.

Reviews

"Dr. Richardson [is] completely successful in producing a work that questions, and ultimately undermines, both our notions of fixed identity and the place of "Indians" on the margins of modernity."

-- Thomas Donald Jacobs, University of Ghent * Transmotion, vol 4 no 2, 2018 *

"Richardson's work demonstrates just how varied and rich eighteenth-century representations of North American 'Indians' were. While the 'Indian' as a representational figure had, since first contact, always been multivalent and employed to critique European culture or justify certain political or religious persuasions, Richardson nonetheless rightly highlights the complexities, fluctuations, and increasing malleability of these representations in the eighteenth century."

-- Rachel Winchcombe, University of Manchester * Journal of British Studies *

"Robbie Richardson's The Savage and Modern Self is a groundbreaking study of British representations of Native Americans from the Act of Union in 1707 to the dissensus of the 1790s. Over the course of six chapters, Richardson persuasively argues that the construction of modern British subjectivity includes acts of appropriating and disavowing features attributed to the figure of the Indian in the British cultural imaginary."

-- Kelly Fleming, Kenyon College * Eighteenth-Century Fiction *



Book Information
ISBN 9781487503444
Author Robbie Richardson
Format Hardback
Page Count 264
Imprint University of Toronto Press
Publisher University of Toronto Press
Weight(grams) 540g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 157mm * 28mm