Imperialism, Reform, and the Making of Englishness in Jane Eyre

Transcription

1 Imperialism, Reform, and the Making of Englishness in Jane Eyre

2 Also by Sue Thomas THE WORLDING OF JEAN RHYS ENGLAND THROUGH COLONIAL EYES IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY FICTION (with Ann Blake and Leela Gandhi) ELIZABETH ROBINS ( ): A Bibliography

3 Imperialism, Reform, and the Making of Englishness in Jane Eyre Sue Thomas

4 Sue Thomas 2008 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act First published 2008 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Thomas, Sue, 1955 Imperialism, reform, and the making of Englishness in Jane Eyre/Sue Thomas. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Brontë, Charlotte, Jane Eyre. 2. Imperialism in literature. 3. National characteristics, English, in literature. I. Title. PR4167.J5T dc

5 for Brendan, Anne, and Nathaniel

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7 Contents List of Abbreviations Acknowledgements viii ix Introduction 1 1 Christianity and the State of Slavery 8 2 The Tropical Extravagance of Bertha Mason 31 3 Monstrous Martyrdom and the Overshadowing Tree of Philanthropy 54 4 The Ferment of Restlessness 71 5 Playing Jane Eyre at the Victoria Theatre in An 1859 Caribbean Perspective on Jane Eyre 104 Appendix 1: Timeline 127 Notes 130 Works Cited 147 Works Consulted 162 Index 165 vii

8 List of Abbreviations JE Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Sally Shuttleworth Oxford World s Classics. Oxford: Oxford UP, JES Courtney, John, adapt. Jane Eyre or The Secrets of Thornfield Manor. Jane Eyre on Stage, : An Illustrated Edition of Eight Plays with Contextual Notes. Ed. Patsy Stoneman. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006, CS [ Jenkin, Henrietta Camilla.] Cousin Stella; or Conflict. London: Smith, Elder, OED Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon, viii

9 Acknowledgements The research for Imperialism, Reform, and themaking of Englishness in Jane Eyre has been funded by a number of grants: an Australian Research Council small grant in 2000; a Research Enhancement Fund grant from La Trobe University s School of Communication, Arts and Critical Enquiry in 2002; an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant in 2003; Outside Studies Programs and travel grants from La Trobe University in 2000, 2004, and 2007; a grant from the Dean of La Trobe University s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in 2006; and a Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences research grant in The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at La Trobe University and the School of Communication, Arts and Critical Enquiry provided conference travel grants. The work towards an early version of Chapter 2, The Tropical Extravagance of Bertha Mason, part of a wide-ranging project on Jean Rhys, was funded by an Australian Research Council small grant in Jean Rhys s close unpacking of Jane Eyre in Wide Sargasso Sea has been inspirational. I have been blessed to work with such fine research assistants as Christy Collis, Karen Welberry, Julie Deblaquiere, Elizabeth Dimock, and Thomas Crosbie. Elizabeth s background of scholarship on nineteenth-century missionaries and missionary endeavour informed fruitful discussions. At La Trobe I want to thank in particular interlibrary loan and reference staff at the Borchardt Library; Alec Hyslop and Ross Phillips, former Heads of the School of Communication, Arts and Critical Enquiry; Roger Wales, former Dean, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; Gregory Kratzmann; Christopher Palmer; and Richard Freadman. I warmly appreciate the generosity and interest of Alec and Roger at crucial moments and the collegiality of the English Program (both staff members and the postgraduate community). I have taught the Brontës to many groups of students over my career; I thank them for exchange of ideas and for helping me measure and clarify my arguments. Special thanks are due to librarians at the Brontë Parsonage Museum; the Brotherton Library, University of Leeds; the British Library; and the British Library Newspaper Library. Imperialism, Reform, and the Making of Englishness in Jane Eyre draws together my expertise on British and Caribbean materials, and has extended it through work on aspects of Indian history. It is very tough ix

10 x Acknowledgements working on Caribbean topics in Australia. The Australian Association for Caribbean Studies has been vital in developing a supportive and friendly research community. I am very grateful to the colleagues I have met through the association. Peter Hulme, too, has been a generous fellowtraveller. In different ways Christine Alexander and John Maynard have encouraged my research on Brontë. Russell McDougall s invitation to contribute to a special journal issue To the Islands: Australia and the Caribbean prompted me to think through questions of class, gender, and racialized difference. Barry Higman alerted me to the differences between the editions of Lady Nugent s journals. Giving the keynote address at Writing, Diaspora and the Legacies of Slavery in London in 2007 at the invitation of Joan Anim-Addo also enabled me to do some timely research on Henrietta Camilla Jenkin. Preliminary versions of chapters of this book were presented at conferences of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association at the University of Adelaide (1996), Griffith University (2003), and the University of Sydney (2004); The 1830s, European Studies Research Institute, University of Salford (2002); and Burden, Benefit, Trace: The Legacies of Benevolence, University of Queensland (2003). Versions of Chapter 1, Christianity and the State of Slavery, were presented to audiences at the University of Wales, Swansea, and at La Trobe University. I thank my audiences, and the conference and seminar organizers. Ann Heilmann and Mark Llewellyn, then at Swansea, were generous hosts. Earlier versions of Chapters 1 and 2 have been published in Victorian Literature and Culture: The Tropical Extravagance of Bertha Mason, 27.1 (1999): 1 17; and Christianity and the State of Slavery in Jane Eyre, 35.1 (2007): Some material in Chapters 1 and 5 has also been drawn from White Gothic in Jane Eyre, Wide Sargasso Sea, and The Albatross Muff, To the Islands: Australia and the Caribbean, ed. Russell McDougall, special issue of Australian Cultural History 21 (2002): 89 96, It is used with the permission of Australian Cultural History and Network Books. Some material in Chapter 6 has been drawn from Remembering Catherine Whitfield, Ann King and Betty Jackson: Jean Rhys and Kamau Brathwaite s Slave Sublime, Atlantic Literary Review 5.4 (October December 2004): , and has been used with the permission of Atlantic Literary Review and Atlantic Publishers and Distributors (P) Ltd. Every effort has been made to trace rights holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers would be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.

11 Acknowledgements xi At Palgrave Macmillan special thanks are due to the Commissioning Editor for Literature and Performance Studies Paula Kennedy, Assistant Editor Christabel Scaife, and Vidya Vijayan. The anonymous reader for Palgrave Macmillan provided helpful close comment on an earlier version of the book. In Melbourne Richard McGregor indexed the book in a timely and efficient manner. Sadly, Christine Rawson (d. 2007), with whom I first studied a Brontë (Emily) at high school, will not see this book in print. She always enjoyed hearing about my travels working on it. Our long friendship and conversations in and across various parts of the world have been very special to me, and will be sorely missed. My family in Melbourne and Brisbane has been, as ever, richly, richly supportive, and during difficult years. Imperialism, Reform, and the Making of Englishness in Jane Eyre is dedicated, with deepest love and with gratitude for sustaining joys, to Brendan Thomas, Anne Hannington, and their son, my grandson, Nathaniel Liam Thomas.