Late Orientalist Poetry and Politics: India in the Colonial Literary Culture of the 1830s

n� Fhlath�in, M�ire

Abstract

As British rule in India took an increasingly Anglicist and Utilitarian-influenced turn in the 1830s, there nevertheless persisted some remnants of the Orientalist approach to Indian culture associated with the scholarship of William Jones. This essay explores the work of William Francis Thompson (1810-1842), whose poetry and literary translations develop an unusually sympathetic identification with both colonizer and colonized subjects. It argues that Thompson’s recognition of parallels between European and Indian nationalism enables an alternative perception of British rule; and that his work highlights the eclectic and complex character of the colonial literary culture of British India.

Citation

ní Fhlathúin, M. (2020). Late Orientalist Poetry and Politics: India in the Colonial Literary Culture of the 1830s. Modern Language Review, 115(4), 809-833. https://doi.org/10.5699/modelangrevi.115.4.0809

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 20, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Oct 1, 2020
• Publication Date: 2020
• Deposit Date: May 26, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 2, 2021
• Journal: The Modern Language Review
• Print ISSN: 0026-7937
• Electronic ISSN: 2222-4319
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 115
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 809-833
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5699/modelangrevi.115.4.0809
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4512976
• Publisher URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5699/modelangrevi.115.4.0809?seq=1
• Additional Information: Fhlathúin. (2020). Late Orientalist Poetry and Politics: India in the Colonial Literary Culture of the 1830s. The Modern Language Review, 115(4), 809. https://doi.org/10.5699/modelangrevi.115.4.0809