
The Retrospective Raj
Medicine, Literature and History After Empire
Sam Goodman(Author)
Edinburgh University Press
Published on 15. November 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
248 pages
978-1-4744-4875-8 (ISBN)
Description
The Retrospective Raj: Medicine, Literature & History After Empire undertakes a detailed analysis of the use of medicine as a recurrent and defining trope of post-imperial fiction published between 1950 and 1990. The book argues that during this crucial period of recent history, when the influence and prestige of the British Empire was nearing its end, a range of contemporary novelists including J. G. Farrell, Paul Scott, John Masters, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, and Salman Rushdie identified and used medicine as a discursive paradigm through which to engage critically with the history, authority and legacy of the British Empire within their writing. Drawing on a range of literary and archival sources, this work explores the complex relationship between Britain, India and Empire through a medical lens, bringing together the concerns of literary study and medical history under an interdisciplinary and original methodological framework.
Reviews / Votes
This absorbing study of post-war Anglo-Indian historical fiction examines the representation of medicine in its material aspects and metaphorical meanings in a detailed, perceptive reading of a select number of significant novels that implicitly articulate Britain's post-imperial condition. Goodman's timely book is an intelligent contribution to scholarship on post-war fiction, imperial nostalgia and the medical humanities. -- Mariadele Boccardi, University of the West of EnglandMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
354 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4744-4875-8 (9781474448758)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Sam Goodman is Principal Academic in English & Communication at Bournemouth University, UK. His research interests focus on formations of identity in relation to literature and the medical humanities, particularly around Britishness, and the history and legacy of the British Empire. He is the author of British Spy Fiction & the End of Empire (Routledge, 2016), and editor of Medicine, Health & the Arts: Approaches to Medical Humanities (Routledge, 2014).
Content
Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations
Introduction: Retrospective Diagnosis: Medicine and Post-imperial Literature
1. Colonial Conditions: On Being Ill in the Anglo-Indian Novel
2. Surgery for the Novel: Medical Practitioners in Anglo-Indian Fiction
3. Know Your Place - Space, Environment and Medicine Exteriors
4. Death By the Bottle or the Spoon: Diet, Health, and Well-being
5. No Such Thing as History Nowadays: Medicine, Health and the Legacy of Empire
Conclusion: Imperial Sunsets. BibliographyArchival Sources Notes
Introduction: Retrospective Diagnosis: Medicine and Post-imperial Literature
1. Colonial Conditions: On Being Ill in the Anglo-Indian Novel
2. Surgery for the Novel: Medical Practitioners in Anglo-Indian Fiction
3. Know Your Place - Space, Environment and Medicine Exteriors
4. Death By the Bottle or the Spoon: Diet, Health, and Well-being
5. No Such Thing as History Nowadays: Medicine, Health and the Legacy of Empire
Conclusion: Imperial Sunsets. BibliographyArchival Sources Notes