Type of Submission
Podium Presentation
Keywords
Postcolonialism, Evelyn Waugh, eurocentrism, oppression
Abstract
Ever since the age of Columbus, the ideas of travel, adventure, and exploration have pervaded Western consciousness. In 1933, Evelyn Waugh, a social critic and satirist (Longman 2818), published a short story entitled “The Man Who Liked Dickens” that The Longman Anthology of British Literature describes as “a cautionary tale of what might happen to an ordinary, if wealthy, Englishman venturing ‘beyond the pale’ of European civilization in a disastrous journey to the Amazon” (2818). This chilling story centers around the misfortune of Henty, a rich and uneducated Englishman, who gets swept along on an expedition to the jungles of Brazil. Throughout the journey, several disasters occur, but the most troubling disaster appears at first to be advantageous for Henty. All of his companions either dead or having abandoned the adventure, Henty finds himself alone, lost, and near death in the Brazilian forest without any hope for aid. However, Mr McMaster, an English-speaking half native finds him and nurses him back to health, asking only that Henty read him his Dickens novels in return for the care he has given. Though Henty is at first unaware of his plight, he eventually discovers that Mr McMaster is keeping him captive and will never allow him to return to England. In this story, Henty’s captivity provides a physical representation of the way in which Waugh inverts the effects of Eurocentric and Universalistic thinking that Postcolonial scholars generally recognize. Instead of those whose culture is being perceived through a Eurocentric or Universalistic lens experiencing “othering” and manipulation, Waugh places those consequences on those who hold the malignant mindsets.
Faculty Sponsor or Advisor’s Name
Dr. Peggy Wilfong
Campus Venue
Stevens Student Center, Room 240
Location
Cedarville, OH
Start Date
4-1-2015 2:00 PM
End Date
4-1-2015 2:15 PM
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
PowerPoint
Included in
English Language and Literature Commons, Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons
Captivity of the Mind: A Postcolonial Analysis of “The Man Who Liked Dickens”
Cedarville, OH
Ever since the age of Columbus, the ideas of travel, adventure, and exploration have pervaded Western consciousness. In 1933, Evelyn Waugh, a social critic and satirist (Longman 2818), published a short story entitled “The Man Who Liked Dickens” that The Longman Anthology of British Literature describes as “a cautionary tale of what might happen to an ordinary, if wealthy, Englishman venturing ‘beyond the pale’ of European civilization in a disastrous journey to the Amazon” (2818). This chilling story centers around the misfortune of Henty, a rich and uneducated Englishman, who gets swept along on an expedition to the jungles of Brazil. Throughout the journey, several disasters occur, but the most troubling disaster appears at first to be advantageous for Henty. All of his companions either dead or having abandoned the adventure, Henty finds himself alone, lost, and near death in the Brazilian forest without any hope for aid. However, Mr McMaster, an English-speaking half native finds him and nurses him back to health, asking only that Henty read him his Dickens novels in return for the care he has given. Though Henty is at first unaware of his plight, he eventually discovers that Mr McMaster is keeping him captive and will never allow him to return to England. In this story, Henty’s captivity provides a physical representation of the way in which Waugh inverts the effects of Eurocentric and Universalistic thinking that Postcolonial scholars generally recognize. Instead of those whose culture is being perceived through a Eurocentric or Universalistic lens experiencing “othering” and manipulation, Waugh places those consequences on those who hold the malignant mindsets.
