Posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on March 25, 2002 at 15:31:35 from 195.93.33.166:
In Reply to: Colonialism in S&As posted by Pippa on March 24, 2002 at 22:02:51:
This does not directly answer your enquiry, but the subject of your dissertation makes me think a bit.
Surely, once AR had decided that his first four child characters would pretend to be explorers, then the structure of "natives", "native settlements" "savages" "native kraals" and so on fell into place automatically, and the colonialism is to be searched for, not in AR's thought, but in the general climate of thought - the lumber rooms of people's imaginations - of Britain in the 1920's and 1930's?
AR, who wrote for the Guardian and who had known Lenin very shortly after the latter had written "Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism", is a very unlikely Imperialist, even unconsciously?
"Bevis" is probably worth a look at - more exploring, but written nearer the high water mark of imperialism.
I certainly played at being an explorer as a child, and a good game it is too, because you can sweep away all those tiresome adults by labelling them "natives", but I suspect I was influenced by S&A!