The Retrospective Raj

Explores the 20th century literary revival of Empire and the post-imperial novel through a critical medical humanities lens.

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Explores the 20th century literary revival of Empire and the post-imperial novel through a critical medical humanities lens

Offers new insights into an established genre of twentieth-century literature through the application of a critical medical humanities lens
Adds to scholarly understanding of the perceived legacy of Empire in culture and society of the twentieth century through comparative analysis of a selection of well-known Booker Prize winning novelists
Offers a balance of close reading of key novels in addition to critical approaches to history, historiography and context to explore the representation of Britishness and identity after Empire
Explores the relationship between illness, nationhood, and culture/history, so of acute contextual relevance

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.