Library Catalog
Amazon cover image
Image from Amazon.com

Political Magic : British Fictions of Savagery and Sovereignty, 1650-1750 / Christopher F. Loar.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York, NY : Fordham University Press, [2014]Copyright date: ©2014Description: 1 online resource (344 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780823256914
  • 9780823256945
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 823/.509358 23
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Magical Government -- 1. Enchanting the Savage: Th e Politics of Pyrotechnics in the Cavendish Circle -- 2. Fire and Sword: Aphra Behn and the Materials of Authority -- 3. Talking Guns and Savage Spaces: Daniel Defoe’s Civilizing Technologies -- 4. Doctrines Détestables: Jonathan Swift, Despotism, and Virtue -- 5. Savage Vision: Violence, Reason, and Surveillance in Eliza Haywood -- Coda: Enemies -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index
Summary: Political Magic examines early modern British fictions of exploration and colonialism, arguing that narratives of intercultural contact reimagine ideas of sovereignty and popular power. These fictions reveal aspects of political thought in this period that official discourse typically shunted aside, particularly the political status of the commoner, whose “liberty” was often proclaimed even as it was undermined both in theory and in practice. Like the Hobbesian sovereign, the colonist appears to the colonized as a giver of rules who remains unruly.At the heart of many texts are moments of savage wonder, provoked by European displays of technological prowess. In particular, the trope of the first gunshot articulates an origin of consent and political legitimacy in colonial showmanship. Yet as manifestations of force held in abeyance, these technologies also signal the ultimate reliance of sovereigns on extreme violence as the lessthan-mystical foundation of their authority.By examining works by Cavendish, Defoe, Behn, Swift, and Haywood in conjunction with contemporary political writing and travelogues, Political Magic locates a subterranean discourse of sovereignty in the century after Hobbes, finding surprising affinities between the government of “savages” and of Britons.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780823256945

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Magical Government -- 1. Enchanting the Savage: Th e Politics of Pyrotechnics in the Cavendish Circle -- 2. Fire and Sword: Aphra Behn and the Materials of Authority -- 3. Talking Guns and Savage Spaces: Daniel Defoe’s Civilizing Technologies -- 4. Doctrines Détestables: Jonathan Swift, Despotism, and Virtue -- 5. Savage Vision: Violence, Reason, and Surveillance in Eliza Haywood -- Coda: Enemies -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Political Magic examines early modern British fictions of exploration and colonialism, arguing that narratives of intercultural contact reimagine ideas of sovereignty and popular power. These fictions reveal aspects of political thought in this period that official discourse typically shunted aside, particularly the political status of the commoner, whose “liberty” was often proclaimed even as it was undermined both in theory and in practice. Like the Hobbesian sovereign, the colonist appears to the colonized as a giver of rules who remains unruly.At the heart of many texts are moments of savage wonder, provoked by European displays of technological prowess. In particular, the trope of the first gunshot articulates an origin of consent and political legitimacy in colonial showmanship. Yet as manifestations of force held in abeyance, these technologies also signal the ultimate reliance of sovereigns on extreme violence as the lessthan-mystical foundation of their authority.By examining works by Cavendish, Defoe, Behn, Swift, and Haywood in conjunction with contemporary political writing and travelogues, Political Magic locates a subterranean discourse of sovereignty in the century after Hobbes, finding surprising affinities between the government of “savages” and of Britons.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 03. Jan 2023)