Modernism and empire

An exploration of the fascinating relationship between literary modernism and empire. Why did the art and literature of modernism flourish in this period, when the great colonial empires of Europe where at their height, yet teetering on the brink of dissolution? How did a literary movement that often questioned literary and social mores thematise the imperial venture? Are responses to empire, in fact, a site where the conservative, reactionary side to modernism can be seen at its strongest? The international group of contributors to this work employ a range of critical and theoretical approaches to demonstrate that imperialism is central to modernism. The essays range over subjects and figures such as Ireland, Africa, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, Sylvia Townsend Warner, D.H. Lawrence and E.M. Forster, Rudyard Kipling, Virginia Woolf and Jean Rhys.