Description
Book SynopsisIn the late nineteenth century, American teachers descended on the Philippines. This book argues that the ideological work of colonial dominance figured into the emerging field of American literature, and that the consolidation of a canon of American literature was intertwined with the administrative and intellectual tasks of colonial management.
Trade ReviewThe parallels Wesling draws with current US/NATO rhetorics of involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan make uncomfortable but valuable reading. -- T. Carolan * Choice *
This is a & big idea book that is likely to become a major influence in the field of American Studies. Its superbly argued thesis is both counterintuitive and perspective-altering: that American Literature came into being as a field at the turn of the century through its function as a proxy for US imperialism in the Philippines. -- Anna Brickhouse,University of Virginia
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: Educated Subjects: Literary Production, Colonial Expansion, and the Pedagogical Public Sphere 1 The Alchemy of English: Colonial State-Building and the Imperial Origins of American Literary Study 2 Empire's Proxy: Literary Study as Benevolent Discipline 3 Agents of Assimilation: Female Authority, Male Domesticity, and the Familial Dramas of Colonial Tutelage 4 The Performance of Patriotism: Ironic Affiliations and Literary Disruptions in Carlos Bulosan's America Conclusion: "An Empire of Letters": Literary Tradition, National Sovereignty, and Neocolonialism NotesBibliography Index About the Author
