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COLONIAL DISCOURSES
Series Three: Colonial Fiction, 1650-1914

Part 1: General Works and Fiction from India from the British Library, London

Part 2: General Works and Fiction from India from the British Library, London

Part 3: General Works and Fiction from India from the British Library, London

Publisher's Note - Part 3

Colonial and postcolonial fiction has emerged as an area of major academic and public interest. In an increasingly interconnected world, such works provide valuable insights into cultural differences, clashes between imperialism and nationalism, and changes in language use, and continue to throw up surprises. They reveal the immense variety of colonial experience – a transformative event for all parties concerned.


The aim of this project is to bring together a sufficient body of texts to enable scholars to study this field. Parts 1-3 commence with coverage of over 300 works relating to India (many are multi-volume works), of which nearly 200 are novels, some 32 are volumes of poetry, and a 79 are supporting works, helping scholars to understand the context of literature. This is a superb resource for universities supporting the study of comparative literature and for all those with an interest in the history and literature of South Asia.


We include writings by Anglo-Indian, Indian and British writers from 1767 to 1925. We feature texts printed in Allahabad and Benares, Calcutta and Edinburgh, London and Madras.


This listing provides a complete listing of each part by reel, together with many illustrations providing an idea of the appearance of these original works. We then provide a complete listing by author and title.


Part 1 commences with a number of general works relating to colonial policy, such as:

  • Woodes Rogers, A Cruising Voyage Round the World (1712)
  • Patrick Colquhoun, A Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire (1814)
  • J A Roebuck, The Colonies of England (1849)
  • James Anthony Froude, Oceana; or, England and Her Colonies (1886)
  • J A Cramb, Reflections on the Origin and Destiny of Imperial Britain (1915)


These address some of the central themes of the colonial experience, charting the expansion of western influence through sea-borne exploration, the exploitation of resources and peoples and the imposition of western legal and geographical boundaries on the colonised.


There are also a number of non-fictional works describing life in India. These include:

  • Marianne Postans, Western India in 1838 (1839)
  • Helen Mackenzie, Life in the Mission, the Camp and the Zenana (1853)
  • Colin Campbell, Narrative of the Indian Revolt (1858)
  • Fanny Peile, History of the Delhi Massacre (1858)
  • Adelaide Case, Day by Day at Lucknow (1858)
  • Julia Haldane, Story of Our Escape from Delhi (1888)
  • Radhabinod Pal, A glimpse of Zenana life in Bengal (1904)
  • Thottakadu Ramakrishna, Early reminiscences (1907)


Even though these are non-fictional works, they describe many of the same places, events and cultural issues as are found in novels of the same period. It is interesting to compare the assumptions made and the language used.


We then commence with coverage of Indian Fiction. We include works published in Britain and India, which describe life in India from the East India Company period (1600-1857) through to the period of direct British government control (1858-1947). Some of the titles featured are:


- Frances Sheridan, The History of Nourjahad (1767)
- The Indian adventurer; or, History of Mr Vanneck (1780)
- Sophia Goldsbourne, Hartly House, Calcutta (1789)
- William Hockley Browne, Pandurang Hari (1826)
- Philip Meadows Taylor, Confessions of a thug (1839)
- Michael Madhusudana Data, The Captive Ladie (1849)
- Leopold Paget, Camp and Cantonment: A Journal Of Life in India (1865)
- James Grant, First Love & Last Love: A Tale of the Indian Mutiny (1868)
- M M Dutt, Meghnad Badha (1879)
- Mary Abbott, The Beverleys: a story of Calcutta (1890)
- G A Henty, Rujub the Juggler (1893)
- Kripabai Sathianandhan, Kamala, a Story of Hindu Life (1894)
- Shevantibai Nikambe, Ratanbai: A Sketch of a Bombay High Caste Hindu Young Wife (1895)
- F Anstey, Baboo Bungsho Jaberjee (1897)
- Romesh Dutt, The lake of palms. A story of Indian domestic life (1902)
- Bankim Chander Chatterji, The Abbey of Bliss (1906)
- Bithia Mary Croker, The Company's Servant. A romance of Southern India (1907)
- Thottakadu Ramakrishna, The dive for death. An Indian romance (1911)
- A Madhaviah, Clarinda (1915)
- Flora Annie Steel, Dramatic history of India (29 playlets) (1917)
- A Madhaviah, Lieut Panju, a modern Indian (1920)
- Katherine Maud Diver, Far to seek. A romance of England and India (1921)


This is only a sample of the 103 titles featured in Part 1. Major authors such as Bankim Chander Chatterji, Bithia Croker, Romesh Dutt, George Alfred Henty, A Madhaviah, Flora Annie Steel, and Philip Meadows Taylor are represented by a wide variety of works. There is also poetry by authors such as Edwin Arnold, Toru Dutt, and Manomohana Ghosha, including adaptations of Indian folklore and legends.
There are tales and histories of the Indian Mutiny, of inter-racial love affairs, of the problems of rule in India, and of the problems of being ruled. The variety of British, Anglo-Indian and Indian fiction allow the Indian colonial experience to be viewed from a variety of perspectives.


Another key issue that can be explored is the use of language. Did imperial writers use language to classify, categorise and control their subjects? If so, how did native and settler authors use the same language to challenge colonial authority?


Taken together with the sources published in Series One and Two of this project, these accounts will help to build up a nuanced picture of the colonial experience. They offer a wealth of opportunities for teaching and research.


Part 2 seeks to add breadth and depth the material offered in Part 1. It adds a further 50 works of fiction and 15 non-fictional works describing life in India.


Particular attention has been paid to women writers and this part will be a major source for all those studying women's writing in relation to India. Sample items include:

  • Helenus Scott's The adventures of a rupee (1782) and Mary Pilkington's Asiatic princess (1800);
  • A further three works by Mary Martha Butt (afterwards Sherwood) including The Ayah and Lady (1816);
  • Emma Roberts' Scenes and characteristics of Hindostan, with sketches of Anglo-Indian society (1835);
  • Florence Marryat's "Gup" (1868) and Veronique (1869);
  • Seven further volumes by Katherine Helen Maud Diver including the Captain Desmond, VC trilogy (1907-1916) and Lilamani (1911);
  • Ten volumes by Alice Perrin, ranging from The Waters of Destruction (1905) to The Anglo-Indians (1912);
  • Five further works by Bithia Croker, including The Old Cantonment (1905) and Beyond the Pale (1920).
  • Indian imprints and authors include Amir Dihlavi Khusrau's The tale of the Four Durwesh (1813), Lal Behari Day's Govinda Samonta, or the History of a Bengal Rayat (1874), Rentala Venkata Subba Rau's Kamala's letters to her husband (1902), S B Vandyopadhyaya's Indian detective stories (1911), and M H Sanke's Joseph Sastry; or, Hari Haran, a novel (1914).


Other noted works of fiction are The Nabob (1773), The Competition Wallah (1864), and Boxwallah's An Eastern Backwater (1916).


A wide range of issues are dealt with in the novels and all ranges of society are explored. There are rural rayats (peasants) in the writings of Lal Behari Day, the life of an Indian babu (clerk) in Anstey's A Bayard from Bengal (1902), young British officers arriving in India in Mary Martha Butt's The History of George Desmond (1821), and an account of the seduction of a married woman by an Indian army officer in Boxwallah's The Leopard's Leap (1919). There are many accounts of inter-racial affairs and Brenda's Experiment (1896) by Harry Greenhow examines the marriage of an English woman to a Muslim in late Victorian India.


General works range from 1794 to 1897 and look at military encounters (from both sides), language, thugee, and rural life. F W Blagdon's A brief history of modern India (1805) can be usefully compared to Ramachandra Rava's Memoirs of Hyder and Tippoo (1849); and Valentine Blacker's Memoir of the Mahratta War (1821) with the Mahratta Chronicles (1896) of Rustamjipestanji Karkaruja.
Part 3 completes our coverage of Indian fiction from the British Library and the former India Office Library. The provision of supporting works is particularly helpful in the area of ‘Mutiny’ narratives, which is one of the strengths of this third part. A dozen fictional works are balanced by nine autobiographical or historical accounts. We include volumes published in London and in India, and many are also ‘captivity’ narratives – a genre that is gaining more attention. Noteworthy titles include:

  • Hafiz Allard (pseud), Nirgis: a tale of the Indian Mutiny; and Bismallah; or, Happy Days in Cashmere. (London, 1869)
  • Katherine Bartrum, A widow’s reminiscences of the Siege of Lucknow. (London, 1858)
  • Noah Alfred Chick, Annals of the Indian Rebellion … containing narratives of the outbreaks … during the Mutiny. (Calcutta, 1859)
  • Alice Clifton, An unwilling wife: a tale of the Indian Mutiny. (London, 1890)
  • [J F Fanthorne], Mariam: a story of the Indian Mutiny of 1857. (Benares, 1896)
  • Julia Selina Inglis, Letter containing extracts from a journal kept by Lady Inglis during the Siege of Lucknow. (London, 1858)
  • Miss Wagentreiber, The story of our escape from Delhi, in 1857. (Delhi, 1894)
  • John Richard Baldwin, Indian Gup: Untold Stories of the Indian Mutiny. (London, 1897)
  • Mrs Dunbar Douglas Muter, My recollections of the Sepoy Revolt (1857-1858). (London, 1911)

Another area that is covered well is life in the Zenana, or the women’s quarters of the royal palaces. These were an area of constant fascination for the West, with the juxtaposition of dancing girls, courtesans, wives and daughters. But they were also regions of power and influence, as many of the missionaries found. Some of the fascinating titles featured are:

  • G Arnold Fernandez, The Romance of a Zenana. (Madras, 1900)
  • William Browne Hockley, Tales of the Zenana; or, A Nuwab’s leisure hours. (London, 1874)
  • Anon, Kardoo, the Hindoo girl. By a Zenana missionary. (London, 1878)
    There is also much on social history and the wide range of characters found in Indian society. For instance:
  • Sydney Owenson (later Lady Morgan), The Missionary: an Indian Tale. (London, 1811)
  • Augustus Prinsep, The Baboo; and other tales descriptive of society in India. (London, 1834)
  • Septimus Thorburn, Musalmans and money lenders in the Punjab. (Allahabad, 1886)
  • Arthur Brownlow Fforde, The Subaltern, the Policeman and the Little Girl. (London, 1890)
  • James Patton (pseud. of Edmund White), Bijli the dancer. (London, 1898)
  • H Datta, Lieut Suresh Biswas: His life and adventures. (Calcutta, 1900)
  • Tarakanatha Gangopahyaya, A glimpse into the Indian inner home: Babu Tarakanath Ganguli’s Bengali novel – Svarnalata. (Calcutta, 1903)


There are also works describing both imperial heroes and those that fought against empire, ranging from John Clark Marshman’s Memoirs of Major-General Sir H Havelock (London, 1860) to Edmund Candler’s account of Siri Ram, Revolutionist (London, 1912).


The poetry and drama section of this third part is headed by a number of key works by the famous Indian poet, feminist and political reformer, Sarojini Naidu. In addition to volumes of poetry such as The golden threshold (London, 1905) and The broken wing: Songs of love, death and destiny, 1915-1916 (London, 1917); we also include critical works such as Mrs Sarojini Naidu. A sketch of her life and an appreciation of her works. (Madras, 1914); and political works such as Speeches and writings (Madras, 1918).


The folk tradition of Indian poetry is well represented in Lal Behari Day’s Folk-tales of Bengal (London, 1883) and we also include The Bengal Magazine, 1872-1873, which was edited by him in Calcutta. The Eurasian poet and social reformer, Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, is also featured with both his Poems (Calcutta, 1827), and The Fakheer of Jungheera, a metrical tale; and other poems (Calcutta, 1828).
Other key authors featured range from Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati to Flora Annie Steel. The latter is represented by both a novel, The law of the threshold (London, 1924), and a compendium on The modern marriage market, written with Maria Corelli and others (London, 1898). This supplements the other Steel works already included in this project.


We have also included a number of miscellaneous volumes of great interest:

  • Philip Stewart Robinson, Nugae Indicae. (Allahabad, 1871)
  • Philip Stewart Robinson, Under the punkah [miscellaneous prose]. (London, 1881)
  • Afghan (pseud.), Best Indian chutney (sweetened). Some Eastern vignettes. (London, 1925)
  • Chutney Papers. Society, Shikar and Sport in India by C.M., a Bombay-walla. (Bombay, 1884)


We are indebted to a number of works that have helped us to select relevant texts for inclusion. First mention must go to Brijen K Gupta’s invaluable survey: India in English Fiction, 1800-1970: An Annotated Bibliography (Metuchen, New Jersey, 1973). This lists 2,272 works and provides brief, helpful notes concerning many of the titles. This has recently been followed by V Indira Sambamurthy’s An Annotated Bibliography of Indian English Fiction (3 vols, Delhi, 2001), which provides further information on the authors and their books. Both Meenakshi Mukerjee (Realism & Reality: The Novel and Society in India, Delhi, 1985) and Patrick Brantlinger (Rule of Darkness: British Literature & Imperialism, Ithaca, 1988) suggested useful approaches to this body of literature and these have been considerably developed by scholars including Dan Bivona (both Desire & Contradiction: Imperial Vision and Domestic Debates in Victorian Literature, Manchester, 1990; and British Imperial Literature, 1870-1940, Cambridge, 1998); Gobinda Prasad Sarma (Nationalism in Indo-Anglian Fiction, New Delhi, 1990); William Walsh (Indian Literature in English, London, 1990); Joseph Bristow (Empire Boys: Adventures in a Man’s World, London, 1991); Mary Louise Pratt (Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation, London, 1992); Jenny Sharpe (Allegories of Empire: The Figure of the Woman in the Colonial Text, Minneapolis, 1993); Ali Behdad (Belated Travellers: Orientalism in the Age of Colonial Dissolution, Durham, 1994); Antoinette Burton (both Burdens of History: British Feminists, Indian Women and Imperial Culture, 1865-1915, Chapel Hill, 1994; and Dwelling in the Archive : Women Writing House, Home, and History in Late Colonial India, Oxford, 2003); Kate Teltscher (India Inscribed: European & British Writing on India, 1600-1800, Oxford, 1995); Chandra Chatterjee (The world within: a study of novels in English by Indian women,1950-1980, New Delhi, 1996); Bart Moore-Gilbert (ed) (Writing India, 1757-1900, Manchester, 1996); Parama Roy (Indian Traffic: Identities in Question in Colonial and Postcolonial India, Berkeley, 1998); Nancy L Paxton (Writing under the Raj, Newark, 1999); and Arvind Krishna Mehrotra (ed) (A History of Indian Literature in English, New York ,2003).


All of these works examine the sheer multiplicity of colonial discourse and emphasise its richness for literary scholars.


I am also grateful to the encouragement given to the project by Ali Behdad, Homi K Bhaba, Dan Bivona, Patrick Brantlinger, Joseph Bristow, Antoinette Burton, Philippa Levine, Chandani Lokugé, and Parama Roy.

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