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Daniel Defoe as a colonial propagandist

University of British Columbia

This thesis considers different aspects of Defoe's colonial propaganda: its ideological implications, its links to a discursive tradition, and its polemical strategy. Unlike previous contributions to the subject, it analyzes fully the nonfictional works as well as the fiction to give a comprehensive account of Defoe's contribution to colonial discourse. Chapters I to IV examine four of Defoe's tracts as colonial propaganda. The first chapter scrutinizes An Historical Account of the Voyages and Adventures of Sir Walter Raleigh, a work designed to attract the South Sea Company to one of Defoe's favorite projects. The second studies the History of the Principal Discoveries, a tract which links up knowledge, trade, and empire to argue for the extension of Western man's dominion over the extra-European world. The next chapter considers Defoe's Plan of the English Commerce as a work composed to convince readers that colonization was essential for England's prosperity and power. Chapter IV treats Defoe as an expert on overseas affairs and notes his links to colonial circles. It focuses attention on his contribution to Atlas Maritimus, sees him as a "geographer" in the Hakluyt tradition, reviews his colonial schemes, and discusses his views on other races and places. The final four chapters investigate Defoe's fiction as colonial propaganda. Because the colonial aspects of the fiction have not gone unnoticed, Chapter V surveys the work that has been done and suggests the approaches that can still be taken to further illuminate Defoe's narratives as imperialist propaganda. Chapter VI examines in greater detail than has been attempted before how Defoe's settings reflect his colonial concerns. The next two chapters analyze Defoe's protagonists as prototypical colonizers. Both their rational, empire-building attributes as well as their unpleasant aspects are considered. This study concludes with an assessment of Defoe's success as a colonial propagandist. It suggests that the tracts can be seen as significant as part of a body of writing which persistently upheld the cause of empire; it notes that Defoe's narratives have merited a distinctive place because of the appeal of their images of success and their influence on subsequent writers who have promoted colonial enterprise through fiction.

Text

2010-05-31

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/25260

English

University of British Columbia

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