Gikandi, Simon. “Englishness, Travel, and Theory:
Writing the West Indies in the Nineteenth Century,” Nineteenth-Century
Contexts Vol. 18, No. 1 (1994): 49-70.
Gikandi considers Kingsley's At Last: A Christmas in the West Indies
(1885) in his study of imperialist thought in English nineteenth century
writers' accounts of travel to the West Indies. He regards At Last
as a "startling example" of "inherent circularity of imperial discourse"
(67). Though Kingsley went to the West Indies with liberal and Christian
sympathies, he found it difficult to be objective about what he witnessed
due to his theological background and intellectual tradition. For example,
he supported the strict control and supervision of the indentured Coolies,
even though in England he was a strong advocate of emancipation and the creation
of a '"moral bond"' between employee and employer. Gikandi argues
that Kingsley reached this conclusion about the West Indian context not because
of what he saw there or because of his understanding of the Coolies' own
views and perspectives. "Rather the traveler reaches his conclusions
from three mutually informing sources: official reports (both oral and written),
intellectual Orientalism, and evolutionary doctrines" (67). In common
with other Victorian travel writers Kingsley was "already animated by existing
themes and delimited by discursive regulations" (67).
At Last;
Travel Writing
; West Indies
; Imperialism
; Colonialism
; Froude
.
Hertz, Alan. “The Broad Church Militant and Newman's
Humiliation of Charles Kingsley,” Victorian Periodicals Review Vol.
XIX, No. 4 (Winter 1986): 141-9.
Hertz considers the role of the editors of Macmillan’s Magazine
in permitting the inclusion of Kingsley’s slander of Newman. He argues
that David Masson, the editor, and Alexander Macmillan himself failed to protect
Kingsley, and themselves, from his bigotry and from Newman’s consummate skill.
He shows that “What, Then, Does Dr. Newman Mean?” was essentially a group
effort where Kingsley was aided by experienced controversialists who did
not succeed in assessing his chances of success adequately. Hertz also
discusses the contemptuous review of the Apologia by Froude in
Fraser’s Magazine which caused Froude and Kingsley to be bound more closely
together than ever before. Overall, the outcome, declares Hertz, was
pejorative: “The failure of Macmillan and Masson to save Kingsley from
his own prejudice and impetuosity led to the weakening of progressive journalism
and the impoverishment of Liberal intellectual discourse” (148).
Macmillan’s Magazine;
Newman Controversy
; Froude
; Maurice
.
Himmelfarb, Gertrude. Victorian Minds
(New York: Knopf, 1968).
Himmelfarb mentions Kingsley several times in her work. For example,
she discusses Froude’s views on the Newman affair, declaring that Froude thought
it understandable that Kingsley found it difficult to comprehend Newman’s
truth since the latter’s notion of what constituted truth was complicated
and was different to that of normal men.
Newman Controversy
; Froude
.
Kovacevic, Ivanka.
“Charles Kingsley's Imperialism and the Victorian Frame of Mind,” Filoloski
Pregled: Casopis Saveza Drustava za Strane Jezike I Knjizevnost SFRJ
Vol. 3-4 (1975): 55-72.
Kovacevic examines what
he considers to be Kingsley's manifest jingoism, racism, and imperialism,
declaring that his views on these topics were similar to those of Thomas Carlyle,
Max Muller, and J. A. Froude. He discusses briefly Kingsley's stance
on the Governor Eyre controversy, his xenophobia, his generally negative
opinion of the Spanish, the Irish, the Russians, the Indians, and others.
He declares that "Kingsley was a pure racist" who "taught that primitive
natives are mere animals" (68). Kingsley justified his imperialism
by his belief "that some are born to command and some to obey, and he extended
this belief to include nations and races as well. If those of 'noble
blood' have the right to command, it follows that the Aryans should govern
inferior races" (55-56). Nevertheless, Kovacevic writes that Kingsley,
neither a theorist nor ideologist, should not bear too much responsibility
for the practical politics of the day. His racist and imperialist views
were those already being expounded by great numbers of the contemporary educated
English public.
Social and Political Views
;
Racial Prejudices
; Imperialism
; Carlyle
; Muller, Max
; Froude
.
Paul, Herbert. The Life of Froude (New York:
C. Scribner’s Sons, 1905).
Briefly discusses the friendly relationship between Froude and Kingsley
as well as Froude’s criticisms of the latter’s politics and theology.
Froude
.
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