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 bound"' 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 comand, 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.
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