Researching the Political Context of George Meredith's Diana of the Crossways (1885)
This satirical cartoon from Fun (1886), published the year after Meredith’s novel, also depicts the colonial relationship as a romantic union. The English Prime Minister William Gladstone appears in the character of a love-smitten dandy who has not quite figured out his "intentions." A matronly Britannia shows a protective regard for beautiful young Erin, a personification of Ireland.
Erin Wooten in front of the British Library in December '07
In December 2007, Professor Tim Carens and Erin Wooten, a junior English major, took a research trip to London funded by grants from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Major Academic Year Support program.
By conducting archival research in the British Library, the faculty-student research team sought to recapture the historical and political context of George Meredith’s novel Diana of the Crossways (1885), in which the Irish heroine ultimately marries a level-headed English politician.
The trip was a great success; the British Library contained a great wealth of late-Victorian primary materials that help to contextualize the novel’s marriage plot. Our research confirmed that in the 1880s, liberal journalists and political commentators routinely depicted the evolving colonial relationship between England and Ireland as a romantic union or marriage. We photocopied and transcribed approximately 50 useful textual examples – more than enough to prove the existence of the rich discursive pattern to which Meredith’s novel contributes. We also found many satiric cartoons that develop the same metaphoric connection and add considerable interest to the project.
- Tim Carens