The conclusion of European colonialism marked the emergence
of poststructuralism, as asserted by David Spurr. This transition not only
signified the end of colonialism but also coincided with the conclusion of
Modernism, ushering in a wave of innovative studies dedicated to reinterpreting
the history, politics, psychology, and language of colonialism. Scholars within
literary studies underwent a significant paradigm shift, moving from
interpreting literary works primarily as expressions of Western ideals to
reading them as evidence of how these ideals contributed to the historical
process of colonization.
"The Rhetoric of Empire" serves as an introduction
to this new literary paradigm, dedicating a chapter to each of the 12
rhetorical modes—distinct ways of depicting non-Western peoples. Drawing on the
influences of Heidegger, Foucault, and Derrida, Spurr extends his analysis to
incorporate the perspectives of Edward Said, Christopher Miller, Patrick
Brantinger, James Clifford, Marianna Torgovnick, Mary Louise Pratt, Sara
Suleri, Ashis Nandy, Gayatri Spivak, and Homi Bhabha. Leveraging his background
as a former correspondent for United Press International, Spurr uniquely
extends these analyses into the nonfictional realms of literary and popular
journalism, travel writing, and the memoirs of colonial officials.
The book explores various rhetorical modes in sequence,
encompassing surveillance, appropriation, aestheticization, classification,
debasement, negation, affirmation, idealization, insubstantiation,
naturalization, eroticization, and resistance. For instance, in the chapter on
surveillance, Spurr begins with Foucault's notion that authority observes while
remaining invisible. The gaze of authority scrutinizes the slave or subject,
who, in turn, is denied the privilege of looking back. Illustrating this
principle, Spurr cites passages from James Agee on black sharecroppers in the
American South during the 1930s and compares them to news reports from El
Salvador and Vietnam by Joanne Omand in 1982 and Mary McCarthy in 1967, all
addressing the overwhelming and potentially destructive effect of the gaze. The
analysis then extends to Bentham's Panopticon, showcasing the panoptic
principle in journalistic descriptions of colonial landscapes, rooms, and bodies.
Vivid examples are drawn from the writings of Henry Morton Stanley, V. S.
Naipaul, Rudyard Kipling, and Orville Schell. The chapter concludes by
highlighting statements expressing the desire for systematic visual knowledge
of non-Western peoples by Johannes Fabian, Pierre Bourdieu, and Andre Malraux,
setting the stage for the subsequent chapter on the appropriation of colonial
resources.
When simplified, the work may come across as an anthology of
postmodern clichés. However, such a characterization falls short because a
summary cannot adequately convey the depth of context, illustration, and the
inevitable parallels that can be drawn with English and American fiction
classics. Conrad, whether explicitly mentioned or not, looms over virtually
every page. Despite its engaging nature, the book is elementary in the most
positive sense—clear, fundamental, and instructive.
Spurr adopts the role of a literary journalist, taking major
theories of colonial discourse, providing a distinctive organization and illustrations,
and infusing the entire work with the zest of his own style. The book reaches a
fitting culmination in its final section, where Spurr endeavors to move beyond
Heidegger's "restructuring," Foucault's "resistance," and
Nandy's "revaluation" towards a theory that explores how the
discourse of colonialism can be transformed into a discourse of human
liberation. While this chapter may not be the most successful in the book,
Spurr proves valuable in delineating the persisting challenges. His suggestions
encompass a focus on language, a self-awareness regarding perspective, and a
keen understanding of interests—discerning who benefits in each transaction.
Yet, as with the entire book, the richness lies in the details.
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