Ethnocentric Solipsism and Rhetoric of Dehumanization: A Postcolonial Reading of Imperial Hubris in Selected Colonial Novels

Abstract

Supremacist projections of the Self and reductive representations of the Other have been among the foremost colonial discursive practices. The same skewed representational predilection is manifest also in colonial fictional works. The article aims to unpack the colonial discursive pattern apropos characterization that is pervasive in the selected novels: James Grant’s First Love and Last Love (1868/ 2007), Louis Tracy's The Red Year (1907/ 2020), and E.M Foster’s A Passage to India (1924/ 2021). Two of the features of colonial rhetoric are focused in the study: the creation of uncanny characters and the concoction of eerie ambiance. To regulate the argument of the study, Michael Clarke’s (2013) identification of ethnocentric solipsism and imperialism has been invoked. His ideas guide the textual analysis, facilitate interpretation, and scaffold the argument. The analysis evidences that all three novels offer uncanny portrayals of the native characters, whereas the English are glorified. Moreover, an eerie ambiance has been discursively created to invoke a sense of exoticism and mystery. Both racial and civilizational fallacies have been used in these fictional narratives to depict the desired personae and setting. The article, therefore, posits that the peculiar art of characterization is marked by the imperial hubris and unwarranted solipsism.