Although the speaker in ‘McAndrew's Hymn’ (1894; 1896) is not the only Scotsman that can be ‘heard’ across Kipling’s prolific output, this dramatic monologue arguably provides a useful entry point to investigate interconnected issues of mobility, Scottish national identity and imperialism in late Victorian literature. Hence, attending to the ‘poetics’ and ‘politics’ of Kipling’s literary language, my paper explores the crossroads between the fictional representation of a Scots speaker who also testifies to the heightened mobility of the Victorians and the ideology sustaining the British Empire. Interweaving historical, literary and linguistic insights, it makes the case for identifying one section of the poem as an episode of individual regression in the imperial Gothic mode
Rudyard Kipling’s Literary Dialects on the Move: Sea/Steam Poetry, Scottishness and the British Empire / D'Indinosante, Paolo. - (2023). (Intervento presentato al convegno Victorian Literary Languages Workshop 3 – Mobility and Communication tenutosi a Bangor; United Kingdom).
Rudyard Kipling’s Literary Dialects on the Move: Sea/Steam Poetry, Scottishness and the British Empire
Paolo D'Indinosante
Primo
2023
Abstract
Although the speaker in ‘McAndrew's Hymn’ (1894; 1896) is not the only Scotsman that can be ‘heard’ across Kipling’s prolific output, this dramatic monologue arguably provides a useful entry point to investigate interconnected issues of mobility, Scottish national identity and imperialism in late Victorian literature. Hence, attending to the ‘poetics’ and ‘politics’ of Kipling’s literary language, my paper explores the crossroads between the fictional representation of a Scots speaker who also testifies to the heightened mobility of the Victorians and the ideology sustaining the British Empire. Interweaving historical, literary and linguistic insights, it makes the case for identifying one section of the poem as an episode of individual regression in the imperial Gothic modeI documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.