[lit-ideas] Re: England good at "incorporating" immigrants
- From: Judith Evans <judithevans001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2011 21:03:18 +0100 (BST)
I found a brief review. He seems to mean "people writing in English who live
or have lived in England", so he includes Salman Rushdie, Ben Okri, and VS
Naipaul.
--- On Tue, 26/4/11, Judith Evans <judithevans001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> From: Judith Evans <judithevans001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: England good at "incorporating" immigrants
> To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Date: Tuesday, 26 April, 2011, 20:27
> I noticed "literature of England"
> too, JL. "English Literature" is the (English-language)
> literature of mainland Britain, surely?
>
> I found an interview with Andrea Levy that cites the book,
> but I haven't finished reading it yet...
>
> The Wikipedia entry for Little Englander is interesting, I
> knew the term only in its current "anti-European/xenophobic"
> sense.
>
> Yes, it's "the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
> Ireland". The Northern Irish are officially British.
> Historically, Lesser Britain referred to Brittany, I read.
>
> Wales, colonization of by England; long story... The last
> prince of independent Wales, Llewellyn, was killed in
> 1282. Wales was annexed very soon after that, but
> incorporated by the Tudors: a European dynasty of Welsh
> lineage.
>
> Of course the new "immigrants" King has in mind are people
> like Andrea Levy -- whose father came here from Jamaica in
> 1948. I haven't been able to find a summary of the
> book so can't say more.
>
> And yes generalizations are difficult.
>
> Judy Evans, Cardiff
>
>
>
> ,--- On Tue, 26/4/11, Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
> <Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>
> > From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
> <Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx>
> > Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: England good at
> "incorporating" immigrants
> > To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Date: Tuesday, 26 April, 2011, 18:56
> > In a message dated 4/26/2011 1:18:26
> > P.M. , lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >
> > writes:
> > http://www.lawrencehelm.com/2011/04/england-good-at-incorporating.html
> > Lawrence
> >
> > For the record
> >
> > L. K. Helm is quoting from B. King, "The Oxford
> English
> > Literary History",
> >
> > Section, 'The Internationalization of English
> Literature'.
> >
> >
> > Page 1:
> >
> > “During the second half of the twentieth century
> the
> > literature of England
> > went through a major change... Unlike previous period
> > changes this one had
> > its basis in a large influx of peoples from
> > elsewhere. ... If the nation
> > seemed to be withdrawing into a "little England"
> > [scare quotes mine. JLS] of
> > post-imperial dreariness and irritation, having a
> > diminished relationship
> > to Europe and the United States, or fragmenting
> into
> > micro-nationalisms, the
> > new immigrants made English literature
> international
> > in other ways than it
> > had been during the Empire." --- interesting here
> to
> > consider, then,
> > "LITTLE England" versus "GREAT Britain". I once
> read
> > that "Great", in "Great
> > Britain", and I actually believe this, the sailor
> in
> > me, is due to a sailor's
> > chart: there are two Britains, or two British
> Isles:
> > Britannia Maiora --
> > ("Great" or "Major" Britain) and "Britannia
> Minora",
> > or Minor England, or
> > Hibernia, or Ireland. This survives in the official
> > name of the country (never
> > 'nation'?):
> > "The Queen of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" --
> this
> > expression seems
> > to ENTAIL, rather than 'implicate' that Northern
> Ireland is
> > not part of
> > "Great Britain" -- since it's a bit of the OTHER
> > island. Surely someone born
> > in County Antrim can call herself a "Brit", as she
> > is, because it's part of
> > "minor" Britain.
> >
> > As student of history, and teacher of history, D.
> Ritchie,
> > born north of
> > the Tweed, etc., may perhaps expand on the very
> specific
> > dating of the
> > creation of "Britain" qua Empire, when, the last
> > "King" or Queen of England
> > became King or Queen of the "Union" of
> > England-cum-Scotland.
> >
> > J. Evans, b. Bath, but with connections with Wales can
> even
> > perhaps expand
> > on a perhaps EARLIER 'assimilation' between the Dragon
> of
> > St. Davis of
> > Cymru (which does not, alas, feature in the _flag_
> of
> > "Great Britain" as the
> > Cross of St. Andrew or the Cross of St. Patrick,
> do,
> > along with England's St.
> > George) and England. Again, with monarchical
> matters,
> > "You will have a
> > king that does not speak Welsh" -- Edward I and II
> --
> > Edward II being too
> > young to speak either Welsh or English for that
> > matter. And so on.
> >
> > So, I find the emergence of historical facts so rich
> and
> > glorious in good
> > Old England to just focus on what happened post the
> > Coronation of Queen
> > Elizabeth II --. But I agree with Burgess, in his
> "History
> > of English
> > Literature" that this is best seen as "Elizabethan
> > Literature". "New Elizabethan
> > era" of English literature.
> >
> > Helm goes on to quote from King:
> >
> > ""England" [scare quotes mine -- not "Wales", or
> > "Scotland", or "Ireland",
> > which have, according to Bruce, their own
> 'literatures']
> > was once more at
> > the centre of significant developments, and as
> > England became multiracial
> > and multicultural the claim that they do things
> > better in France no longer
> > applied."
> >
> > I would need a listing. There was a recent prohibition
> in
> > Paris to 'dress
> > as a Muslim' for a woman. The reporter went: "In
> France you
> > can strip your
> > breast in Saint Tropez, but not hide your face in
> Notre
> > Dame", or something.
> > I found it a good example of a zeugma. Or not.
> >
> > "England was much better at incorporating people than
> most
> > of Europe.""
> >
> > The present concern with refugees passing from Liguria
> to
> > Menton (and
> > Paris, in their six-month 'visas' to "visit
> relations") is
> > causing problems with
> > the "Union" itself, so perhaps King should not
> generalise,
> > "England" vs
> > the "Continent", since there are shades of 'how
> good
> > or bad at incorporating'
> > stuff people are.
> >
> > Assimilate is perhaps wrong -- since it presupposes
> > 'similar'; incorporate
> > is perhaps bad, too, in that 'corpus', in Latin,
> meant
> > _dead body_? And so
> > on.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Speranza
> > ----- The Swimming-Pool Library, --- reading.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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