Representing the Raj: Kim, A Passage to India, The Siege of Krishnapur, and The Jewel in the Crown

Representations in fiction of British rule in India vary widely, and are sharply contested. Taking the four greatest British novels to depict the Raj, by Rudyard Kipling, E M Forster, J G Farrell, and Paul Scott, this course asks how good they really are, how historically accurate they are, what kinds of bias they display, and what judgements of imperialism they (don’t) offer.