Imperium of the soul: The political and aesthetic imagination of Edwardian imperialists

Imperium of the soul offers a new interpretation of the creative work of some of the most well-known British imperialists, including Rudyard Kipling, Joseph Conrad, John Buchan, Edward Elgar, Rider Haggard and Herbert Baker. Despite their association with obsolete and discredited political creeds, the creative work of these individuals continues to captivate new generations of readers and critics. This interdisciplinary study considers their enduring fascination, with part of the explanation to be found in the way they played with the notion of the divided psyche made popular in their time by the revolutionary psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud. Each of them perceived a powerful analogy between the real-world project of imposing imperial rule on 'savage subjects' and the struggle of individual egos to keep a lid on savage impulses percolating up from the subconscious. Much of the power of their creative work derives from their exploration of this oddly thrilling and disturbing notion that the most cultivated and civilised Europeans harboured deep within themselves wildly transgressive desires that might be repressed but never purged. Their deeply held conservative political allegiances have tended to obscure the many ways in which the subjects of this book shared key ideas of twentieth-century modernism. In a series of thematically linked essays, Imperium of the soul explores the work of each of the major figures, to understand how their work was enriched and deepened by the intersection of their beliefs about politics, empire and the human psyche. A final chapter explains why these men placed their faith in Lawrence of Arabia and why he was unable to realise their impossible dream of an imperial ruler who merged his identity with subject peoples. The book is written in an accessible style that will appeal to general readers interested in adventure and colonial rule, as well as to specialists and scholars in the field of imperialism.