Waiyee Loh's "Empire of Culture" examines how Britain's imperial past continues to shape global cultural consumption. The book analyzes neo-Victorian texts and practices across Britain, the US, Japan, and Singapore, revealing how the British heritage industry leverages this legacy. It explores the competition and collaboration between these nations' cultural industries, highlighting the complex interplay of commodification and cultural appropriation. Loh's work challenges traditional power dynamics, offering a nuanced perspective on trans-imperial relations and the enduring influence of Victorian culture. The book ultimately sheds light on the global creative economy and its intricate connections to historical power structures.
In 'Possession', A. S. Byatt crafts a complex narrative that intertwines the lives of fictional Victorian poets Randolph Henry Ash and Christabel LaMotte with those of modern scholars Roland Michell and Maud Bailey. The novel delves into themes of love, possession, and the power of words, blending historical fiction with metafiction. It won the Booker Prize in 1990 and is considered a modern classic.
Koichi Iwabuchi's "Re-Centering Globalization" offers a critical examination of globalization's impact on culture and media. The book challenges dominant Western-centric perspectives, focusing on the experiences and contributions of East Asian societies. Iwabuchi's analysis explores the complex interplay between global flows and local contexts, highlighting the agency of non-Western actors in shaping global cultural landscapes. The book's insights into cultural hybridity and the dynamics of power relations in a globalized world remain highly relevant. It is a significant contribution to the field of media and cultural studies.
Henry James's "A Passionate Pilgrim" is a short story exploring themes of cultural identity and national belonging. The narrative follows an American man's journey to England, where he grapples with his connection to British heritage. James's keen psychological insights reveal the complexities of cultural appropriation and the subjective nature of national identity. The story's exploration of the American perspective on British culture provides a valuable counterpoint to traditional narratives. It remains a significant work in James's oeuvre, showcasing his mastery of character development and thematic depth.
Empire of Culture: Neo-Victorian Narratives in the Global Creative Economy (SUNY Press, 2024) by Dr. Waiyee Loh brings together contemporary representations of Victorian Britain to reveal how the nation's imperial past inheres in the ways post-imperial subjects commodify and consume "culture" in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The globalization of English literature, along with British forms of dress, etiquette, and dining, in the nineteenth century presumed and produced the idea that British culture is a universal standard to which everyone should aspire.
Examining neo-Victorian texts and practices from Britain, the United States, Japan, and Singapore—from A. S. Byatt's novel Possession and its Hollywood film adaptation to Japanese Lolita fashion and the Lady Victorian manga series—Dr. Loh argues that the British heritage industry thrives on the persistence of this idea. Yet this industry also competes and collaborates with the US and Japanese cultural industries, as they, too, engage with the legacy of British universalism to carve out their own empires in a global creative economy. Unique in its scope, Empire of Culture centers Britain's engagements with the US and East Asia to illuminate fresh axes of influence and appropriation, and further bring Victorian studies into contact with various sites of literary and cultural fandom.
This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose new book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars.
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