Political Future Fiction:

Speculative and Counter-Factual Politics in Edwardian Fiction

The Edwardian period was a time of great social and political change. While the British Empire was still dominant the threat from rival empires was growing, the lower-classes were gaining political representation and women’s suffrage was gathering momentum.

The six texts in this critical edition are all notable for their imaginative portrayals of the future. The Battle of the Swash (1888) and The Struggle for Empire (1900) both hypothesize the future of the British Empire. Anti-British narratives of this kind are rare in this period, making these stories of particular value as a reaction against mainstream imperialism. Legions of the Dawn (1908) and The Affairs of John Bolsover (1911) look at the future from a feminist perspective. Though set against very different backgrounds, both explore the idea of dress as a key concept of gender roles. Legions has men and women cross-dressing and acting out reverse gender roles, while John Bolsover shows a world where women have the right to vote, but must pass as men in order to have political power. Finally, The Inheritors (1901) and A Lodge in the Wilderness (1906) are tales of imperialism in Africa and both are romàns a clef. The Inheritors is of particular import for its use of both science fiction and feminism in telling a tale of corruption.

This is the only critical edition of these novels. Essays and introductory matter explore the themes in the novels themselves, as well as the literary-historical context they appeared in. Supplementary material, including contemporary reviews and correspondence, allows for a fuller understanding of the works’ impact and importance. The edition will be of value to those researching late Victorian and Edwardian literature and culture, social and political history, empire studies and gender.

Contents

Volume 1: The Empire of the Future
Editor: Richard Bleiler
General Introduction – Kate Macdonald
On the Naming of Nineteenth-Century Speculative Fiction – Richard Bleiler
Introduction to Samuel Barton’s The Battle of the Swash and the Capture of Canada – Richard Bleiler
Samuel Barton, The Battle of the Swash and the Capture of Canada (1888)
Introduction to Robert Cole’s The Struggle for Empire – Richard Bleiler
Robert Cole, The Struggle for Empire: A Story of the Year 2236 (1900)
Contemporary Reviews of The Struggle for Empire
Contemporary Essays by Robert Cole and others
Discussion Essay: Taking the Future War Fever to Space – Richard Bleiler
Index
Bibliography

Volume 2: Fictions of a Feminist Future
Editor: Kate Macdonald
Introduction to Feminist Future Fiction – Kate Macdonald
Allan Reeth, Legions of the Dawn (1908)
Una L Silberrad, The Affairs of John Bolsover (1911)
Commentary on the Texts – Kate Macdonald
Index
Bibliography

Volume 3: Speculative Fiction and Imperialism in Africa
Editor: Stephen Donovan
Discussion Essay: The Inheritors – Stephen Donovan
Joseph Conrad and Ford Madox Hueffer, The Inheritors (1901)
Correspondence Concerning The Inheritors
Contemporary Reviews of The Inheritors
Discussion Essay: A Lodge in the Wilderness – Stephen Donovan
John Buchan, A Lodge in the Wilderness (1906)
Correspondence Concerning A Lodge in the Wilderness
Contemporary Reviews of A Lodge in the Wilderness
Index
Bibliography

Related titles

• British Future Fiction, 1700–1914
• British Socialist Fiction, 1884–1914
• G K Chesterton at the Daily News : Literature, Liberalism and Revolution, 1901–1913
• Lives of Victorian Literary Figures, Part VII : Joseph Conrad, Henry Rider Haggard and Rudyard Kipling by their Contemporaries
• Reassessing John Buchan : Beyond The Thirty-Nine Steps
• The Correspondence of H G Wells

Leaflets

• Colour leaflet

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