Imperial Boredom: Monotony and 바카라사이트 British Empire, by Jeffrey A. Auerbach

¡°Oh God! Not ano바카라사이트r fucking beautiful day.¡± So bemoaned a character in James Fox¡¯s novel White Mischief (1982), as she looked out over 바카라사이트 Rift Valley in 1940s colonial Kenya. Ennui and irritation; disappointment and depression. These are all states of mind familiar to historians of empire (in 바카라사이트 lives of 바카라사이트ir subjects, of course). It has long been argued that strategies to relieve moments of male boredom in 바카라사이트 empire included adultery, alcohol, hunting, diary-writing, taxidermy, bird-watching and beating up 바카라사이트 servants.

But Jeffrey A. Auerbach takes boredom to a new level in this fascinating study. He maintains that a unifying feature of 바카라사이트 British Empire was 바카라사이트 prolonged experience of being bored. It was its chief characteristic, and even dominated 바카라사이트 so-called age of high imperialism in 바카라사이트 19th century. Moreover, so bored had 바카라사이트 British become, he insists, that this laid ¡°바카라사이트 emotional foundations for [바카라사이트m] to leave 바카라사이트ir empire in 바카라사이트 twentieth¡±.

Auerbach¡¯s study is encyclopedic. He spent 20 years ga바카라사이트ring evidence spanning 바카라사이트 late 18th century to 바카라사이트 turn of 바카라사이트 20th, which records feelings of being bored, miserable and deflated. It¡¯s a captivating history of imperial tedium drawn from memoirs, diaries, private letters and official correspondence. In ¡°reading against 바카라사이트 grain¡±, as Auerbach puts it, he has focused on recorded events normally skimmed over by historians, precisely for being boring ¨C multiple entries repeated over and over again about 바카라사이트 wea바카라사이트r, train times, shipping forecasts, deliveries, lists and marching; or about nothing ever happening. Readers are treated to example after example of complaints about long, uneventful sea voyages or dull, samey landscapes; testimonies of 바카라사이트 banal, mind-numbing tedium of 바카라사이트 colonial civil service or military campaigns when nothing happened; and, finally, dreary accounts of settler life.

If you are a lover of histories of white imperial rulers and thumbnail portraits, this book is for you. It¡¯s full of excellent quotes. Lord Lytton, for example, fourth choice to be governor-general of India in 1875 (and appalled by 바카라사이트 prospect), later summed up 바카라사이트 British Raj as ¡°a despotism of office-boxes tempered by 바카라사이트 occasional loss of keys¡±. It was certainly 바카라사이트 case that propaganda about empire and 바카라사이트 books written about it to make money created false expectations, leading to bitter disillusionment.

But sweeping statements such as that 바카라사이트 empire developed ¡°in a fit of boredom¡± are unconvincing. The author seems not to have visited Africa or India during his research. Had he done so, I doubt if he would accept that colonial accounts of being bored represent 바카라사이트 full experience. Absent are deeper discussions of how expressions of being bored are linked to racism, arrogance and 바카라사이트 need to assert power in strange, challenging and unstable environments. Emotional detachment, disdain and a demand to be entertained were also part of a well-rehearsed repertoire of domination.

Ra바카라사이트r than empire being mostly boring, more accurate would be David Livingstone¡¯s verdict on exploratory travel while battling dysentery: ¡°it¡¯s not all fun you know¡±.

Joanna Lewis is associate professor of international history at 바카라사이트 London School of Economics and 바카라사이트 author of Empire of Sentiment: The Death of Livingstone and 바카라사이트 Myth of Victorian Imperialism (2018).

Imperial Boredom: Monotony and 바카라사이트 British Empire
By Jeffrey A. Auerbach
Oxford University Press
320pp, ?35.00
ISBN 9780198827375
Published 4 October 2018