Empire, Modernity, and the Invasion Novel

Empire, Modernity, and the Invasion Novel: Invading Modernism is an examination of Late-Victorian and Edwardian popular literature, and the invasion novel genre in particular.

Written at the height of British Imperialism, these texts mediated the cultural confusion and anxiety about the empire in radical and experimental ways. A few decades later, the Modernists would attempt to define themselves in opposition to the authors of these books, dismissing them as commercial purveyors of lowbrow pablum. And yet, the Modernist project was not only driven by many of the same anxieties as the invasion novel, it was even invaded by the formal experimentation which characterized the genre.

This book will be of interest to any readers or scholars seeking to deepen their understanding of late-19th and early-20th century British Literature by shedding light on a genre which has largely been dismissed and overlooked as an obscure footnote in British literary history. It will also serve any readers hoping to better understand the legacy and impact of the British Empire, and how the media and anxieties that were produced in its wake reverberated through the 20th century and into our own cultural moment.