Civilizing War: Imperial Politics and the Poetics of National Rupture

263 Pages·2018·1.45 MB·English

by  Nasser Mufti

Civilizing War
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A complete list of titles begins on page 249.
Civilizing War
Imperial Politics and the Poetics of National Rupture
Nasser Mufti
northwestern university press ❘ evanston, illinois
this book is made possible by a collaborative grant
from the andrew w. mellon foundation.
Northwestern University Press
www.nupress.northwestern.edu
Copyright © 2018 by Northwestern University Press. Published 2018. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data [to come]
Names: Mufti, Nasser, author.
Title: Civilizing war : imperial politics and the poetics of national rupture / Nasser Mufti.
Other titles: FlashPoints (Evanston, Ill.)
Description: Evanston, Illinois : Northwestern University Press, 2018. | Series: FlashPoints |
Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017014831| ISBN 9780810136038 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN
9780810136021 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780810136045 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: English fiction—19th century—History and criticism. | English fiction—
20th century—History and criticism. | Civil war in literature. | Imperialism in literature.
| Great Britain—Colonies—Civilization.
Classification: LCC PR830.W37 M84 2018 | DDC 820.9/3581—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017014831
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences— Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI Z39.4811992.
For Dodo, Abba, and Yasser
(pay no attention to the epigraph!)

Whatever brotherhood human beings may be capable of has grown
out of fratricide.
—hannah arendt, On Revolution

Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 3
part i. civility 21
1. A Glimpse of Social War 27
2. A Nexus of Fratricide 44
3. The Long Civil War 63
part ii. civilizing mission 81
4. Civil War, the Highest Stage of Civilization 85
5. Civil War, the Lowest Stage of Civilization 110
part iii. incivility 135
6. A Bend in the Historical Novel 143
7. Postcolonial Interregnum 160
Coda: Global Civil War 179
Notes 185
Works Cited 223
Index 241