Under the auspices of the British Raj

Abstract

The central theme of the dissertation: 'Under the Auspices of the British Raj', is the British Raj itself. The dissertation focuses principally on three texts: Rudyard Kipling's short story The Man who would be King and his novel Kim, and E.M. Forster's novel A Passage to India; and it is their picture of the British Raj that is the main interest and the starting point for observation and study. Three major centres of interest emerge and these are: India itself in the days of the Raj, the Native, and the Anglo-Indian. These are like the warp in a fabric, and running through them, like the weft, are two important strands. The first is the encounter between the Native and the Anglo-Indian, especially in their roles of colonized and colonizer; the second is the sensed presence of Kipling's and Forster's point of view and craft. The dissertation acknowledges the very substantial body of literature and commentary on both the British Raj in general and, specifically, on the three texts chosen for special focus. However, the deliberate choice of the dissertation is to make a very personal response to the spirit of the British Raj and to its presence in The Man who would be King, Kim, and A Passage to India. What the dissertation attempts is not a definition but an exploration, and the guiding light is a great deal of respect and an endless interest in the boundless and unfathomable world of India and the British Raj.