Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 14:46:59 -0600
Subject: colonizer or marginalized? Query


Dear List,

I am just beginning research for my dissertation in English literature.  My
interests lie in early 18th century colonialism, both the first
entrenchment of British colonialism and first signs of resistance in
colonized areas.

I am interested in exploring the position of those many figures who float
between the binary of "colonizer" and "colonized", or "center(s)" and
"periphery(ies)" (ambiguous terms, right?); terms that seem a bit contrived
anymore.  I'd like to explore people such as Jonathan Swift who is
considered Irish (and therefore inferior) by the English, but English by
the Irish.  He never quite finds a place for himself, which I believe
profoundly affects what he writes.  Or Lady Mary Wortley Montagu who is
marginalized as a woman, but placed in the center because of her position
as the wife of a diplomat.  Or Alexander Pope as a Catholic in an Anglican
state.  

Does anyone have any suggestions on literature, primary and secondary, that
explores the position of the many people in between these (created and
complicated) positions of center and periphery?  I have been doing
colonial/postcolonial studies for a while as a student, and much of the
literature I've read so far seems to polarize.

Help!  Thanks in advance, Cristi Thaut
University of Nebraska, Lincoln 




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