Said's Inflation of Empire

Edward Said’s critique of the English novel drew upon his classic book, Orientalism, in which he proposed that much of modern European culture justified and even promoted imperial expansion. In later work, Said illustrated this argument through a reading of works of literature in which, he argues, the place of empire was either suppressed or distorted. This essay engages Said on both his general view of empire and the particular works of Jane Austen and George Eliot that he took to be illustrative of his view.