Colonialism and the Modernist Moment in the Early Novels of Jean Rhys

"Colonialism and the Modernist Moment in the Early Novels of Jean Rhys" presents this esteemed author as an insightful colonial observer of the European modernist moment, demonstrating that there is significant colonial content in all of her major early works.

Whereas previous colonial studies focus more strictly on matters of style, such as Rhys' dialogism, in establishing the coloniality of what are called her 'European' novels, this study brings to light highly developed colonial polemics that are integral to the European texts, shaping their stories and plots.

This reassessment of Rhys' European novels points to a connection between them and the colonial novel of the period, namely that each of them addresses in some way the implications of colonial and imperial history, most particularly in terms of European culture and society.

In arguing that Rhys is a keen diagnostician of and commentator on Euromodernist culture, this book points to a new dimension of her early writing, aligning her with Conrad and Joyce as a significant colonial voice of Modernism.