Richard Beale Davis Prize Citation 2004

"The Colonial Stage: Risk and Promise in John Smith's Virginia"

Joseph Fichtelberg EAL 39.1 (2004): 11–40

In "The Colonial Stage," Joseph Fichtelberg puts economic concerns at the center of textual analysis by examining Anthony Giddens's account of modernity in light of early promotional tracts. Observing that Smith's narrative is driven by a "conflict between imperial promise and indigenous performance," Fichtelberg questions our standard account of colonial narratives as mere "assertions of sovereignty," arguing rather that we read them as "inaugural gestures in a culture of risk." In this reading, colonialism, with its local uncertainties and its reliance on trust over long distances, exposed a central problem of risk culture, the diffusion of social authority beyond elite control. The structure of trade, the supposed locus of English authority, was ambivalent, indicating the "essential equivalence of colonial subjects," as belied for example by Raleigh's failure in Guiana. Smith countered by restaging this ambivalence, asserting performance as "common ground," discovering "English values" by "going native," relocating authority in the act of negotiation and honor in compromise. In its reconsideration of performance, promise, and power, this lively essay offers an important critique of recent Renaissance studies as well as a new model for understanding the lasting impact of early colonial encounters.

Committee:

Lisa Logan, University of Central Florida

Eric Slauter, University of Chicago

Timothy Sweet, West Virginia University