Dark (neo)Victorians: Race and the Empire in Belinda Starling’s The Journal of Dora Damage and Barbara Chase-Riboud’s Hottentot Venus.

Abstract

This chapter provides a close reading on the neo-Victorian novels Belinda Starling’s The Journal of Dora Damage (2007) and Barbara Chase-Riboud’s Hottentot Venus (2004). Aimed at providing a more hybrid perspective on Victorian Age, these neo-Victorian texts adopt a postcolonial stance in their historical reconstruction of black subjects in Victorian England. Additionally, I will evince how these novels complement recent historical perspectives into ‘black’ European history and operate as vehicles to illustrate the latest criticisms on postcolonial thought.