The Anglo-Australian: Between Colony and Metropolis in Rosa Praed’s ‘The Right Honourable’ and Policy and Passion

Abstract

"'The Right Honourable' exemplifies the transnational nature of Praed's work and career: it is set largely in London, with Australian and English characters who travel between the two places. Place is negotiated in Praed's novels through figuring the movement of individuals between England and parts of its colonial network, as well as other countries, something that also pertains to Praed herself. A. Patchett Martin described her as the 'shining example' of a class of 'Anglo-Australian litterateurs' who, 'although born and educated in the colonies, have made their name purely by writing and publishing in England' (11). 'Anglo-Australian' is a useful descriptor of both the circumstances of Praed's life and the use of place in her fiction, the settings of her novels ranging between England, Australia and other places. Book history questions about the role that perceptions of colonial difference played in the establishment of Praed's career and the fate of her novels in the marketplace are linked to a reading of the negotiation of place and identity in her work. Looking at the novels and the career together enables me to offer some insight into how Australia as a setting, and trans-colonial relationships as a theme, might have related to Praed's success as a novelist in the literary markets around the turn of the twentieth century."