Abstract:

The Orientalized magician was a significant figure in the cultural manufacture of the idea of Empire in nineteenth-century Britain. As by definition a deceiver, the conjuror could not help but embody identity and nationhood as unstable, even impossible, performances. With the character Signor Brunoni, in Cranford (1853), Elizabeth Gaskell stages Empire as a multi-faceted, conflicted, and highly paradoxical cultural and commercial show. Three decisive central chapters present the Signor, his technical stunts, and community members’ reactions to these, establishing him as the novel’s pivotal persona. The “panic” he causes subsides when he is exposed as Samuel Brown, a British citizen masquerading as Other. Yet without the intervention of the trickster, the (temporary) restoration of the community—represented by Peter Jenkyn’s return—would not transpire. Appearances, disappearances, and reappearances are orchestrated in Cranford as in a magical display, positing the construction of Empire as itself a “sleight of hand.”

摘要：

这位东方化的魔术师是 19 世纪英国帝国观念文化制造的重要人物。作为一个骗子的定义，魔术师不得不将身份和国家身份体现为不稳定的，甚至是不可能的表演。与布鲁诺尼先生在克兰福德（1853 年），伊丽莎白·加斯凯尔将《帝国》描绘成一个多面的、矛盾的、高度矛盾的文化和商业节目。三个决定性的中心章节展示了签名者、他的技术特技以及社区成员对这些的反应，使他成为小说的关键人物。当他被暴露为伪装成其他人的英国公民塞缪尔·布朗时，他引起的“恐慌”消退了。然而，如果没有骗子的干预，社区的（临时）恢复——以彼得詹金的回归为代表——就不会发生。出现、消失和重新出现在克兰福德精心策划，就像一场神奇的展示，将帝国的建设视为一种“花招”。