Standard literary histography thus reserves autonomy and agency for the centre, and necessary imitation with local colour for the peripheries. (Julien, 674)

How can the relationship of language between the core and peripheries in Julien's "The Extroverted African Novel" shed light on the power dynamics within Middlemarch society?

           In “The Extroverted African Novel”, Julien investigates the relationship between the core, which is the western form of the novel, and peripheries, which is the African novel. In Middlemarch, despite there being a society knitted in the “web” that Eliot constructs, there is arguably a core and periphery which communicates with each other. Being in the core of Middlemarch society means residents have a common membership, such as being in the same social circle as Mrs. Bulstrode and Mrs. Plymade. Yet, one feature of this membership is also the fluency of language, which the characters wield with “autonomy and agency” in the novel (Julien 674). Julien illustrates that the peripheral African novel, by adopting the form of the novel is to “certify their distinct and modern nationhood”, in which their means to gain representation is to “appropriate and subvert the colonial language by infusing it with local registers” (676). Although Middlemarch is a “Western” novel that can be categorized as part of the core, the power dynamics within the imagined community of Middlemarch also exhibits some similarities with that of the Western novel and African novel.

            By representing the peripheral characters in broken English, Eliot is subjugating them and denying them full membership into Middlemarch. One notable part is Mr. Dagley’s conversation with Mr. Brooke. Mr. Brooke as a reputable and upper-class member of Middlemarch holds the power over Mr. Dagley as his son killed a leveret on his premises, using his perfect English to ask Mr. Dagley to reprimand his son. Through using dialectical speech, Mr. Dagley not only fails to understand the contents of his own arguments about the “rinform”, he also fails to convey himself clearly to the readers He struggles for his space to speak, despite understanding that he is resisting a powerful landlord – “An’ I wull speak, too. I’ll hev my say—supper or no.” Although Mr. Brooke escapes out of fear because of the Dagleys' dog, Mr. Dagley only momentarily shifts the power to himself. He is still subject to Mr. Brooke’s influence (if he is willing to exert it) and living in a dilapidated house with a “mouldering garden wall”. Eliot’s patronizing description of his “ignorance” further cements his exclusion from the core of Middlemarch. The mere act of using dialectical language to imitate Dagley’s provincial localness already singles him out as an unimportant and eccentric character. Like how African novels are deemed as the “primitive other” in the Eurocentric view of novels, Dagley is also othered by the use of dialectical speech (Julien 676). Contrary to the African novels which successfully adapt English as a form of empowerment, Dagley still remains trapped because his broken English is used to display his marginality.

            Using eloquence in language is one of the ways to value one’s basic membership in the “core” of Middlemarch, which is echoed by Julien’s argument that indigenizing English and the European form of the novel may paradoxically reinforce European centrality (Julien 681). The conflict between the workers and the railroad men also illustrates this point. The men’s apprehensiveness about the railway is shown through their idea of “London as a centre of hostility”. Ironically, London as the ultimate core has power over the tiny core of Middlemarch, as Caleb Garth tells the men that the railway “will be made whether (they) like it or not”. The workers’ dialectical English, like Dagley’s, causes them to be subjugated and their voices to be ignored. When the peripheral characters are put against the core of London, their lack of proper English and thus lack of agency is also highlighted. Despite resisting the influence of London, the labourers’ limited agency is also dictated by it. Timothy Cooper, one of the labourers, sums this up in his dialogue, “They’ll on’y leave the poor mon furder behind … This is the big folks’s world, this is”. Therefore, while the periphery is dissatisfied with the core’s dominance, no matter with London or the Middlemarch gentry, they are forced to accept it and have to counter it through their fluency of language, which is also part of what the core derives its superiority from.

            African novels attempt to subvert Eurocentrism through adopting English with local colours, while dialectical English is used to subjugate and highlight the lack of agency in Middlemarch. A lot still remains to be discussed between Julien’s argument and Middlemarch. One thing to note is that even though peripheral characters are not valued and often suffer under the power of the core, they still play an indispensable part in constructing the imagined community of Middlemarch.

Works Cited

Julien, Eileen. "The Extroverted African Novel". The Novel, edited by Franco Moretti, Princeton University Press, 2006, 673-700.