Semi-Detached Empire: Suburbia and Imperial Discourse in Victorian and Edwardian Britain‪.‬

Imperialism's impact on urban and rural Britain has been the focus of much literary and cultural criticism, yet such work largely ignores the suburban development that arose during the age of empire. This article reads imperialism as central to the discursive construction of the Victorian and Edwardian suburb. While suburbia appeared to some as a bastion of national strength and racial regeneration, others viewed it as a threatening terra incognita, whose inhabitants comprised a barbaric species beyond the pale of authentic Anglo-Saxon culture. Still others criticized suburban sprawl as emblematic of the British empire's inherent degeneracy and impending decay. The tension between these perspectives is illustrated by examining the writings of two prominent commentators on the Victorian and Edwardian suburbs: journalist Sidney Low and Liberal politician C.F.G. Masterman. **********