The Enchanted Glass: Britain and Its Monarchy

Description

Refusing to treat the Royal Family as a jokey left-over from feudalism or a mere tourist attraction, Tom Nairn sees the monarchy as both apex and essence of the British State, and presents an analysis of the specific backwardness that explains this phenomenon. In this acclaimed meditation on the British state, its identity and culture, Tom Nairn sees the monarchy both as its apex and its essence, the symbol of a national backwardness. This powerful, analytical, and bitterly funny book lays bare Britain's peculiar, pseudo-modern, national identity, one that remains fixated on the Crown and its constitutional framework, the 'parliamentary sovereignty' of Westminster. "Dazzling, cliche-nailing - The first serious study for more than a hundred years to take a coldly analytical look at this most emotion-charged part of our heritage, it reflects a growing sense of the peculiarity of it all." --Observer "A long and brilliant meditation on the nature of the British state, its identity and national culture... one of the most powerful and original pieces of writing I have ever read on the subject." --London Review of Books Tom Nairn is Professor of Nationalism and Cultural Diversity at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia. He is the author of The Break-Up of Britain (Verso 1977; 3rd edition, Common Ground 2003), After Britain (Granta, 2000) and Pariah (Verso, 2002). He writes regularly for newspapers and magazines including the Guardian, the Independent on Sunday, the New Statesman and the London Review of Books. Cover About the Author Also by Tom Nairn Title Page Copyright Contents Dedication Thanks Introduction After the Fall The Shattered Glass Identity-breakage Levels of Identity The Original Model Foreword: A World Upside Down 1. The Mystery A People's Monarchy Mystic Significance of a Small Bald Patch Royalty and Fashion Royalty versus Celebrity In the Doll's House: Crawfie Lives Taboo-supported Niceness Taboo and Idiot-theory Royalty and Civilization: the Mystery Deepens Respectable and Popular Monarchy Queenspeak The Royal Touch Regal Walkabout Imponderable Insipidities Tea With The Queen Through the Wrong End of the Telescope: Ukania 2. The Nation A Special Explanation Digression on Family Pets 'Disavowal' Sociology of Grovelling, Part 1 Sociology of Grovelling, Fart 2 Enchantment in Retrospect Monarchy and Nationalism English Nationality Leviathan and Later Kings at Nightfall 'Parliamentary Sovereignty' The Modern Venice The Containment of Modernity The Modernization of George III Folklore From Above The Royal Etiquette-Lesson Playing the Royal Game The Heart of Archaism 3. The Glamour of Backwardness Bustard Identity Nationalism in Satin Breeches A So-called English Prince All Manner of Folk The Nerves of Fetishism The Outward-Looking and the Backward-Looking The Royal Bomb: Implosions of Greatness 'Class': the Totem-Shadow The Monarchy of Letters Speech and Silence of the Crown: Spectrogram of Greatness Kirsch Identity: Sinuosity of the Truly Royal Estates of the Realm The Royal Prerogative 4. Quiet Republicanism From Bang to Whimper 'Getting Rid of it Altogether' Pseudo-Feudal Socialism T.S. Eliot and Clap-Trap: Fathomable Givenness Bagehot: Dressing up the Mace Chief Malefactor: 'The English Constitution' Sooner Than One Thinks Endless Dream-Time? Notes 1: The Mystery 2: The Nation 3: The Glamour of Backwardness 4: Quiet Republicanism