ABSTRACT
From Kipling’s novels at the turn of the century, through Lofting and Milne, British children’s fiction is full of references to empire, even as authors become more troubled about imperial matters and empire becomes more encoded after World War I. Even if imperialism, in the strict sense of the exertion of commercial and political power over foreign nations, begins to disappear in British children’s fiction, its close cousin, nationalism, does not. In some ways, the rise of nationalism, of the sense that Britain is stronger than and superior to other nations, might be seen as a defensive reaction to Britain’s dwindling influence as imperial power. Saying it is so makes it so-a tactic any child would recognize. Britain begins to assert its national superiority not through acquiring colonial possessions, but through exploration and exploit.
