University of Wisconsin Press Cannibal Fictions: American Explorations of Colonialism, Race, Gender and Sexuality (Ray & Pat Browne Book)

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Cannibal FictionsAmerican Explorations of Colonialism, Race, Gender, and SexualityBy Jeff BerglundTHE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PRESSCopyright © 2006The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin SystemAll right reserved.ISBN: 978-0-299-21590-3ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments.....................................................................................xiIntroduction....................................................................................................3Part I: Colonial Performances1. P. T. Barnum's American Exhibition of Fiji Cannibals (1871-1873).............................................292. Literacy, Imperialism, Race, and Cannibalism in Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan of the Apes.....................77Part II: Postcolonial Transformations3. The Cannibal at Home: The Secret of Fried Green Tomatoes.....................................................1054. Turning Back the Cannibal: Indigenous Revisionism in the Late Twentieth Century..............................130Epilogue: Abortion Politics, Focus on the Family, and U.S. Feminists in Beijing.................................171Notes...........................................................................................................189Bibliography....................................................................................................209Index...........................................................................................................227Chapter OneP. T. Barnum's American Exhibition of Fiji Cannibals (1871-1873) Mr. Barnum, America Letter from New Zealand addressed to P. T. Barnum Talk of songs of a nation! ... What I say is, "Let me furnish the amusements of a nation and there will be need of very few laws." P. T. Barnum, New York Sun, 1880 Barnum, you are the Self-Offered American Moral Sacrifice, and National Columbian Scape-Goat of the Century. Vanity Fair, 1860 In one of the many amended chapters to his autobiography, The Struggles and Triumphs of P. T. Barnum, the renowned American showman states that he had recently fulfilled one of his lifelong goals: to procure some real live cannibals: "But perhaps the most rare and curious addition to my great show, and certainly the most difficult to obtain, is a company of four wild FIJI CANNIBALS! I have tried in vain for years to secure specimens of these man-eaters. At last the opportunity came." By his own admission, at this point in his life, Barnum had almost done it all, continuously seeking to bring before the eager American populace the unusual, the unbelievable, the unseen. After looking the world over for exotic specimens, Barnum claimed that cannibals were the one living curiosity he yearned for but had been unable to bring into the collection. Even though the historical record suggests that Barnum had earlier exhibited "Vendovi, a cannibal chief," at the American Museum in 1841, Barnum omits this fact in the definitive version of his own life in order to highlight the significance of his recent acquisition. He adds this installment to his life story in 1873, two years after he and other business associates had initiated the traveling version of his long-running and successful American Museum, officially called P. T. Barnum's Museum, Menagerie and Circus. This great traveling show would traverse the northeastern section of the United States, drawing record crowds. A. H. Saxon explains that "Although his tents, covering a total of three acres, could hold as many as 10,000 spectators at each performance, it was common throughout the season for thousands to be turned away." Certainly Barnum had struck a chord with American audiences, both creating a need and filling a void. That millions of Americans in the decade following the close of the Civil War were drawn to Barnum's venues and paid the fifty-cent admission price (and who knows how much more on incidentals such as the nickel pamphlets or other sou