American Messianic Colonialism in Stanley Weinbaum’s Planetary Stories

Document Type : Research Paper

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Abstract

Although America claims to be the savior of the world and its
invasions of other nations have been justified as attempts to maintain peace
and security, America’s international interventions have not always been
without expansionist aims. America considers itself a Messianic force on the
earth. This moral aloofness has served as a justification for imperialist
projects. In the light of post-colonial studies, this article tries to discuss
the manifestation of America's messianic discourse in the works of a leading
science fiction writer of the 1930s, Stanley G. Weinbaum. In his planetary stories,
Weinbaum portrays Americans as the harbingers of peace, security and
enlightenment to the lands they invade. Moreover, Weinbaum pictures Americans
as those who bring about reconciliation and, having eliminated hostile
criminals and vicious natives, save all the planets and its tame, pliable
inhabitants. The results of the analysis show that the Messianic discourse of
the US has been so pervasive that it has deeply affected its literature and
culture.

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