122,3 Sean Moore 681 transcendent nation (Hardt and Negri 87-88). models the new economic criticism's potential Women's bodies,as Charlotte Sussman has to step beyond postcolonial and Marxist criti- explained,ensured this mechanism by repro- cism and imagines how political and cultural ducing armies of loyal subjects whose taxed concerns may be linked to economic analy- consumption would pay interest and principal sis.It makes this claim on the basis of early on investment in the nation(104-06). modern political philosophy,which had es- These developments may suggest that tablished that language and money were con- national debts are "even more fundamental sidered homologous representations of state to the fictional or ideological creation and authority(Hawkes 19).The sign,in the sphere maintenance of the imagined communities of the media,censorship,and publicity,se- of modern nation-states than...literary can- cured the value of the currency by promoting ons,"but it is not likely that this new form of the reputation of the state and the legitimacy government could have achieved hegemony of its constitutional functions,a necessity without the simultaneous rise of a national if government were to guarantee the trans- aesthetic (Brantlinger 20).New economic parency of all contracts,public and private, critics of the professionalization of author- with a sound legal tender.The indivisibility ship and the textuality of money have argued of these aspects of sovereignty was highly that the novel,a genre inventing the domestic rarefied in the eyes of dispossessed colonials, space of the home as the interior conscience of who saw how the British fiscal-military state the nation,performed this function.The print substituted an abstract commodity-national trade,in their view,was similar to the ex- identity circulated in literature-for the mate- change of commodities in that the velocity of rial resources it alienated to reproduce itself. transfers of provenance over both books and Ireland's debt,like England's,was the ide- currency governed how they were appraised ological foundation of the Anglo-Irish Protes- (Lynch 81).The purely fictional worth of the tant nation.This colonial caste,a hybrid entity new paper money created a crisis of judgment caught between the natives it governed and resolved by the novel's capacity to serve "as the metropolis to which it was subject,soon an ideological regrounding of intrinsic value" learned to appropriate the empire's homolo- in its depiction of"the home and companion- gies of finance,language,and law to protect its ate marriage"as instantiations of the "real" investment and claim its parliament's right to (Thompson 21-22).Authority over assessing regulate Ireland's economy.Members of this "undifferentiated tokens of epistemological caste mobilized the Dublin press for the pro- opacity"like currency and books devolved to duction of domestic cultural capital that would readers(Sherman 1-2).Book buyers'embrace sow the seeds for regional fiscal independence. of"Britishness"as a participatory,democratic I argue that the Proposal's dietary motif may identity was figured in the "distinct authorial have persuaded them to resist the Crown's persona"of the novelist,a synecdoche for a demands that it enact perpetual revenues liberal bourgeois self capable of acquiring do- earmarked to pay the debt.The luxury taxes mestic propriety through the performance of and budgetary procedures that they adopted, politeness(Ingrassia 81). I contend,could have been responses to those This article intervenes in these studies by in Swift's text.I make the case for these possi- extending their critique to the problem of em- bilities by examining three contexts:the pam- pire,asking how this British cultural produc- phlet's intertextual relation to contemporary tion was underwritten by colonials'resources anglophone satire,the immediate exigencies and ability to appropriate those resources for for its production in Dublin,and its reception their own nationalist projects.By doing so,it by British and Anglo-Irish readers. This content downloaded from 202.120.14.172 on Fri,10 Nov 2017 17:56:35 UTC All use subject to http://aboutjstor.org/terms12 2.3 Sean Moore 681 transcendent nation (Hardt and Negri 87-88). Women's bodies, as Charlotte Sussman has explained, ensured this mechanism by repro ducing armies of loyal subjects whose taxed consumption would pay interest and principal on investment in the nation (104-06). These developments may suggest that national debts are "even more fundamental to the fictional or ideological creation and maintenance of the imagined communities of modern nation-states than ... literary can ons," but it is not likely that this new form of government could have achieved hegemony without the simultaneous rise of a national aesthetic (Brantlinger 20). New economic critics of the professionalization of author ship and the textuality of money have argued that the novel, a genre inventing the domestic space of the home as the interior conscience of the nation, performed this function. The print trade, in their view, was similar to the ex change of commodities in that the velocity of transfers of provenance over both books and currency governed how they were appraised (Lynch 81). The purely fictional worth of the new paper money created a crisis of judgment resolved by the novel's capacity to serve "as an ideological regrounding of intrinsic value" in its depiction of "the home and companion ate marriage" as instantiations of the "real" (Thompson 21-22). Authority over assessing "undifferentiated tokens of epistemological opacity" like currency and books devolved to readers (Sherman 1-2). Book buyers' embrace of "Britishness" as a participatory, democratic identity was figured in the "distinct authorial persona" of the novelist, a synecdoche for a liberal bourgeois self capable of acquiring do mestic propriety through the performance of politeness (Ingrassia 81). This article intervenes in these studies by extending their critique to the problem of em pire, asking how this British cultural produc tion was underwritten by colonials' resources and ability to appropriate those resources for their own nationalist projects. By doing so, it models the new economic criticism's potential to step beyond postcolonial and Marxist criti cism and imagines how political and cultural concerns may be linked to economic analy sis. It makes this claim on the basis of early modern political philosophy, which had es tablished that language and money were con sidered homologous representations of state authority (Hawkes 19). The sign, in the sphere of the media, censorship, and publicity, se cured the value ofthe currency by promoting the reputation ofthe state and the legitimacy of its constitutional functions, a necessity if government were to guarantee the trans parency of all contracts, public and private, with a sound legal tender. The indivisibility of these aspects of sovereignty was highly rarefied in the eyes of dispossessed colonials, who saw how the British fiscal-military state substituted an abstract commodity?national identity circulated in literature?for the mate rial resources it alienated to reproduce itself. Ireland's debt, like England's, was the ide ological foundation ofthe Anglo-Irish Protes tant nation. This colonial caste, a hybrid entity caught between the natives it governed and the metropolis to which it was subject, soon learned to appropriate the empire's homolo gies of finance, language, and law to protect its investment and claim its parliament's right to regulate Ireland's economy. Members of this caste mobilized the Dublin press for the pro duction of domestic cultural capital that would sow the seeds for regional fiscal independence. I argue that the Proposal's dietary motif may have persuaded them to resist the Crown's demands that it enact perpetual revenues earmarked to pay the debt. The luxury taxes and budgetary procedures that they adopted, I contend, could have been responses to those in Swift's text. I make the case for these possi bilities by examining three contexts: the pam phlet's intertextual relation to contemporary anglophone satire, the immediate exigencies for its production in Dublin, and its reception by British and Anglo-Irish readers. This content downloaded from 202.120.14.172 on Fri, 10 Nov 2017 17:56:35 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms