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Exotic Subversions in Nineteenth-Century French Fiction

by Jennifer Yee

In the course of the nineteenth century France built up a colonial empire second only to Britains. The literary tradition in which it dealt with its colonial 'Other' is frequently understood in terms of Edward Said's description of Orientalism as both a Western projection and a 'will to govern' over the Orient. There is, however, a body of works that eludes such a simple categorisation, offering glimpses of colonial resistance, of a critique of imperialist hegemony, or of a blurring of the boundaries between the Self and the Other. Some of the ways in which the imperialist enterprise is subverted in the metropolitan literature of this period are examined in this volume through detailed case studies of key works by Chateaubriand, Hugo, Flaubert and Segalen. (Legenda, Research Monographs in French Studies 25, Legenda 2008)

Review Quote

"Yee's analyses are complex and subtle, but convincingly presented and supported by a wealth of examples. While the study would probably be of most interest to nineteenth-century specialists, she does give enough of an oversight of each novel to allow non-specialists to appreciate the originality of her insights."

Laurey Martin-Berg, University of Wisconsin - Madison
French Review (Vol 83.6, May 2010)

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