| Summary: | <p>This thesis investigates the long-neglected relationship between Decadence and colonialism at the <em>fin de siècle</em> which also coincided with the age of France’s high imperialism. Generally considered a European literary and cultural movement, Decadence has rarely been examined outside its Western boundaries, not least in connection with the empire. The <em>fin-de-siècle</em> colonial literature of Indochina emerges as a particularly compelling case reflecting a complex interplay between Decadence and colonialism, aesthetics and politics, at a time when France was seeking to redefine its national identity in relation to the increasingly significant concept of <em>la plus Grande France</em> and in opposition to other European powers.</p>
<p>By combining colonial discourse analysis with postcolonial and cultural studies approaches, with special emphasis on a historicist approach, this thesis engages in close readings of novels, short stories and poetry written by a number of French travellers and colonisers, most notably Paul Bonnetain, Jules Boissière, Albert de Pouvourville, Claude Farrère, Myriam Harry, Clotilde Chivas-Baron, and Jeanne Leuba. In particular it focuses on three key decadent tropes: opium, subversive sexualities, and the allure of the <em>néant</em> seen in terms of both spirituality and the ruins of past civilisations. Reading Decadence against colonial ideology and in relation with a wide range of <em>fin-de-siècle</em> scholarly and popular discourses, reveals that the decadent articulation of the colonial encounter is fundamentally <em>political</em>, in contrast to its perceived aestheticist detachment. Through its ambiguous propensity for revelling in what it deprecates, decadent literature often introduces ambivalence and oppositional counter-narratives disrupting the colonialist foundations on which the French rule in Indochina and the neat boundaries between coloniser and colonised are built. A postcolonial reading of decadent literature suggests the presence of ‘critical Decadence’ that points to a need to reassess the monolithic pro-colonial view of colonial literature.</p>
|
|---|