Continental Drift: From National Characters to Virtual Subjects by Emily Apter (review)

Abstract

Continental Drift:From National Characters toVirtual Subjects. By EMILY APTER. Chicago and London:Universityof Chicago Press. I999. xv + 285 pp. ?I5.25. In this challenging and thought-provoking book, Emily Apter maps the gradual erosion of the nation-state by the forces of globalization, or 'multinational nationalism'. Through an analysis of some of the cultural products of French colonial history,Apter rereadssuch 'national characters'asJoan of Arc, Flaubert, and AlbertCamus, re-presentingthem as 'virtualsubjects'.An intriguinggalleryof photographsaccompanies the writtentext, placing the readerin the uncomfortable position of re-enacting colonial desire whilst simultaneouslytrying to dismantle it. Such 'colonial tourism',Apter claims, is the essence of much postcolonial criticism. Indeed, Continental Drift suggests interesting if disconcerting parallels between apparentlyvery different'national subjects':Jean-Marie Le Pen's appropriationof 'The Maid of Orleans' as a symbolof national chauvinismadds a discomfitinglayer to the mystificationof Fanonas an icon of blackmasculinity,demonstratedin Isaac Julien's Channel 4 film. The rangeof subjectsin thisbookisimpressive:literature,politics,psychoanalysis, photography, music, film, art, and cyberspace. Moreover, Apter's commentary moves easilybetween them, consideringnot only francophonetexts and imagesbut also Afrofuturismand American cyberpunk.In the introduction,Apter writesthat she aims to broaden the scope of what is traditionallyknown as Frenchstudies, as well as to close the gap (the 'continental drift') between the United States and France. This 'continental drift' signals not only the North American academy's disaffectionwith Frenchcriticaltheoryin the age of culturalstudiesbut also French academics' lack of engagement with postcolonialism. Apter's book, following the work of scholars such as Christopher Miller, points to ways in which 'French postcolonial criticismcould reinvigoratethe linksbetween political philosophy and literary/cultural analysis' (p. 4). The future of postcolonialism, Apter suggests, is encapsulated in the figure of the cyborg. Drawing on Donna Haraway's famous 'Manifesto for Cyborgs' as well as the cyberpunk narratives of writers such as William Gibson, Apter presents cyborgs as 'quintessential, "hybrid"postcolonial subjects'(p. 2 6). Whilst Apter recognizes that the lack of agency in the notion of 'cyberidentity'is incompatible with postcolonial identity politics, she nevertheless predicts that 'postcolonialtheory and aestheticpractice will "cyberize"themselves quite soon (if they haven't already),pushing the envelope of the politics of global subjectivityas they place the diaspora on-line' (p. 223). Such a prediction places Continental Drift at the cutting edge of francophone and postcolonial studies, and moves beyond Paul Gilroy's'BlackAtlantic'to a 'DigitalDiaspora'. UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM NICKI HITCHCOTT The FrenchException: Still So Special? By ANDREWJACK. London: Profile Books. 1999. 298 pp. ?1I6.99. Andrew Jack's assessment of the state of la specificite franfaisewill inevitably be compared toJohn Ardagh'sfrequentlyupdated TheNewFrance, if only because it is the work of a journalist rather than an academic:Jack's book is the fruit of four years'workas a Financial Timescorrespondentin Parisbetween 1994 and 1998, and of the numerous interviews he was able to undertake with political and public figures as well as heads of civil service departments and private industry.After a heavy round of promotional appearanceson Frenchradio stationsand on the Pivot television showBouillon deculture (on 8 October 1999)to markthe appearanceof the Continental Drift:From National Characters toVirtual Subjects. By EMILY APTER. Chicago and London:Universityof Chicago Press. I999. xv + 285 pp. ?I5.25. In this challenging and thought-provoking book, Emily Apter maps the gradual erosion of the nation-state by the forces of globalization, or 'multinational nationalism'. Through an analysis of some of the cultural products of French colonial history,Apter rereadssuch 'national characters'asJoan of Arc, Flaubert, and AlbertCamus, re-presentingthem as 'virtualsubjects'.An intriguinggalleryof photographsaccompanies the writtentext, placing the readerin the uncomfortable position of re-enacting colonial desire whilst simultaneouslytrying to dismantle it. Such 'colonial tourism',Apter claims, is the essence of much postcolonial criticism. Indeed, Continental Drift suggests interesting if disconcerting parallels between apparentlyvery different'national subjects':Jean-Marie Le Pen's appropriationof 'The Maid of Orleans' as a symbolof national chauvinismadds a discomfitinglayer to the mystificationof Fanonas an icon of blackmasculinity,demonstratedin Isaac Julien's Channel 4 film. The rangeof subjectsin thisbookisimpressive:literature,politics,psychoanalysis, photography, music, film, art, and cyberspace. Moreover, Apter's commentary moves easilybetween them, consideringnot only francophonetexts and imagesbut also Afrofuturismand American cyberpunk.In the introduction,Apter writesthat she aims to...