Zigeuner, Wilde und Exoten: Fremdbilder in der französischen Literatur des 19. Jahrhunderts by Karl Hölz (review)

Abstract

494 Reviews glosses over the negative view of Suard in his old age, given, forinstance, by AntoineVincent Arnault, who presents Suard as a crotchety reactionary, irritating his col? leagues and betraying earlier friendship in his desire to clear the Academie francaise of those whom he now thought unworthy of it ((Euvres, 8 vols (Paris: Bossange pere, 1824-27), v: Melanges (1827), 443-01)- Good use is, however, made of unpublished letters to show Suard's early interest in science and to confirm that he began his journalism at least as early as 1754. The letters also confirm Suard's authorship of the 1753 anonymous brochure on the music quarrel: Lettre ecrite de l'autre monde. In the Melanges litteraires, Francalanza identifies articles signed with the letter P. as being by Pauline de Meulan and not by Amelie Suard (nee Panckoucke), as suggested by Andre Monglond, La France Revolutionnaire et imperiale, 10 vols (Paris: Arthaud, 1930-78), vi (1949), cols 203-06. He also includes some very useful concordances. This is a subtly written work that stresses well Suard's importance both as a career journalist and as a literary correspondent. University of Leeds Christopher Todd Zigeuner, Wilde undExoten: Fremdbilder in derfranzosischenLiteratur des ig. Jahrhun? derts. ByKARLHoLZ. Berlin: Erich Schmidt. 2002. 198 pp. ?39.80. ISBN 3503 -06137-1. Zigeuner, Wilde und Exoten explores images ofthe Other in nineteenth-century French literature, focusing on classics as well as on less well-known works of Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand, Victor Hugo, Theophile Gautier, Prosper Merimee, George Sand, and Pierre Loti. As is demonstrated by numerous studies, such as those by David Powell (Le Siecle de George Sand (Amsterdam: Atlanta, 1998)), Elwood Hartman (Three Nineteenth-Century French Writers/Artistsand theMaghreb: The Literary and A rtisticDepictions ofNorth Africa by Theophile Gautier, Eugene Fromentin, and Pierre Loti (Tubingen: Narr, 1994)), Fernande Bartfeld ('Mouvance, mutation et progres dans Notre Dame de Paris', Les Lettres romanes, 47 (1993), 33-39), and Dominique Maingueneau (Carmen: les racines d'un mythe (Paris: Le Sorbier, 1984)), this is a very rich field of current research and a topic of major importance not only for a better understanding of nineteenth-century identity constructs in France but also for a deeper analysis of highly popular neo-colonial perspectives in contemporary literature and society. Karl Holz's study links very successfully several ofthe current specialist studies, and itofferscompletely new and original insights into the literaryworks analysed, by combining the differentapproaches of culture and gender research. As such, his interpre? tation ofthe images of 'good savages' in Chateaubriand's^4ta/a (1801), Rene (1802), and other works demonstrates already in Chapter 1 that the Other is used to confirm Western identity constructs. In accordance with popular critiques of European civili? zation such as Rousseau's Discours sur I'inegalite, Voltaire's L'Ingenu, or Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's Paul et Virginie, Chateaubriand stresses the savages' 'bonte naturelle' (p. 19). However, he also accepts the traditional dichotomies, which confirm European superiority over the deficiencies of savage cultures ('civilise ? sauvage, genie ? in? stinct, penser ? sentir,finesse ? simplicite, bonte morale ? bonte naturelle, vertu ? innocence' (p. 38)). From such deficiencies we can draw the conclusion that the savage needs substantial protection and guidance deriving from the 'Triumph des Christentums ' (p. 40). In this context, there is a clear parallel between the 'homme naturel' and female stereotypes of that period since the latter tend to cover similar aspects ('instinct, sentir,innocence'). The link is obvious: within patriarchal constructs of so? ciety,women too need protection and guidance, and share essentially the same destiny MLR, 99.2, 2004 495 as the savages, 'das Schicksal, in einer "Unterwerfungsgeschichte bei gleichzeitiger Idealisierung" dienendes Substrat der kulturellen Selbstreflexion zu werden' (p. 44). In Chapter 2 Holz looks at images ofgypsies in Victor Hugo's Notre-Dame de Paris. They confirm that the Other does not only cause curiosity but also colonial fear,which leads to images justifying their marginalizationand domination. Here too Otherness is portrayed 'um sie [die Andersheit] in einem partriarchal und ethnozentrisch gelenkten Deutungsschema dem fatalen Mechanismus der Selbstbestatigung zu unterwerfen' (p. 74). Aesthetic arrangements and exotic visions in the works of Theophile Gautier are at the core of Chapter...