Description
Book SynopsisUnlike Britain, whose empire has been studied from numerous perspectives, the French empire has received comparatively little attention, particularly with reference to how France and its colonies perceived the French outposts in the Pacific. Spanning Paris, Tahiti, New Caledonia, Indochina, Japan, Panama, and other island groups, Matt Matsuda argues that, far more significant than the French administrative or political presence in the Pacific, was the French Pacific-especially the waters of the Pacific itself--in the scientific, literary, and artistic imaginations of both colonizers and colonized. Initially, the book follows the traces of French naval officer and writer Pierre Loti and his powerful patron Juliette Adam as they romance a popular overseas empire that for both reflects back upon their highly emotional ideas of the nation. In Panama, romantic Jesuit ruins, isthmian peoples, and a French canal project illuminate Saint Simonian communities of love plotting to conquer the Pac
Trade ReviewMatsuda offers engaging and well-written vignettes of French imperial experience as lived and remembered which, are explored through literary and archival evidence. The book succeeds, to a considerable extent, in articulating the place of love and desire in the imperial project. Even readers who disagree with Matsuda's argument may be seduced by the stimulating ideas in this work. * Joseph Zizek, The International History Review *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Empire of Love: Histories of France and the Pacific 1: Rochefort: The Family Romance of the French Pacific 2: Panama: Geopolitics of Desire 3: Walls and Futuna: Martyrs and Memories 4: Society Islands: Tahitian Archives 5: New Caledonia: Prisoners of Love 6: Indochina: The Romance of the Runis 7: Japan: The Tears of Madame Chrysanthème Afterword: The Lost Continent Notes Index
