Victor Segalen, Essai sur l'exotisme [Essay on Exoticism]

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Although written at the end of the long nineteenth century, Victor Segalen’s theoretical work, the

Essai sur l’exotisme

[

Essay on Exoticism

] speaks directly to many twentieth- and twenty-first-century concerns, particularly issues raised by post-colonial theory and intercultural studies. Segalen (1878-1919) was a Breton naval doctor, novelist, poet and archaeologist. Highly respected in select literary circles, he was nevertheless considered a minor writer in his own lifetime, and his importance only began to be recognized in the mid twentieth century. The

Essai

bridges the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: though incomplete, it is an ambitious and broad-ranging attempt to renew the notion of exoticism and thereby the encounter with cultural difference.

Segalen’s notes for the

2887 words

Citation: Yee, Jennifer. "Essai sur l'exotisme". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 October 2016 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35763, accessed 04 May 2024.]

35763 Essai sur l'exotisme 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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