Experimental Nations
Or, the Invention of the Maghreb
Introduction
IS AN "EXPERIMENTAL" NATION POSSIBLE?
For a majority of the French at the time of the Third Republic
(1870-1940), Algeria could be summed up by a few cliches from Alphonse
Daudet's 1892 Tartarin de Tarascon, one of the contemporary classics for
elementary school children. During this same period, the vast stretches of
Algerian territory began to serve in the imaginary of a decadent elite as
a kind of stock of images, animals, and workers where differences could
flourish under the protection of the French flag. Perceived as a mix of
sensuality and proud purity, of oasis and desert, Algeria became a
catalyst for writers wanting to break with Parisian culture. It was, in a
sense, a terrain of experimentation. Theophile Gautier, Eugene Fromentin,
and Guy de Maupassant traveled to Algeria seeking out novelty, and were
followed by Henri de Montherlant and other French writers on the prowl for
new, exotic experiences. It was not until 1925 that Andre Gide would
discover (and finally denounce) the "misde ... read full excerpt from Experimental Nations: Or, the Invention of the Maghreb ebook
