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Re: JV, China, race, colonialism, etc.

From: <Badquaker~at~wmconnect.com>
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2003 08:51:10 EST
To: jvf~at~Gilead.org.il

In a message dated 1/14/03 10:54:33 PM Eastern Standard Time,
Skravitz~at~aol.com writes:


> Did Balzac, Flaubert, Maupassant, Zola or Hugo ever write a story whose
> action took place outside of France? If not then their story lines did not
> require them to comment on race and colonialism.
>

I don't know about the authors mentioned, but Alexandre Dumas wrote a little
known novel, _Georges_ (New York: Ballantine, 1975) which, as far as I know,
has only been published once in the U.S. (and is, as far as I can tell, not
available either in print or online; I happened to find a copy in a used book
store) which he set in Isle of France. In this novel the hero, a mulatto,
returns to the colony (now under English rule) after an absence of 14 years
to work his revenge on the white family that slighted his father. It is one
of few works where Dumas, himself part black, dealt with the issues of
colonialism and race.

It is enough to make the readers of today cringe. Georges, though himself a
slave owner, leads a slave rebellion which fails miserably: one of the
leading participants betrays it out, and the English governor of the island
foils it by setting out open barrels of alcoholic drinks so that the slaves
who are supposed to be rebelling all get drunk instead. Georges is sentenced
to death but escapes at the last minute and they all live happily ever after
(if Hugo had written it, of course, they all would have been hung!)

Peter Sippel
badquaker~at~mnconnect.com
QuakerPages: http://www.qhpress.org/quakerpages/qpages.htm
MixedLitPages: http://www.geocities.com/mixed_lit/index.html
Received on Wed 15 Jan 2003 - 15:52:16 IST

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