L'Orientale allégorie: le conte oriental au XVIIIe siècle en France (1704–1774) par Jean-François Perrin (review)

In this book Jean-François Perrin traces the naturalization of the oriental tale by French writers, starting with the publication of Antoine Galland's Mille et une nuits in 1704, and ending, seventy years later, with Voltaire's Taureau blanc. The Introduction sets out the book's three central themes, the first being the idea that the early French orientalists, including Jean Chardin, Barthélemy d'Herbelot, François Pétis de La Croix, and Galland, were people of great learning, committed to compiling and diffusing authentic knowledge about Asia, specifically its languages, literatures, and cultures. The achievements of these authors are a monument of European civilization and, according to Perrin, an expression of the 'meilleur esprit des Lumières' (p. 23). The second of the book's themes is one that is more familiar: the depiction of the Orient as a foil to Europe. Following Galland, the great public debates of the eighteenth century were often presented through an oriental looking glass, the best-known example of this being Montesquieu's Lettres persanes. Visitors from the East provided a convenient way of commenting on French society through foreign (and ingenuous) eyes. Readers laugh at the visitors and their observations, but then discover—too late—that they are laughing at themselves. The third theme is closely related to this. Perrin argues that Antoine Hamilton adapted the conte oriental in works such as Le Bélier and Les Quatre Facardins (1730), re-inventing the genre in a self-conscious and satirical vein. According to Perrin, two branches of French literature were directly influenced by Hamilton's reading of Galland: Crébillon's libertine novel and Voltaire's philosophical tales. The affiliation with Voltaire is unmistakeable: Hamilton's predilection for persiflage and double-entendre seems ready-made for the author of Zadig. The case of Crébillon is different: more dream-like and erotic in its approach than Voltaire, and less concerned with verisimilitude. Organized into four parts ('Genèses', 'Poétiques', 'Problématiques', and 'Épilogue'), Perrin's book examines how the oriental tale crossed over into French literature and mixed with established genres such as the conte merveilleux and the heroic novel. This first part draws attention to the stylistic and thematic innovations introduced by Galland, highlighting his seminal influence in a society ripe for change. The second part examines the deconstruction of the genre and its renewal under the guise of the libertine novel. The third part looks at a number of themes allegedly inspired by the oriental tale (and taken up by Enlightenment writers) including power and illusion, identity, gender differences, and the transmigration of souls. This is an engaging and original book. The discovery of the East through Galland and his followers encouraged Enlightenment thinkers to reconsider the idea of history as it was then understood. At the same time, the genre's inherent dépaysement created the distance necessary—a point of view—to see the familiar in new ways.