French Literature Reviews - 2026

The Novelistic Destinies of Emigration
Novel and Narrative Prose

The Novelistic Destinies of Emigration

Edited by Claire Jaquier, Florence Lotterie, Catriona Seth

Editions Desjonqueres
coll. "L'esprit des lettres"
May 2007
ISBN : 978-2-84321-094-5
27.00 €

Publisher's Overview:

Against the backdrop of a collapsing world, a new social and, very quickly, literary archetype emerged: the emigrant.
The word was born with the Revolution, which drove marquises and servants, artisans and idlers alike beyond the borders. The emigrant is the quintessential foreigner, arriving in the midst of an unfamiliar community. Should they maintain their own customs or conform to those of their hosts? Can they live off their income, or are they forced to turn former leisure activities into a profession? Are they an individual to be honored—a Christ-like figure of suffering—or the carrier of a terrible blight whose contagion is feared within prosperous communities? Contemporaries sought to make sense of the redefinition of human relations, the map of Europe, and age-old prejudices through fictions that served as responses to an unprecedented lived experience.
Embodying individual destiny trapped in the coils of collective turmoil, the figure of the emigrant stands as a perfect metonymy for the intrusion of History into everyday life.

This volume stems from a series of conferences on the novel of emigration, held in Neuchâtel, Strasbourg, and Rouen between 2003 and 2005 under the direction of Claire Jaquier (University of Neuchâtel), Florence Lotterie (ENS Lyon), and Catriona Seth (University of Nancy II), all three specialists in literature and the history of ideas at the turn of the Enlightenment.

The figure of the emigrant emerged as a central social and literary archetype following the French Revolution, marking a period when political upheaval forced diverse social classes into exile. The emigrant is characterized by the tension between maintaining native customs and adapting to the norms of host communities, while embodying the intrusion of History into everyday life. Fictions of the period sought to address the redefinition of human relations and the map of Europe through these narratives.

The essays in this volume derive from academic conferences held in Neuchâtel, Strasbourg, and Rouen between 2003 and 2005, reflecting a scholarly interest in the intersection of literature and the history of ideas during the transition from the Enlightenment. The contributors examine how narratives of emigration served as a response to the redefinition of human relations and the intrusion of political turmoil into daily existence. Readers interested in the evolution of the novelistic archetype and the cultural impact of the revolutionary era may find this collection relevant to their study.