French Literature Reviews - 2026

É. Benoit, Les Différences ethniques et religieuses dans la littérature. De Montaigne à Le Clézio
Other Literary Studies

Review published in Acta Fabula (February 2020, vol. 21, no. 2): Aurélia Mouzet, "Healing Ethnic & Religious Differences: The Power and Limits of Literature"

Benoit, Eric,

Les Différences ethniques et religieuses dans la littérature. De Montaigne à Le Clézio,

Paris, Eurédit, 2018, 1 vol., 14 x 20.5 cm, 100 p., 2 col. ill., 1 b/w ill.

ISBN: 978-2-84830-235-5 — Retail price (incl. VAT): €29

History and current events show us that ethnic and religious differences can be the root cause of severe conflicts. How can literature respond to this reality? How can it help us contemplate these tensions, or even heal and transcend them? The genre of the novel, in particular, offers readers the opportunity to experience the perspective of the Other (of a different religion, a different ethnicity). Certain literary works present and examine divergences, oppositions, and confrontations. Others attempt to build convergence or even communion while respecting diversity, highlighting connection, encounter, and dialogue. The reflections presented in this book will take us on a journey across space and time, from the Valladolid controversy to the monks of Tibhirine, from Montaigne to Le Clézio, from Chateaubriand to Cheikh Hamidou Kane, from Max Weber to Michel de Certeau, from Shūsaku Endō to François Cheng…

Eric BENOIT, a former student of the École Normale Supérieure on rue d’Ulm (Paris), is a professor of literature at the Université Bordeaux Montaigne, where he directs the TELEM research team ("Texts, Literatures: Writings and Models") and the "Modernités" research center. He has published around ten books, including: De la crise du sens à la quête du sens (Mallarmé, Bernanos, Jabès), Éditions du Cerf, 2001; La Bible en clair, Éditions Ellipses, 2009; Bernanos. Littérature et théologie, Éditions du Cerf, 2013; Dynamiques de la voix poétique, Éditions Classiques Garnier, 2016; Obstinément la littérature, Éditions Droz, 2018. He has also edited about ten collective volumes, including Harmonie et disharmonie dans l’esthétique occidentale et dans l’esthétique chinoise à l’époque de la modernité littéraire, Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux, Collection Modernités, volume 40, 2016.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Part One – Theoretical Frameworks
1 – Definitions
2 – Avoiding Ethnocentrism
3 – The Cross-Ethnic Diffusion of Religions
4 – Dialogue or Conflict

Part Two – Confrontations
1 – Christianity in Japan
a) Silence, by Shūsaku Endō
b) Madame Butterfly
2 – Black Africa under Tension
a) Chinua Achebe
b) Cheikh Hamidou Kane
3 – The West Questioning Itself through the Gaze of the Ethnically Other
a) The Valladolid Controversy
b) Montaigne, Lahontan, Voltaire, Diderot

Part Three – Communion in Diversity
1 – Missions
a) The Jesuits in China
b) The Paraguay Reductions
c) Chateaubriand (Atala)
2 – Christian Monks in Muslim Lands
a) The Example of Charles de Foucauld
b) The Lesson of Tibhirine
3 – Union in Difference
a) With Michel de Certeau
b) With Michel Tournier, François Cheng, and Le Clézio

Bibliography
Index

The study of ethnic and religious alterity has long been a central concern in the humanities, reflecting on how cultural encounters shape human understanding. This work examines how literature presents and examines divergences, oppositions, and confrontations, while also exploring how some works attempt to build convergence or communion while respecting diversity, highlighting connection, encounter, and dialogue.

The analysis spans a wide range of literary and historical contexts, moving from the Valladolid controversy to the monks of Tibhirine, and from Montaigne to Le Clézio. It addresses how specific narratives illustrate the limits and possibilities of human connection. Readers interested in the intersection of literature, theology, and cultural history may find these reflections relevant.