L’opium dans le contexte de l’imaginaire colonial. Voyages dans l’orient et intoxications opiacees

Abstract

The present study focuses on the representation of opiates in colonial French and British travelogues during the 19th century. One of the major concept is that of travel, inherited from the Romantic imagery but given new meanings and dimensions. ‘Orientalism’ and exoticism have penetrated European culture in direct connection to the idea of traveling and otherness and have become a fashion, especially during Romantic and Post-Romantic literature. Colonialism has brought, especially during the second half of the 19th century, a new dimension to the Far East attraction. Traveling to the colonies has become a more or less common activity, while the strangeness of otherness is now touchable and even appropriate. Opium has played a major part in both types of travels, but in what we call here ‘colonial literature’ its part, especially in stereotypical representations of the East has become essential. Colonial exoticism ‘dresses up’ a body of stereotypes, within which the viewer’s own perspective and culture lead to a subjective (‘European’) and often artificial perception of the East.