Joséphine de Monbart, Lettres tahitiennes

Joséphine de Monbart was a disciple of Rousseau and lived in Germany where she befriended Romantic author Jean-Paul Richter and published poetry, a collection of short stories, as well as educational treatises. However, her most famous work is her epistolary novel, Lettres tahitiennes, first published in Berlin in 1784 with subsequent publications in Brussels and Paris. Lettres tahitiennes is directly inspired by French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville’s 1771 Voyage autour du monde and its Tahitian chapters.

In his travel account, Bougainville recounts the story of Ahuturu, a Tahitian man he agreed to take on board for the long voyage to Europe. Monbart transforms Bougainville’s account into a fictional correspondence between Ahuturu – renamed Zeïr – and his lover, named Zulica, who stays behind on the island. While Zeïr becomes corrupted by the society he encounters in France, Zulica’s letters chronicle the abuses suffered by Tahitians at the hands of French and British sailors. She is then sold against her will to an English captain, travels to Europe and is eventually reunited with Zeïr.

This edition focuses attention on a woman writer with a unique perspective on the colonial take-over of the South Seas. Lettres tahitiennes will engage scholars of the French Enlightenment as it is an epistolary novel, written by a woman, on the Tahitian experience, and contributes to the philosophes’ reflection on the Other.

Reviews:

‘This outstanding volume ... excellent scholarly apparatus ... ideal for classroom use.’ — Heidi Bostic, New Zealand Journal of French Studies 34, 2013, 82-84

Contents:

i-iv	Front Matter Laure Marcellesi doi:10.2307/j.ctt2tt87m.1	Cite
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v-vi	Table of Contents Laure Marcellesi doi:10.2307/j.ctt2tt87m.2	Cite
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vii-vii	Remerciements Laure Marcellesi doi:10.2307/j.ctt2tt87m.3	Cite
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1-4	Joséphine de Monbart : remarques biographiques Laure Marcellesi doi:10.2307/j.ctt2tt87m.4	Cite
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5-16	Introduction Laure Marcellesi doi:10.2307/j.ctt2tt87m.5	Cite
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17-130	Lettres Tahitiennes, Par Madame De Monbart. Laure Marcellesi doi:10.2307/j.ctt2tt87m.6	Cite
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131-134	Bibliographie Laure Marcellesi doi:10.2307/j.ctt2tt87m.7	Cite
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135-138	Back Matter Laure Marcellesi doi:10.2307/j.ctt2tt87m.8	Cite
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Cite this volume in standard MHRA style

Bibliography entry:

Marcellesi, Laure (ed.), Joséphine de Monbart, Lettres tahitiennes, Critical Texts, 36 (MHRA, 2012)

First footnote reference: ³⁵ Joséphine de Monbart, Lettres tahitiennes, ed. by Laure Marcellesi, Critical Texts, 36 (MHRA, 2012), p. 21.

Subsequent footnote reference: ³⁷ Marcellesi, p. 47.

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Bibliography entry:

Marcellesi, Laure (ed.). 2012. Joséphine de Monbart, Lettres tahitiennes, Critical Texts, 36 (MHRA)

Example citation: ‘A quotation occurring on page 21 of this work’ (Marcellesi 2012: 21).

Example footnote reference: ³⁵ Marcellesi 2012: 21.

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Permanent link to this title:

www.mhra.org.uk/publications/Joséphine-de-Monbart-Lettres-tahitiennes
www.mhra.org.uk/publications/ct-36