1st Edition
The Mythic Indian The Native in French and Québécois Cultural Imaginaries
The Mythic Indian: The Native in French and Québécois Cultural Imaginaries charts a genealogy of French and Québécois visions of the Amerindian.
Tracing an evolution of paradigms from the sixteenth century to present, it examines how the myths of the Noble, Ignoble, and Ecological Savage as well as the Vanishing Indian and Going Native inform a variety of discourses and ways of thinking about Québécois culture. By analyzing mythic depictions of the Native Figure that originate at first contacts, this book demonstrates that an inextricable link exists between discourses as disparate as literature and science.
This book will be of interest to scholars in French Studies, Francophone Studies, Indigenous Studies, Hemispheric Studies, Social Sciences, and Literary Studies.
Introduction: Mythmaking: How the West (Was) “Won”?
1. Mythic Origins and the Origins of Myth
2. Voltaire, La Condamine, and Buffon: Fabricating Fact and (Science) Fiction
3. The Vanishing Indian: Manifest and Imperial Destinies
4. Going Native: The Myth of Being Indian
5. Voices in Francophone Indigenous Literature: A History and Future of Native American Literature
Biography
James Boucher is an Assistant Professor of French at Rutgers University-Camden, USA, where he also serves as Director of French and Global Studies. His research focuses on Indigenous peoples, ecocriticism, and globalization.
