At the Crossroads of Identity: Intersections Between Adoption and Colonization in Nineteenth Century French and Twentieth Century Francophone Literature

This dissertation examines nineteenth century French and twentieth century Francophone texts in which the themes of colonization and adoption intersect. I first examine nineteenth century literary texts in which a mythological conception of French identity takes shape; this identity was subsequently imparted to all French colonial subjects through the colonial education system, even if at times it proved problematic. I then turn to strategies employed by Francophone novelists, as they define themselves with and against this "original" French identity. Novelists from countries as diverse as the Congo, Algeria, and Canada describe similar processes of identity formation, even if the colonial contexts they experienced were vastly different. Using trauma, narrative, and postcolonial theories I analyze how these "enfants colonises et adoptifs" come to terms with an identity assigned by external forces and how their narratives have evolved over time. The process of individual or national identity formation for the colonized subject mirrors that of the adopted subject, and I compare the two throughout this study.;My first chapter examines nineteenth century texts that complicate the notion of national identity by adding a colonial context, namely Claire de Duras's Ourika and Marceline Desbordes-Valmore's Sarah. In my second chapter, I consider the role of both familial and colonial education in forming the French colonial subject's identity, as articulated in Laye Camara's L'Enfant noir and Mouloud Feraoun's Le Fils du pauvre. My third chapter examines the process of reconstructing identity in Henri Lopes's Le Chercheur d'Afriques and Anne Hebert's Le Premier jardin, as the protagonists Andre LeClerc and Flora Fontanges strive to encounter the past in order to move forward in their own narratives. My fourth chapter analyzes the narrative strategies the protagonists in Maissa Bey and Yamina Mechakra's respective novels, Cette Fille-la and La Grotte eclatee, use to narratively repair their damaged identities. My goal is to analyze texts in which national adoption fosters literary themes related to identity formation and to explore how those literary themes evolve as a reflection of the relationship between France and its colonies.